I need some advice from my fellow CNCers out there. For the past 15 years I've been running a Harbor Freight Lathe I converted to CNC. Believe it or not it was very accurate; by the time I was done building it. Now it's starting to wear out and I would like some more rigidity and features.
First option was to build a new one from a nice large lathe, but they weren't meant to be CNC'd and I prefer something that has a tool changer and I'd like to not have to do much building I need to be able to use the machine not looking for a project necessarily.
Next was a Mori Seiki SL1 from 1977. A good option for the price, but we all know those electronics are not going to last very long, plus it needs lots of power I really don't have. So convert it? Too much work and money to get it work correctly.
Another option is to buy whatever I like and pay a small amount of rent at my friend's shop, but that means a 15 minute trip in each direction every time I want to turn something.
Then I cam across this High Precision CNC Metal Lathe Siemens 808D Control I haven't done any research yet and just noticed them. They seem perfect and the price is not bad at all.
I could also do a convert from a large lathe if that's my only option.
What do you people suggest?