Cadvan picking out a lathe

Ya I'm not looking to spend a ton of money, but I don't know a ton about the accessories. I can't seem to find them very cheap, but it would be cool to make beads, begleri, and other things.

Sherline's are kind of expensive (so are the accessories) for even the basic lathe package. There's a bunch of made in China mini lathes but alot of people have trouble getting spare parts for them.  The drive on the China lathes are gears. If you go that route you'd better get a spare set right from the start. Here's why..... if a bit gets hung in a piece of metal or you take to deep of a cut and stall the lather you will bust a gear! The Sherline and the Taig (what I have) you break nothing, the drive belt will slip on the pulley.

Some links...

I buy all my Taig brand stuff from here-  www.soigeneris.com/default.aspx

The best info/answers to Taig questions- www.cartertools.com/

If you have any Taig questions let me know.

I thread on my Taig using the tailstock with either the drill chuck holding the tap for internal or a die holder attached to the tailstock for external.... manually of course.