Reply To: Buying a lathe

[david pierce]

Mike,
The short answer is no. I have several models of both Boley and Peerless and both are fine machines. The long answer is more difficult and has to do with your present and future needs for the lathe. One extremely important consideration is the acquisition of accessories. Without accessories the lathe is useless. My Boley lathes take the standard Starrett 8mm collets and my Peerless lathes do not. Some Peerless lathes do, so make sure before you buy the machine. If you plan to work on watches only take a good look at the Sincere lathe. I have one of those as well and love it. It is affordable, all necessary accessories are affordable and available, and as long as it is used only on small watch size parts (not clock parts) it will produce beautiful work. As it is a Geneva style lathe it is not as strong and massive as the American design WW lathe and should not be pushed.
Are you the Mike Weaver from the Black & Decker company? If so I am the same David Pierce.