It's not just snob appeal. The bearings are only about 3" apart on the
Delta, and will wear out and induce a lot of vibration if you give it heavy
use. Also, It gets very exciting to turn natural edge pieces of 14"
diameter on the Delta at 450 rpms. I have a new headstock I built with a
variable speed motor purchased from Vega. Much better. The camshafts on
both the Delta tailstock and toolrest holder bend permanently if locked down
hard. The toolrest holder shaft may have bent partly due to a catch.

Derek

"Larry" wrote in message
om...
I agree EXCEPT for the Delta. If you can save up $1000 get a Nova 3K,
but if you can't (or don't want to spend that much) the Delta is a
"best 2nd choice". There's nothing wrong with it. It just doesn't have
snob appeal.