Hi Mike,
That's good info on the separate shafts, I'll see if that is available in my price range.

Hi Nick,
I'm starting to see where you are coming after today - totalled up a few goodies, QCTP, DROs, tailstock chuck, tailstock live centre, range of tools . . .it runs into hundreds of pounds. So I need to think about the whole package before I decide.

Hi Neale,
Apologies, I had to leave work very much later than planned today so it was a whistle stop tour, making sure I at least had a good look on the Warco stand, then back home again before my passout expired. I don't think I even walked around the whole show as I didn't see the spark eroder this year. So very sorry I didn't seek out the SMEE stand.


By chance I bumped into an old friend who happened to own a Warco lathe (WM240B). This is cheaper than the models I posted in post#1, is very slightly smaller, does not have the electronic variable speed (all belt changes), but in the end would probably do the same sort of jobs that I would need. So for the price of the more expensive lathe I could have this one with all the toys thrown in. In terms of thread cutting he asked whether I would really do that much and if required you can add a die holder to the tailstock if the thread is on the end of the work, which it often is. I was starting to get drawn to this 240B model then he added that he had thought about upgrading to an AC motor and invertor to get more torque when running slower. Well that feature is already on the more expensive 250V model so now I'm going back round in circles!

Time to park it for a week and let everything soak in. Big thanks to all the comments above it is very helpful.