[Mark Yacavone]

I would look for an older Ohio type lathe. A Sydney or a Leblond. You can still adapt the import stuff to them like a 3 jaw Chuck. I would look for a long bed with an 8-inch swing anyway. The import tool bits aren't too bad from MSC Supply for occasional hobby type work. If you find one that's three phase and you don't want that you can just put a 220 motor on it. You just won't be able to reverse it in case you're into cutting reverse threads or something.