Chris of Clickspring continues his video series on setting up a home machine shop. In this video, he looks at the very intimidating subject of choosing a metal lathe. He starts off by applying three basic criteria: cost, space, and what are you planning to make.

Answering these questions will instantly help narrow down your field of choices. He cautions you to remember to include all of the tooling and accessories you’ll need to operate your lathe and to consider an ample amount of space to move freely around your lathe for cleaning and maintenance.

From there he runs through what specifications to pay attention to and what features to look for. He also discusses the possible weaknesses of cheaper import lathes and what can be done to overcome them.

And through it all, you get to hear the awesome way he pronounces “lathe” in his Aussie accent.