Pen turning with HF 40" lathe

I bought one of the HF 40" lathes and really had no complaint with it. I jury rigged a chuck for the headstock by using a 3/4" threaded rod connector and a chuck that I had laying around. Now I want to admit that I got lucky and that the weld job gave me almost no wobble. The whole thing worked well.

But if you want to get into pen turning on the cheap I have a better suggestion, provided you have a drill press. For about 6-10 bucks you can make a verttical lathe that will turn pens just dandy. If you are interested, let me know. In fact it may cost you less than $6.00, depending on what you have laying around.

Deb