Maybe you should just break down and buy that lathe 
I need to sell more T-shirts to pay for it! Or just stop buying or building new guns, but that's just crazy talk.
Could do a few projects for other people to maybe pay for the lathe?
I thought about that, but because I have an HOA which won't sign off on me running a "manufacturing" business out of my house, I can't get an FFL. I looked into this about a year ago while thinking about manufacturing specialty ammunition. It's a little frustrating.
It would prob take more than a few builds. About 10k for entry level smithing lathe and tooling. Not to mention the losses of learning to do it well. 20k would be nice for a diy’er on side gig setup. But then you’ll want a mill as well......
There's a gunsmith in Tacoma who's told me every time I go there that I can either buy his entire shop including all the tools, inventory and his complete library for an unbelievably good price. He's also offered to sell me just his lathe and mill along with all the tooling for less than the cost of a new quality lathe. Every time I think about doing it I remind myself that I don't have the time or space to really use the equipment. Plus, the money spent on a lathe would pay for an awful lot of completed projects!
