I had one of the Harbor Freight mini lathes, for the price you cant beat them, having said that, when you get it, take all the slides / gears apart, clean of the cosmoline (nasty heavy grease) that they pack it with and re-lube and re-tighten everything lots of sites on how to do pretty cool stuff with the mini lathes. I quickly started machine all of my own snap ring motor retainers, centering rings, cones etc.
After a few years I 'graduated' to a used Atlas 10" diameter, 42 inch bed lathe, actually cost less than the mini lathe and came with LOTS of cutting tools. Use the heck out of it, including making molds for composite bulkheads / centering rings.
One suggestion on a REALLY handy tool to make, make a 'poor mans tool post grinder' by making a mount for a Dremel tool that you can hold in the tool post. This works well for cutting out wood or G-10 centering rings. I also use it to drill hole patterns on centering rings and slot tubes. The Atlas has a dividing head built in, you can lock the spindle at precise angles and then using the carriage with the Dremel in it like a mill you can run a cutter along the tube to mill out a slot.