Yesterday I drove about 5 hours round trip in order to be able to lay eyes and hands directly on the Birmingham CT-1440G lathe, which is one of their Made in Taiwan models as opposed to being Made in China like most of the off-brand 14x40 lathes.
I must say that from what I could tell in looking at the machine that it appears to be a very well made piece of equipment. Little if any backlash in the various feeds, hefty castings, nice finish work, clear easy to read dial and markings. Even the handwheels felt very nice to the touch.
For the around $4000 price of a new machine with 3 and 4 jaw chucks, two steady rests, etc. this seems like quite a good deal in modern equipment. The quality looks to be a significant step above the ~$3000 Chinese 14x40 machines I've seen at Harbor Freight and Grizzly.
Is anyone here running this machine?
John