I have
got to throw my 2 cents worth in here. I'm not a machinist as much as these other guys. My life has been spent in the electrical business, making repairs to archaic electrical machinery. My personal interest in machining is as a way to obtain "stuff" that is no longer available. Or is, but at exorbitent prices.
I started with a small jewelers lathe, a DB200, until I wanted to cut threads. That required a Grizzly G-1550, currently sold as a metric version G-4000. When I wanted to do large scale models (trains) of 1-1/2 inch to the foot (7-1/2 guage) a larger swing was required. A Craftsman 12 inch machine was necessary and by this time I had aquired enough judgement to make that choice. The long bed was not required, just what I stumbled onto. It was well worn from use in a textile mill. With the Griz, I made what parts were neded to get it back usable.
My input here is the caveat that I use a shop that is actually an old wooden residential building so weight is a very important consideration. One of the facets of the craft is finding solutions within
your capabilities. The G-4000 is a good
starter machine for several reasons. But it is
not a production machine. The fewer gizmos and automation devices there are, the fewer mistakes to be made. To advertise the Grizzly a little, it doesn't weigh that much (~600lb) and doesn't cost that much.
The real expense is in tooling. One day you will want to invest in an(for the G-4000) AXA quich change tool post. If you bought a fancy lathe, there wouldn't be enough money to buy one. Threading is fairly easy with but 3 gear changes for ranging. It has what was known as a "half-norton" gear box. The good part is that they are metal gears of modulus one, a common pitch. The Craftsman has powered cross feed. Which I have used... once. In over ten years, once. To true up a face plate when I was recalibrating the squareness of the cross slide.
I include a link to my own page where I go into machine speed control(actually two):
http://www.hudsontelcom.com/ and
http://www.hudsontelcom.com/9X20Gear.html
My reasoning here is I don't like or use variable speed motors. Not A-C motors, anyway. The belted speeds will just have to suffice. Finish is secondary, it's a repair part for God's sake, I don't care how it looks. I only care if it works. That's the limits of my motivation. Skills have improved over the years, but still not to machinist grade.
My point is that I started slow, and cheap. Then improved the machines to keep up with the skills as they improved. I know this input won't be that much use to you but it needs to be said. Simpler (
not cheaper) is better from the git-go.