Your right john, it would be interesting to see what the equivalent would be of unsupported against...for example would 50mm unsupported be the same as 25mm supported?

The other thing to consider in all this is that one uses open bearings and one closed, what deflection do you get off those?

A lot of the British machines are using designs from eons ago with very little change which is a shame as the ones from afar seam to at least try new things. Now Mary Portas has the right idea of getting Britain manufacturing again. I'm sure we would we streets ahead if only we got our hands dirty. But for now we will have to stick with pants over here....