Sounds intriguing- I have a non-quickchange 6" Atlas, $195 from Sears, back when I took home $99 a week, circa 1970, and still use it for making parts around here- with the right tooling, a lathe is amazingly versatile.
Here's a link for the linkmaster:
http://www.angelfire.com/ks/mcguirk/mwlinks.html
Check out some of these dudes. Makes a body tired just reading about their projects.
Merry Christmas!