As an apprentice I learned to screw cut on a DS&G lathe...with a 3‘ diameter four jaw chuck on it. A huge machine, but quite short bed, designed for something pretty specific for a guess. We called it the ‘urdy gurdy’.Tools can be only a few pounds if you grind them up yourself out of tool steel. And learning can be do e on any size machine. I actually think it is easier to learn on a larger robust machine like the one you have. They are a quality piece of kit. What you need once the machine is running is someone to come and show you the basics to give you the confidence to learn.
As to value a difficult one with out far better pictures. Difficult
One thing you don't need to do - strip the thing to bits to "rebuild it". The peple on here that do this are experienced craftsmen, their work is outstanding - you don't need to do this to your lathe to make it work satisfactorily.Thank you very much for all your responses. There's a small engineering works down the road i will go and ask them.
BEST GET MY MARIGOLDS ON!