Grizzly 11" lathe

[L Prince]

I am new to this forum and somewhat new to Home shop Machining. I already have a Bridgeport Milling Machine that I purchased last year and I am now looking for a metal lathe(Yes I know I should have purchased a lathe first) However I have been watching Ebay for quite awhile and it seems that the lathes for sale are generally used and in moderate condition at best and being fairly new unknown what I am getting my self into. Since I am just tinkering I looked at Grizzly and found their 11 x 26 lathe It states that the lathe only feeds and threads to the left. Is this a big concern for a newbie or should I hold out and purchase a 12 x 36 gear head for about $900 more?

I live about 2 hours from Grizzly in Williamsport Pa and was considering going to the "TENT SALE". Has anybody else ever been to one of these events and if so are the deals as good as grizzly states.

Thanks for any assistance

[JCHannum]

You might want to follow this thread;
http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net//Forum1/HTML/012175.html

If you can hold out for the larger lathe, do it. You will eventually buy one anyhow.

I think I recently read a post on the tent sale, it may have been on the PM site. It sounded like somewhat of a mob scene with the best items going in the first five minutes.