I am considering buying a mini lathe for small tasks and just tinkering.
Does anyone here have one? How complicated is it going to get and what will I end up buying next if I get the lathe?
Also what is the biggest (size wise, not difficulty) job I am likely to come across that I could do with it?

As long as you can live within their obvious size limitations they can be fun. How useful they are is another question, but they are fun to play with and within their size limits they will turn out good results.

The bad news is that you are pretty much stuck with having to buy just about all accessories from Sherline...and the cost you thought you were saving starts adding up pretty quick, and before you know it you could have bought a much more versatile piece of equipment and been money ahead.

If all you want to do is make some pins or screws they’re fine... and the fixture for mounting the head as a vertical mill isn’t too expensive if you want to make some rings or bases or something like that.

Bottom line...what you want to do will dictate the machine to buy.

EXPRESS you have a PM about lathes.

Express,

I have been looking at these too.

They work, and work well.

But, for the type of work we might do for/on firearms, they need a mill head attachment.

I think the better way to go is to pick up a small lathe/mill combo.

Once you have that, you are limited only by materials and imagination.

Garrett

I had a Sherline lathe and mill both with all the attachments. This can be quite an investment.

I found that, due to their small mass, they were just too small to do any meaningful work in any reasonable length of time. The cut per pass you can get away with is tiny, so a cut of any significance takes forever.

I went from them to a South Bend 13" and a Rong Fu mill. I can now do about anything I want and work on small parts is often easier.

Most people buying a minilathe go for one of the tabletop grizzlies or such, not one of the tiny units like the Sherline. They are really for models and watchmakers.