I have a Chinese Lathe, it is 10in.x18in. I have heard a lot of bad remarks about Chinese tools of all kinds, but have had no trouble with it after 3 years & my friend has had the same machine for over 6 years (same story) The tools for it are cheap & also very good quality. It is four ft. long & weights about 280 Kilos. I would buy the same again. For hobbies this is as small as I would go. I have lots of other tools from the same company, including a mill. As I am in Canada the company is Busy Bee & they & their US. counterparts Grizzy are run by two brothers. Have a look @ their web sites ,one of Grizzlies warehouses is over 400,000 sq. ft. not a Micky mouse operation I would say. Mick B. (irishcarguy) in Canada. ( When I went to purchase my lathe I had a choice of @ least 6 different models & was able to test the one I was buying)