Deal in my area: To buy or not?

I bought a Delta 11-950 at a garage sale a few years ago for, if memory serves me, 25 bucks. Pretty much identical to the 900. Worth every penny at the price. Anything more than that…. eh. The 2” stroke certainly is limiting as well as a PIA. No rack and pinon table adjustment also adds to the PIA factor. There’s less than 5 inches of work space between the chuck and the table swung at its lowest position. The spindle and chuck are fine – no perceptible wobble, and will chuck up a 1.5mm bit to a 17/32”.

If money isn’t a factor and you’re down to those two choices, I don’t know why you wouldn’t take the Wen. Except for women and brain tumors, bigger is generally better.

-- Visualize whirled peas

Craigslist is awesome in that you can “rent” tools for an indefinite amount of time. There’s no late fees. In fact, the longer you hold something, the lower the monthly rent becomes.

LMFAO, truer words were never spoken!!!
Except for women and brain tumors, bigger is generally better.

-- Knowledge and experience equals Wisdom, Michael Frankowski

I bought one that two of the arms were broken. I put a 3in sanding drum on it. That’s all I use it for.

-- IF YOUR NOT MAKING DUST...YOU ARE COLLECTING IT! SOUTH CAROLINA.

Folks,
Thanks for the feedback. To address your question, muleskinner, the debate was because the Wen is based on the 12” Jet, and I’ve heard some pretty negative things about it. My main concern was the more I spend on this, the longer it will take to acquire a decent enough lathe to start pen-turning, but I typically lean toward buying a small number of quality tools I’ll love rather than several lower quality ones that I can manage to “make work.”
That being the case, I’m now leaning heavily toward the porter cable floor drill press at Lowes, as it seems to be one of the few products they make that still garners a lot of favor.

-- "Ladies, if your husband says he'll get to it, he'll get to it. No need to remind him about it every 6 months."

The thing about buying $55 drill presses is that you can usually use it for a while and then when you want to upgrade, you can sell the old one for $55. I did the same thing with a drill press and a jointer.

-- Bill M. "People change, walnut doesn't" by Gene.