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I agree with Mike... bigger is better, American is better, heavier is better. As I mentioned previously, I started with a HF mini-lathe... talk about a kit! I've purchased another bed for it so I can get more than 5" between centers, built my own carriage lock, changed the tailstock adjuster, built lots of other little dodads to make it work, and am in the process of building a quick-change gear box for it... one of these days it will actually be 1/2 a lathe <g>. If you've never turned metal and need some direction at lathe ops, I'd highly recommend the lathe machine course from American Gunsmithing Institute... it's about 13 tapes, 16 or 17 hours of training, and when you've completed the course you'll be able to walk up to any metal turner and make acceptable parts. I was really impressed with the course and thought it was a great investment.... costs almost $500, but it includes the latest Machinery's Handbook, and you can easily get back 1/2 of the cost for the tapes alone selling them on Ebay. That's what I did with mine. (Pre-AGI course, lathe stuff was a complete mystery to me, now I'm very comfortable and even know what questions to ask <heh-heh....>).
I've enjoyed great results with my Grizzly mill and it became about a gazillion times easier to use once I added a DRO to it. There's an outfit in Canada that sells a dandy DRO setup for about $750 and is accurate to less than a thou in 10 inches, at least that's been my experience with it. I've attached a photo so you can see what it looks like. The company name is Shooting Star Technology, see their website at http://www.star-techno.com/index3.htm. For an inexpensive DRO it's got some neat features and its addition to my mill has really simplified my life. Installation took a couple evenings, but it was time well spent.
Enjoy!!!
<Marv>
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