tabletop lathes

[Butch(OH)]

I agree with UltradogMN. My 9x30 featureless tiny lathe sat in the exact same footprint as my newer Acer E1440V real lathe does. The ONLY difference in dimension is weight. 750lbs vs 2200lbs. The reason is the stand I had to build for the 9x30, simply turned out to be the same size as the stand of the larger 14x40.
The other issue is price. 9x30 was 1200 bucks 20 years ago. The acer, this model, didn't exist. Today, the Acer, is over 23,000 new from a dealer when equipped the same.

Buy the biggest, most feature packed machine you can afford and have space for, then keep it until you have to have something different.

I owned one of those Acers new and yes they are a very nice lathe. It's very hard to convince the average aspiring machinist to stay away from mini lathes, especially the cheapos but some lessons in life must be experienced.