Comparing a Monarch to most other lathes other than DSG and Pacemaker is like comparing a 3/4 ton pick up to a half or quarter ton pick up. Its a different ball game.###
For a novice, buying a lathe in good condition is important IMO. If all you can find in good shape is a Chinese machine new, I think its a better call than worn out but heavy duty. If a relic from the past drops in your lap and its in good shape you are lucky. But a worn out great lathe is a real challenge for a novice to do any kind of accurate work on. On almost every old lathe I have seen that is clapped out, the worst is up by headstock, if you can feel the ridge on the ways or even worse feel the dip in the ways, or rock the carriage corner to corner, a newbie is going to have a heck of a time doing any accurate work.
You can always buy accessories later, its really hard to buy more accuracy for a lathe later on, it usually means a bed regrind. Unless someone is giving a lathe away I would shy away from worn out, its a headache and heartache for most newbies. Both of the used American lathes I have owned came lightly tooled but were in good shape. I later bought more tooling . I passed on dozens of beaters that were tooled to the teeth but I knew they were shot, and no amount of tooling could change that fact.
cheers
michael
###Then there's Holbrook, a 3/4 ton truck built by Aston Martin...
There are run-of-the-mill older lathes out there, the Southbend, Clausing etc, which were mainly aimed at small job shops, garages back when they still actually repaired rather than replaced, gunsmiths and training schools (not a bad choice for the beginner / progressing, see Double's comments on *good condition*) - and there are the industrial and toolroom machines, designed either to produce accurate parts in large numbers (with high work rates) or to produce REALLY accurate parts and the tooling to make them. I went for that 3rd category!
It used to be said the production lathes cost as much as the boss's car, the toolroom lathe as much as his house, having seen what (e.g.) a Holbrook sold for in the 50's, true, it would have bought a nice 4 or 5 bedroom house in the suburbs of London - and I expect it'd be at the same price point now...
There's not a lot to choose from in the new market, basically if it's affordable it's Chinese and built to a price, not a standard (personal experience, worked for an importer). They're mostly aimed at the hobbyist / training / jobshop, and are adequate for that if you take note of their limitations - but they either don't have the nice features found on even older industrial machines or execute them really poorly
Back to the original question, Monarch, Pacemaker, Rivett would produce production lathes (the big fellas, 14" swing, a couple of tons and up) and toolroom lathes (the lovely Monarch 10EE, Rivett 1020 etc.), at the same price I'd take a used but good 10EE over the same-price new Chinese machine any day, if only because they're so much nicer to use. But I have a similar-size small (but very heavy) Holbrook, so no need!
Look on youtube at the different lathes in use and get a feel for the differences (Efficient Velo's "mighty Holbrook" video gets it across really well, look at a few of the Monarch 10EE, some Southbend and Clausing videos too).
Good hunting!
Dave H. (the other one)
