Are you looking to buy new or used? Manual or CNC? Does that price range reflect a lathe completely tooled or just a basic configuration? USA, European, high-quality Japanese or chicom junk? I suggest that you first decide what type of work you are likely to be doing - from that you can determine basic lathe size and capacity and need for attachments and tooling. Then start looking.
The variables are huge. I bought my Axelson for well under $2500 and it makes a battle tank look like a plastic toy (7,000+ lbs!) - when we set it on the concrete slab in my garage, the floor actually bent and raised the opposite corner about 2"! Putting the Van Norman 2RQ there leveled it back out - amazingly without cracking the slab in two. I got quite a bit of tooling with it and talked the seller into free delivery using a slide off bed truck and forklift. On CL in Boston, there have been several well tooled Monarchs recently in the $1-2,000 range - but, again, these weigh 6-8,000#. I have a friend about 30 miles west of Boston that has a nearly fully tooled Monarch 10EE for sale (~3,000#) - I could probably get him down to $2,500 - and it is in great shape. On the other hand, there is no dearth of 12" Atlas or 9" South Bends for around $1,000.
The pricing of machine tools for the home shop crowd is counterintuitive - though much smaller and of less capability than their industrial brethren, they command much higher prices - presumably because of supply and demand for machines that are capable of being lumped down a bulkhead into the basement with only a modicum of effort, sweat and blood.
Brian
