Things have changed since I bought my ML7 in the early 1960's for £120. There are now enquiries about CNC machines and fancy insert tipped tools. Maybe I don't know what I am talking about but I thought that CNC machines were for repetition work and tipped tools were for use in high speed production lathes. In a fit of nostalgia I bought a Portass S lathe which was advertised about ten years or so ago. £110 if my memory serves me right. This is a somewhat primitive machine by any standard but it produces accurate results. I use this lathe a lot and it has more than earned its price in jobs I have done for local fishermen. At some stage I built a Dore Westbury milling machine, another exercise which was well worthwhile because it taught me a lot of things including using the 4 jaw chuck for accurate work. Ian Laws instructions were an education in themselves. Coming back to tooling, I admit to buying tipped and insert tipped tools and have not profited by this. My advice, for what it is worth is to stick to HSS It is reasonably cheap and does the job.
Donald, South Uist