Opportunity to purchase Grizzly G1174 copy lathe, Input needed

[Randy Bonella]

Hi All,
I have an opportunity to purchase a G1174 copy lathe. Not so interested in the copy stuff at this time but interested in a lathe at <$100

Anyone know anything about it? good, bad, indifferent? Things to look for?

I was more looking for a jet mini lathe but at low $$$ this seems like a pretty good deal. I'll be looking at it later today so any Help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Randy...

[Bernie Weishapl]

IMHO I would go with the Jet mini. That lathe is discontinued with no parts available. Friend of mine had one he bought for $50 that lasted 9 1/2 months. He just scraped it because he couldn't get parts for it and bought the Jet. Penn State Industries has a nice Turncrafter Pro that my brother bought. He likes it a lot. Rikon makes a nice starter lathe that will turn 12". Just some food for thought.

[Bill Bulloch]

Well, lets see, you don't buy the Grizzly because it might break down and you might not be able to get parts for it. So you buy the Jet 1014. After a bit, you find that you want to turn spindles larger than 14". You buy the Jet 1220. Wow, now you are turning, but wait, a 12" bowl is not big enough, so you upgrade to the Jet 1640. Now you are turning a lot of big, heavy stuff.....but, Joe is turning bigger, heavier stuff. He has the Powermatic 3520. Upgrade again -- so you think you are finally there, there is nothing you cannot do with this big, yellow booger? Hold on, wait a minute....Steve, did you make that on your VB36?