If you have that to spend I'd buy a new Jet or Rikon. They are proven machines and honestly you don't need the biggest and most powerful lathe for pots. Having a knob controlled variable speed and reverse abilities would be a nice feature. I'm always nervous about rebuilt anything, especially mechanical stuff. For $1200 you can buy a nice lathe, chisels, and a slow speed grinder and probably some other goodies you'll need starting out.
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