Hope you didn't get burned too bad on that pinion gear. Most of their parts are pretty reasonable, but some can sting pretty bad.
I'd think that a bed turret could apply more force due to the torque amplification one gets from the radius on the spider, but maybe the threads on the TS screw are the same or higher. The gear and rack on the 5914 BT is pretty beefy, but maybe it can't stand up to the same abuse as the TS. I do find it handy to use the bed turret when drilling fairly deep holes in small diameters as the insertion/retraction is quick and not so hard on the wrist as compared to a TS. Not much force involved there, though.
Didn't know that - thanks for pointing it out.
The BT on the 5914 has a lock, so no problem there and I do think that the BT turret could supply sufficient force for turning between centers though I haven't needed to try that yet..
One might be able to get around that with one of those knee-type turret tools, but it might be tough to limit the offset to just one plane.