I have acess to the manual that came with the lathe when new. If youy pay for copying and postage I will try to get a coPy made for you. Let me know. It will probably be a couple weeks before I could get it done but let me know. As far as geting a more basic lathe don't bother it will be a disappointment. Learning how to use this one is no different than any other that is worth using in my opinion. CKJ.