[eartaker]

Well the G0602 is out of stock until September. What is another suitable lathe in the same price range. I was looking at the Lathemaster 9x30 or maybe the Grizzly G9972Z.

[eartaker]

Well I placed an order for the Lathemaster 9X30, I have seen a few good reviews and 0 negative so far. Also ordered a QCTP to go with it.

[hoss2006]

too bad, for only $200 more you could have bought the PM 1027 from Precision Mathews.
http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM1027.html
1 1/16 spindle bore and a stand, the main page says it's in stock.
Hoss

[eartaker]

But the Lathemaster is totally belt driven.

[hoss2006]

It has 2 belts with a partial gearbox just like most lathes in this range including the 0602.
You get the ease of changing some feeds/threads by moving a couple handles but you'll still need to do the gear swap routine for big changes.
If the end game is a CNC lathe, it's a little less stuff to remove later, but if it's gonna be a manual lathe
you want all the gears built in you can get.
Hoss

[eartaker]

Well damn, No CNC is planned but the purchase has been made already. This will still be a huge upgrade compared to my HF 7X10.