Dan, I'm jealous! Thats a great looking system you've got set up there.
If your lathe died electronically there is a pretty good chance your controller board is the problem...it happened to me and I found that it's relatively common. There are a couple of guys that repair them for very reasonable fixed cost ~$60 with shipping. I used
https://olduhfguy.com and got good service and advice such as ventilating the controller board housing to limit heat buildup.
Almost all mini-lathes including the HF ones are made by SIEG in China. These days they are pretty decent, especially if you do some of the simple upgrades/corrections (YouTube is full of how-to vids). Little Machine Shop sells some with upgraded motors and component selection. They come in various bed lengths up to 20" nominal.
Mine's at a friend's (solarover12) house who's pretty good with electronics, he's going to see if he can fix it. I told him if he can fix it, he can just have it. He needs one. If not, I'll probably use it for spare parts.
Arrgh this thread is making me think about looking for more and bigger machine tools. Drooling on my computer over a SB Heavy 10.
Oh yeah, then there's the mill I need...
Oh me too. Nobody's ever satisfied with just a lathe! Everyone needs a mill too.
I just found this on craigslist this morning
https://stgeorge.craigslist.org/tls/5002221764.html
It's come down to these two last machines. The used Grizzly G0602 and the used SB 10K. Both have their pros and cons.
Grizzly
Pros:
Cheaper ($1000)
Layout I'm comfortable with/used to.
Comes with quick change tool post
Comes will all tooling necessary
Come with 4 jaw chuck.
Smaller
Cons:
1hp motor (not really that bad, but the SB is probably much better)
Non-American made.
Southbend
Pros:
Better Motor
Solid construction
Everyone seems to love their SB
American Made
Cons:
Too big to fit in my workshop
Relatively "bare bones" (Does NOT include tooling, steadyrest, etc)
More expensive (plus the money I'd have to spend on tooling and upgrades ($150-300).
Older, so it might be more difficult to find replacement parts.
Right now I'm leaning towards the grizzly. The SB looks great, but It's just outside my price/size range.
Thanks everybody for the input! I'll let you all know what I decide.
Alex