A heavy 10 Southbend or the afore mentioned Emco Maier are great. I have used a Rockwell and know several smiths that have them. I would not want a single phase machine. I have DROs on both of my Bridgeports as well as VFD. I see no need for a DRO on a lathe. I have a Trav A Dial on the lathe.
Sargon DRO on my mill. Like Butch says, a DRO on a gun builders lathe just gets in the way. With a DRO you gotta check everything with a micrometer anyway, so why have the DRO. If you are machining to a shoulder or boring or internal threading, just clamp on a indicator. Now if I was doing a lot of big shafting work, with multiple shoulders, bearing fits, threads, etc, a DRO would be handy, wish I had a DRO way back in the dark ages when I ran a 30"x240" Monarch in a job shop.
