At present, I am building a lathe 9X20, using some of the methods that are described in Dave gingery's books. So, far the build has been on again and off again as I proceed with updates on my furnace building and pattern building methods. One thing that is a set back for most is the would be builders is the green sand casting methods, from my experience, either the moulding proceedure is spot on or not. I started using the "lost foam" method for casting the various parts for my design as the foam allows for some complicated shapes with out building patterns out of wood, I built some patterns that took hours and hours to complete, only to have the final product befeld by something going south with the casting. Not the case now! There is a very good tutorial on lost foam casting by David Cush, once I find that again I'll post the address. Machine building is not as popular as it once was, none the less, its very rewarding.