I bought a new Taiwan lathe. After I bought a Clausing that was about my age. I learned some lessons about "old iron."
First of all, it's not really better than Taiwan iron. Not unless you get something crazy like an old Monarch. Second, parts are insanely expensive and hard to find, and if you want to do metric, you are going to have to wait years for the things you need, and then you'll have to disassemble and reassemble the lathe when you use them. Third, there are a lot of shady and obnoxious machine dealers, and many will lie to get your business. I bought my first lathe from Joe Bergamo at Plaza Machinery, and he cheated me like you would not believe. No shame at all. Sold me a worn-out machine and said it had very little use. Sold me the wrong model after lying about the model number. Refused to take it back unless I paid half the freight. He also sold me micrometers that couldn't be used because of solidified lube, and he never made it right. And he was a real jerk about everything.
Here's a tip from a guy who got burned: if you insist on buying used machinery online, ALWAYS use a credit card. Bergamo insisted on cash, checks, and money orders, and there was a reason for it. He knew it made it easier to cheat people. A credit card company may go to bat for you. If you pay with cash or a check, you have to sue. People I thought had brains assured me Bergamo was the salt of the earth, but honest people don't insist on cash and checks.
My Taiwan lathe was about $13K, brand new. It had a VFD, a coolant system, tons of metric and inch threads, a 7.5-horse motor, a QCTP, a work light, a 2.25 bore, a D1-6 spindle, a gap, hardened ways, a lube system, and probably some other things I'm forgetting. I bought it from Eisen Machinery, and I recommend them highly. Zero problems with the machine or dealer. They even gave me a huge discount, and I mean a real discount, not a fake discount from a markup. Other people were paying $3000 more for the same lathe. If I had to get a new machine today, I would start with Eisen before considering anyone else.
I know a lot of people can't come up with $13K for a hobby tool, but when I got my lathe, there were very nice 12" through 14" Taiwan lathes that cost about what you would pay for a piece of worn-out American junk plus tooling. Even Chinese is better than junk that quit working accurately during the Truman administration.
