I agree that taking a class at Woodcraft is a good way to find out if you really want to do this. If you can't do that, I would not recommend buy that thing that you can use on a drill press. Turning pens in a vertical orientation is absolutely not the same as on a lathe. You can get a Jet Mini for around $200. You also need some way to accurately cut the blanks, I used a little aluminum miter box initially, now a benchtop bandsaw. You also need a way to drill the blanks. I would recommend a drill press and PHD vise to hold the blanks. At a miminum you need a skew and a parting tool, actually you can do pretty much anything with just those two lathe tools. You also need some means of sharpening the tools. You will also need a 60 degree live center. Finally a giant set of drill bits and a set of transfer punches from Harbor Freight. You also need something to keep your lungs from being the dust collector, I recommend a Triton powered respirator. In case you haven't guessed, the lathe is the cheap part.[:0] Oh yeah, I forgot, you also need pen mills for squaring the ends of the blanks after drilling and gluing in the tubes. And, some means of pressing the parts together. And then there's all the finishing supplies: sandpaper, micromesh, CA in at least 2 consistencies, buffing wheel, buffing compound.