TU-58

[tony duell]

> 
> Hi Tony
>             Thats interesting I had thought about a model makers lathe.
> I have a pillar drill and  the usual set of tools.

I am darn glad I asked for a lathe instead of a car (and driving lessons) when
my late father offered to buy me the latter. I still can't drive, but I don't miss
that at all...

> I did start out as a mechanical engineer and  my
> top subjects at school were metalwork and technical drawing.

Unfortuantely I went to the sort of school that inflicted Latin and
(ancient) Greek on its students. Metalwork was certainly a no-no, even
physics was frowned upon... But amazingly I managed to get 'electronics'
classed as a sport, so while others chased spheres and prolate spheroids,
I hand-wired a Z80-based computer, made a simple CRT from scratch and 
taught myself how to use a lathe....

> It looks like a visit to Machine Mart may be coming up.

Hmmm.. the tools they sell have various perjorative names that I
will not repeat publically.... The general balanced view is that they
can be used for good work, but you need to sort them out first, which
may mean access to another lathe and/or metalwork skills (sounds like
you have the latter). Personally I would consider a second-hand 
Myford 7 (if you have the space) or Unimat (one of the old metal
ones, of course) if you don't.

-tony