First of all welcome to H-M! I joined about a year and a half ago and have been very happy to be a part of the H-M community. There are just a whole bunch of friendly, helpful and humorous people here and the administrative-types, I believe, work hard behind the scenes to keep it that way. As you may have gathered from my thread on the PM 1236-T I am pretty new to machining but have learned a tremendous amount from the folks here. Again, welcome to H-M.
I am at work now and up to my ass in alligators, as they say, but here are just a few thoughts on your questions:
Hello all this is my 1st post. Titanium Knurler I enjoy your post on PM 1236T. However after seeing the photo of the pallet I'm thinking my plan to get a lathe into my home shop without the wife knowing will need more planning. Maybe you can do what Johnnie Cash did and bring it in "One Piece at a Time"?I am almost ready to pull the trigger on the PM 1236. I was originally looking at the PM 1127VF-LB but really wanted a gear head machine. At some point one has to draw a line. That said, for a few dollars more.........I was also considering a smaller lathe but am very happy I went up to the larger 1236-T.
Tell me why I should get the PM 1236T. What makes it more accurate? I am not sure it is more accurate but it probably is. It is described as "100% Tiawan" except for the spindle bearing which is Japanese and is described as having a run out of .0001". I do not see a similar claim for the 1127VF-LB. It's only about $500 more if I add all the extras to it so they have about the same stuff. Does it have a better gear head? Sorry, but I am not sure about the gear head or headstock differences but the 1236-T has the traditional Norton gearbox that has been around for many years so I assume it is a reliable design. The 1127VF-LB and 1236-T seem to have a lot of similarities: D1-4 camlock spindle mount, induction hardened ways and a large spindle bore. The differences appear to be power(1 HP vs 1-1/2"), voltage(110 vs 220), slightly broader speed range and the VFD on the 1127VF-LB. The 1236-T also has a removable gap in the bed and of course a longer bed so you can turn larger and longer stock and use a BXA rather than an AXA QCTP. It looks like they are both very good machines, the 1236-T is just a beefier(850# vs 575#) possibly more accurate machine. I am very happy with mine.
Looks like you have a collet chuck. I want one!!! I have a 5C and now ER40 collet chuck. They are not too expensive and I use them frequently. I purchased the 5C first but have almost exclusively switched to the ER40. What is the big wheel on the left end of the spindle shaft? That is a headstock handwheel that I installed. I use it all the time. I wish it was a stock feature. There is a description on how I installed it on the thread you were reading on the 1236-T.
Hope that helps a bit. If you have any other questions let me know,
TK