Bill here from Bellingham, WA. Just joined the group hoping to learn from people's helpful advice. Wanting to expand my shop to include a large lathe for machining hydraulic cylinders. Discovered it's expensive to have custom hydraulic cylinders built. (for a variety of reasons) Seemed like something I might want to take on. Am looking for a used lath, perhaps an oilfield lathe that can hold the pipe in the chuck, and through one or more steady-rests. Figured I would need a generator as I only have single phase power available. I am undecided as to the length of the lathe bed. Thinking that I may be able to get by with a 120 inch center if I build a boring attachment bolted to the end of the lathe. It would need to slide in and out on a hydraulic rod. Stability is a big issue, but I don't think I want a thirty to forty foot lathe taking up space. Perhaps some advise on this. Next, ideas for a boring head, (or heads). I will need to bore into pipe that will have been welded. There will be either a bump from a weld or a divot. In either case, there will be a tendency for a boring head to vibrate. I had hoped to build my own boring heads and perhaps put spring-loaded wood dowels to prevent the vibration. Would need several sizes of course, to do various size pipe. Honing heads have felt followers for stability. Figured with a rough surface, wood might hold up better, and be inexpensive to replace. Your thoughts on the whole project?