In article , Richard W. says...

When I was looking for a lathe I wanted an 18" X 54 Lodge & Shipley.
Don't remember the model right this moment. But the 20 hp and the heavy iron
that went with it, made it a real nice choice in my mind. What I found first
was a 16" Pratt & Whitney. 18.5" swing 7.5 hp and it fit in the space I had
better. It has enough power to get the material out of the way real quick. I
guess this isn't what you asked.

Heh, I bet not. The old department shop had one of those
P&W machines. I never had a chance to use it but I did
get to see it in use. Possibly one of the most solid
gear head lathes I've ever seen.

I guess the question he posed was kind of unusual.

It's tolerably rare to find a small home shop with a
brigeport, but in industry they are indeed the standard
milling machine. I suspect though that in a large
shop that has a bunch of brigeports, it's pretty rare
to see the same number of southbend lathes.

In our shop the equivelent is the hardinge lathe. I
guess that fits even better now that they are made
by the same company.

For real home shop use, there are a few names that
stand out. Atlas, Logan, South Bend. Of course none
of those folks still make new machines. But one will
almost *never* see one of those brands in a working
commercial shop.

Jim

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