Coming into this a bit late, but Ernie Conover (builder of this lathe) spoke to our woodworking group in November (two day seminar) and we talked a bit about this lathe. He and his father wanted a lathe that would meet specific needs, like columns IIRC, and in the 1980's and produced this lathe. A set of cast iron legs was available, but the parts came with plans for the wooden ways and legs. With it's beefy head and tail stocks, the lathe was, and is, considered a state of the art machine.