Hi All. I've been a member for a couple years, but have mainly lurked here, trying to soak up as much as I can.

I presently have a South Bend Heavy 10 lathe--nice machine, built in 1943...and still accurate, but I want to get something that will allow me to turn tapers and other features on parts, etc., and also do metric threading.

I took some courses in NC programming in college in the late 70s, and managed a machine shop for the Army for a couple years, and wrote the purchasing specs for the DMG Moriseiki 5 axis lathes and VMCs in the shop, so I'm not totally ignorant on CNC.

I'd like to find a 1340 or 1440 sized lathe that had CNC capability, but I could still operate manually. I've been looking at a fairly new (2014) CNC Masters 1440, but it's a ways away and the brand has had problems with reliability--primarily limit switches, but also with the CNC system.

I know it's a Chinese lathe, but that doesn't bother me too much since I'm only getting it for hobby work, tinkering, a little gunsmithing, etc.

I wonder if I'd be better served by buying a decent quality 1440 lathe, such as one of the Taiwanese models, or a Precision Matthews, etc. then installing a CNC system on it.

I'd appreciate some input on that course of action, and also an idea of what it would cost me for the CNC components if I do the work.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Utah Smitty