Short story is I've had a 7" mini lathe for about 20 years and want something bigger. It has to be essentially a bench lathe w/ large spindle bore & things like power feed on cross-slide, separate power feed / threading screws & QC gearbox are highly desireable.
I've found the Weiss WBL290F from DroPros and the essentially same PM-1127VF-LB from PM. (Sorry, I tried including links, but the system told me I was posting spam and it wouldn't work.)
Similarly featured, these are both within a couple hundred in price, not considering quality of the extra items (DRO, 4 jaw, steady, follow, etc). But, the major difference is the motor used.
Dro version has a 2hp/1500w brushless DC motor : 80-2000 rpm (no belt changes?)
PM has a 1hp single phase AC motor with VFD : 70-2200 rpm in 2 steps
Though I've looked at PM machines for years, I have no real brand loyalty. Both PM and DroPros look to be quality vendors. Any large, obvious reason to choose one of these over the other based on the motor drive? It seems like the brushless DC motor is a much better setup, especially for variable speed operation.
(And I might still be able to go with the PM 1228, which has a brushless DC motor as well....)
thx
I've found the Weiss WBL290F from DroPros and the essentially same PM-1127VF-LB from PM. (Sorry, I tried including links, but the system told me I was posting spam and it wouldn't work.)
Similarly featured, these are both within a couple hundred in price, not considering quality of the extra items (DRO, 4 jaw, steady, follow, etc). But, the major difference is the motor used.
Dro version has a 2hp/1500w brushless DC motor : 80-2000 rpm (no belt changes?)
PM has a 1hp single phase AC motor with VFD : 70-2200 rpm in 2 steps
Though I've looked at PM machines for years, I have no real brand loyalty. Both PM and DroPros look to be quality vendors. Any large, obvious reason to choose one of these over the other based on the motor drive? It seems like the brushless DC motor is a much better setup, especially for variable speed operation.
(And I might still be able to go with the PM 1228, which has a brushless DC motor as well....)
thx