Its a sleeper of sorts...
Because many Southbend parts fit it just fine. Mine came with a couple of broken gears and I replaced them with nice used Southbend gears which fit and work just fine.
A bigger problem I found is that the L00 spindle outside and Jarno taper inside the spindle are a little odd. (lathes.uk states it MT5 internal taper but they are not) But if you get one with all the chucks you need that's no big deal. And you can get 'em its just that those parts cost a little more than typical screw mount SB stuff. On the very positive side, the L00 spindle won't unscrew in reverse and its as rigid as can be. Of course this is true of any lathe with these fittings - some SBs, Rockwells and Clausings shared this spindle nose design. It just means chucks are a bit pricier and a bit fewer on the market. So its better and costs more.
There's not a slippage problem with the belt on mine and the belts are available. Its a big heavy-duty belt so I think will last a long time. The worst part about one breaking is that you do have to take the drive mechanism apart to replace it but lots of lathes share that problem. I have a VFD on mine so I have both mechanical and electrical speed controls which I find really nice. And mine has a 1.5 HP motor so its pretty powerful for a small lathe.
Steadyrests and followrests from SB bolt right on and the tailstock is MT2. I've not run into any real problems that aren't shared by other older lathes. And Boxford is still in business.
Don't get me wrong - its no Hardinge or Monarch, not by a long shot, but its a pretty nice machine.
