New Lathe question

>>I an interested in getting into Model Engineering and looking at my first
>>"home lathe".
>> I have a reasonable budget, but Myford is out of the question.
>> I did an engineering apprenticeship back in the early 1980's and spent a
>> month working with what I believe was a Colchester Triumph 2000. After my
>> apprenticeship I moved into Electronics and finally ended up in IT where
>> I am now. Somewhere in the recesses of my brain I hope are some residual
>> turning skills.
>> I have looked at Chester and Warco on the web, with the latter looking
>> more attactive.
>> However I am somewhat confused as to which direction to go in. Belt
>> change or variable speed and what features are most desirable? No one
>> product seems to offer what I consider the perfect solution. The Warco
>> WM280V-F looks attractive as it offers a reasonable capacity and a power
>> cross feed. The latter I could consider as pretty much essential from my
>> previous experience. One concern I have on this model is the low end
>> speed, 125 RPM. Is this slow enough? I would rather speed a little more
>> and get something decent than get a machine that I "grow out of". I am
>> not really up for refurbing a machine as it will be my first machine
>> tool. A lot of the work I am planning will be model scale stuff, but the
>> capability to machine larger items is atractive. Have I been "spoilt" by
>> my turning stint during my apprenticeship and am expecting too much from
>> a first lathe?
>>
>> The advice of the group would be much appreciated
>>
>> Stuart

>
> I've never come across anything I wanted or needed to machine that I
> couldn't do on my old Colchester Student. It copes with anything up to
> normal car engine size such as flywheels, cranks, cams. The gap bed helps
> for large diameter items. A small lathe like a Myford might be ok for
> machining tiny stuff but I don't actually think it does it any better than
> a larger machine. Whatever you're machining it always helps to have a
> sturdy and rigid machine.
>
> A Triumph 2000 is a nice lathe but a bit large for hobby use.
>
> Dealers always want a huge amount for even old crappy machines but you can
> often do better asking about in local machine shops if anyone knows of an
> old lathe for sale. With CNC taking over so much of the work these days
> perfectly good manual machines often end up in skips if it's too much
> hassle to try and sell them. A mate rescued a very nice Student from a
> skip a few years ago after someone moving workshop just binned it rather
> than pay for it to be moved. Colleges also often sell nice machines for
> very little money.
>
> So I'd say Student, preferably the later flat top model, if you can find
> one will do anything you need. A gap bed one for choice. A quick change
> toolpost and Burnerd collet chuck set are the two best things you can add
> to it.
> --
> Dave Baker
> Puma Race Engines
>