Hi all,
I have a small - one car garage shop and have nice equipment (good table saw, jointer/planer, band saw, and a competent drill press) but gave up my lathe when I moved to my current house since I didn't have space. It was just an old craftsman mounted on a large table. At that time all my tools were entry level and since I've slowly upgraded all the tools to Laguna/SS types.
I do miss having a lathe - especially as a way to generate gifts for friends such as pens that don't take a year to build. I have been toying with the idea of a lathe that I could just put on my workbench (a Roubo I built) and then slide onto a set of shelves on wheels when not in use (I'd line a shelf up at the height of the workbench). My back isn't great so lifting a 100+lb lathe woudln't work well. Is this crazy or reasonable? I just can't see how to fit a lathe on a stand into the space I have.
In case you want to spend my money (or in case it changes the portable answer) I'm considering the Laguna 1216, the Jet 1221VS, and the Rikon 70-220VSR which due to the Laguna and Jet sales are all right around $700 right now. I'm leaning towards the Laguna with the bed extender just because I love my Laguna 14BX, but that isn't final. Price is a little flexible, but I don't see spending over 1k and given space restrictions haven't seen anything super expensive that made sense anyway.
Background in case it helps... I am not a turner and really only used the previous lathe for pens, knobs, etc. I'd now do pens for presents and probably some pepper grinders, etc. I may get into bowls, platters, but have no idea and mostly my woodworking focus will be on furniture and those will be more likely to have large curved parts via the bandsaw or bent lamination although I am aware it could change.
Any advice is most welcome!