Another item that captured some attention at the recent Sydney wood show was Sherwood’s M320 lathe which offers 315mm diameter over the bed capacity and a between centres range of up to 550mm, making it more than adequate for turning coffee table legs.
The Sherwood has a cast iron bed, head, tailstock, toolrest, saddle with one inch tool post, No.2 morse taper, M30 thread on the spindle (takes standard chucks) EVS 250–3850rpm, a 3-step pulley with 200 rev overlap, and even a reversing switch on the lathe.
Also worth a look art Torquata chucks. These present with a heavy, solid construction, an indexing head on the outside, inserts for any size spindle thread, full range of jaws, pin chucks to coles jaws, also highly affordable.
Available from Timbecon and worth checking out.