"ebd" wrote in message

Unless kept clean the pulleys become hard to move and will not go the
full range. Depending on what you turn and sand, humidity, and other
shop conditions this can be rather frequent. Also, this drive system
can drift out of parallel too easily for my taste. When I'm in my
shop, I want to work on wood, not machine maintenence. Once aligned
and set up perfectly, a machine shouldn't need additional
set-up/alignment work more than once in about 10 years (unless it's
abused). BTW I wouldn't consider 150 hours to be heavy use. That's
not even the break in period.

I wasn't implying that it was heavy use, only that amount it has been used
so far. I'm new to turning. But my statement stands--no problems so far,
and I pull the cover over the drive from time to time just to inspect and
lube the pulley half that moves. Everything in there looks fine, with
minimal debris and no apparent belt wear--another 'complaint' about Reeves
drives.

It's fairly common to hear complaints about Reeves drives. It's obviously
not the ideal system for a lathe, but it allows speed control without the
high cost of an electronic VS drive, ergo the lathe simply doesn't cost as
much. Purchase price is a major consideration for some new turners. Not
everyone can afford a VS lathe in the range of $2K or much more. To simply
criticize the RD as an inferior speed control device is akin to criticizing
a Mazda Miata because it isn't as capable as a Saleen S7. A RD, properly
maintained, will give years of useful service. It is unreasonable to
eliminate a particular lathe from consideration simply because it does not
benefit from state-of-the-art technology, especially in this price range.

Max