To start I bought this lathe to do some metal work but also some wood work primarily to try my hand at making some pool cues, I could have gone with a wood lathe but thought that even though that the 0602 is a little short that it would still be a better selection than a wood lathe. But here is one of the issues with the 0602, it is a little short for what I want to do! So I have put a lot of thought into the idea of trying to extend the bed! I know that with the mini lathes that the beds can be bought at little machine shop and have some success, so I am wondering if I could have some success by buying the replacement bed from Grizzly? Not sure if anyone can answer my question or not but I would like to hear back if it would be worth the extra 600.00 to go that route. to answer some questions before hand, I do not care for the Tagg lathes that people are building and selling as cue making lathes and I could not afford one of those or a bigger machine lathe, so I am hoping I can make this work.