[donr]

Thank's Ian
Those are really good pointers and I will be sure to investigate them. As for knowing my onions, I don't. I asked a neighboor who is a machine mechanic to come with me for his opinion on one lathe I was looking at. Good thing because he pointed out all the things that were wrong with it and it would have been a big pile of iron in my garage. Another one wants $1200.00 for and old 1937/39 Atlas 6" lathe that runs on babbit bearings. I was considering the Chinese/Taiwan lathes at one point since price for new is interesting. But I will go that route only if I can't find decent American iron in my price range. In the meantime, I will keep shopping. On a side note, I did find a pristine Atlas H54 at a cheap price(few hundred), but it was missing the auto feed and I guess it would only be good for manual turning.(Not even the lead screw)
Don