To anyone wanting to build their own lathe it is not that hard.
FINE WOODWORKING published a plan for a lathe someware between issue 50 and 55. I built this lathe in 1991 and it works great. I made it big because I wanted to turn Large spindles. I used two 3\" by 10\" maple for the bed. I have 8' 1\"between centers. If you use wood bed you will have to drill holes every few inches to take 1/4\" pins for the tailstock to push against. It doesen,t seem to matter how much you tighten it down the wood on wood slips (hence the pins) any questions e-mail me.

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Heres a lthe I built about 12 months ago out of sq tube and channel

I have also heard of drill presses being used as a lathe, especially for turning pens, but I don't know how practical it is.