On Jan 12, 11:38 am, "Pete C." wrote:

I expect the only advances have been in the CNC arena

Already sort of mentioned - but variable speed electronic drive and
rolling contact spindle bearings, especially to enable higher speeds
in order to take advantage of carbide tooling.

Those seem to be the primary places where old iron looses out to
modern imports, especially if you have to pick only one lathe - do you
get the one with large swing and suffer low speeds when trying to turn
small things with carbide, or do you get the smaller one with high
speed and have workpieces you just can't turn?