Is there such a thing as an inexpensive but worthy lathe? I’ve been making reeds for a year or so now and making some good ones, I want to try my hand with making a chanter and at some point drones and regs. I have a few pound set aside, been looking into it and doing a bit of research online for equipment but when coming to buy a lathe it seems like a total minefield. Anyone have any advice about buying equipment like this? My starting budget is £500-£1000. Is there any other big (cost-wise) machinery I would need? I know these sound like total noob questions, I’m sorry I’m not really sure where to start about it. Hoping to spend some time with a pipe maker soon to see what equipment he uses and methods needed. I am a novice but very interested in learning this craft, if anyone can help me.
You’ll want to consider how you’ll make your reamers before committing to a lathe. I would recommend making D reamers (another topic), which you can make on a metalworking lathe. In general it’s easier (and probably cheaper) to modify a metalworking lathe to do woodturning than the other way around. A metal lathe allows you to make a wide variety of tools - off-the-shelf tools are rarely as suitable for pipemaking as custom-made tools/bits/etc.
If you’re just planning on making a few chanters at first, then you don’t need gun drills - you can make suitable D boring bits from silver steel. Most of the cost of setting up will be in many small items, not big machinery. And time, lots of time.