Hardinge Conversions

As far as a control goes, the high dollar retrofits are doing
nothing that we can't do in the home shop. All the control components
are available for 3500 bucks from Ahha.
The problem in this particular case is the hardware, I.E. making the
slide. Most of the Hardinge lathes out there have no carriage (2nd op
lathes like DV59), or have no tailstock (chuckers, turret lathes) which
makes them not wanted in the home shop.
There is only one question, can you make an economical (less than
1000bucks) 2 axis slide to bolt on a Hardinge? If so then you can have
your "Omniturn" for about 6 grand instead of 17 grand.
Still a little expensive for the home shop.