Quote Originally Posted by irving2008 View Post
when the oiling fails in a Babbitted bearing its the Babbit that wears. When it fails in a bronze bearing its the spindle that gets chewed up... now I know thats unlikely while its running, but lathes are very stop-start and have long gaps between usage where there is the possibility that the oilways dry out. A Babbitted bearing will survive better under those situations.

And time is not a huge criteria (not sure that a bronze bushing will be any quicker, I'd still need to find someone to grind down the spindle and machine the bushings).
Ok thanks for teaching me somthing today!, i see the bronze bushings are not really an option then.