It's a good lathe, but it's not in the same league as the Harrison M300. The M300 is a larger and stronger machine, built for industrial use from the start. I see what you mean about the feed gearbox if you're converting to cnc, and you can use Mach to manually machine with the jog feature via the keyboard. One point to consider is the cost of converting the M300 is going to be higher than the Boxford, due to the larger physical size of the machine. You're also going to pay at least double the value of a Boxford for the M300.