Cheap?! haha you're joking right? I swear the amount of man-hours that goes into those things just so to have them make a part within tolerance is mindblowing. Not to mention the time spent dialing them to where it's possible to get half-repeatability out of them. Guess mine's worth $1.5mil in that context, considering the time spent on that retrofit alone anyway - pretty sure yours the same tune. All in all; NEVER AGAIN, cheap or not, this lathe travels suspended-on-oil from now on and never again directly on the bedways anymore. Bronze...

Waiting for the industry to engineer Maglev Ways & Air Bearing lathes for an upgrade. Although I like your idea about linear rails too! Pls update if you ever go that route.