What's the general opinion on metal lathes. There seems to be a choice at entry level of either a new Chinese mini lathe or old British machinery.
I don't need to do that much with it, just bit's for the workshop - shims, bushes, jig fixtures etc so nothing too taxing.
I like the idea of old British (I have a workshop with plenty of it) and the Myford ML7/Super 7 seems to be readily available at the price I want to pay. Looking around it's possible to pick one up in budget with lots of bits and bobs, but I'm slightly concerned that anything that is too 'used' might be a bit of a dog. The benefits of the Myford is the availability of spares and back up around the internet, so if something goes wrong I can probably sort it out with a bit of time and research.
The other alternative would be to go 'Chinese' which I'm not against, just something about the Myford/British appeals to me. A new machine should work properly out of the box with the back up from the dealer and are supposedly quite good these days. so really it should be the sensible choice!
My heart is saying British, head is saying Chinese - what are the thoughts of the forum?