"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...
In article , spaco
wrote:
I guess I'd ask what your budget is,

Six hundred, give or take.

how much room you have

Main limitation, actually, is the need to take it down a basement stairs.

and what you
want to do in the future. In my not-so-humble opinion, unless you do a
LOT of very small work where you need extremely high spindle speeds, I'd
get a 10 or 12 inch lathe with a 3 foot bed and quick change gear box,
at least.

Small work is all I plan to ever do -- doubtful I'll ever turn anything
large
enough to need a 10x36.

Far from being competent to give you advice, I am in the same club:

I have a Taig which I love and use more than I imagined I would. However, I
quickly discovered the limitations of its size. More and more I find myself
wanting to turn something just a bit bigger than what the Taig is capable
of. Shaving off thou's at a time wears thin (pardon the pun) rather quickly.
I went through the considerations of slowing the Taig down by various means,
employing risers etc. but in the end I came to the conclusion that you
cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. I, too, looked at the 7X' and
decided that the increase in size would be of minimal benefit.

I think the advice to get 10" swing lathe is a good one. It is on my list,
probably in March, bar another surprise like Dubai etc.

Transport of a 400 lb beast is definitely an issue but as someone said I am
hoping to strip it down to essentials and move it into position bit by bit.

BTW Southbend are supposed to be getting back to lathe manufacturing. They
have been promising it for about a year but last time I looked at their web
site nothing was happening.

Do keep us posted how you solved your problem!

--
Michael Koblic
Campbell River, BC