Enco 9x20 lathe? Good Deal?

[rtb1259]

The company I work at is cleaning out storage space. They have an Enco lathe that they offered to sell me, instead of having to put an ad for it. It has a manufacture date of 94, and they said its been sitting in the warehouse for years. It looks like it in decent shape, and everything looks like its there. It does power up, and spin. There are a couple of broken parts that I already got quoted costs to replace, and found the manual on Enco's site. It also has a bunch of different size chucks, and other accessories.
I am a newbie at a lot of fabrication stuff, and a lathe would be a luxury toy. I think it would be interesting to learn how to use it, and build things with it.
My question is does $500 sound like a good deal. Replacement parts are like a $100. It does come with the stand, and all sorts of extras.
Any advice would be great.

[PTSchram]

Too much $ for such a limited capacity lathe that wasn't much more expensive new.

Now, if you could get it for $100, it might be a good deal.

[rtb1259]

The guy was saying it he found stuff saying it was worth $1200. I didn't know the value, so wasn't sure. I just looked on HF site, and seen that the same size is 700. It is also a china version as the Enco. I figured I would ask someone here about what sounds like a good price to offer.

[PTSchram]

A 9" X 20" lathe will very quickly leave you wanting more in both axes.
The bore through the headstock will be limiting.

If it has a quick change gearbox and you expect to chase a lot of threads, it will be worth more.

I suppose if oyu could get it for $500 and it has a bunch of tooling, it might be a good starter machine to learn on and if you fawk it up, you're not out much.

I must say though, even with a small lathe, you will be amazed at all the uses you find for it. While none of mine are operational after moving the shop, when I have one going, I use it all the time and in fact, I may be setting one up tomorrow to make an oil pump priming shaft for an engine I'm working on that I don't wanna take the oil pump apart.

[300sniper]

they are $1000 new with the stand. $500 doesn't sound to far out of line but i think you can find a much better lathe for $500. if you don't have the room for a larger machine and are limited to a 9x20, it may be good to pick up. if it comes with lots of tooling that can make the deal better.

[rtb1259]

Thanks for the replies. I really appreciate the helpful info.