Hi, I'm the brother mentioned in the original post, and completely new to the forum, this is my first post.
Thanks for all the advice you've posted so far, I've come to clarify a point or two: I'm looking at spending around £600 on the lathe itself; I have an additional budget for tooling etc.
I was quite interested in the Jet JWL-1220VS, but had been concerned about its Chinese origin. I've read a few comments however which suggest that the newer machines from the far east are rather better than those being produced a few years ago.
And Clive, thanks for the sound advice on PPE, I have done a fair amount of woodworking (albeit not turning) and am aware of the issues with dust!
I'm based in Surrey (RobC isn't!), and have no issues travelling up to I guess 80-100 miles to try/collect second-hand gear, and 3-phase isn't going to be an issue as I will simply* add an inverter for variable speed.
*simple. Yeah, right.
So thanks, any further input would be most welcome!
Best
Phil