well put john.
i have a Smithy.
if you have the room, extra money (not a whole lot) and the freinds to help ya move em, go look for some used full size (or there abouts) machines.
if you want to get it done good for as little money on a machine as reasonably possible, and/or need/want a small machine, a smithy "may" be for you. mine is several years old, so they "may" have changed, "BUT"
they are not accurate out of the box. expect about .004-5". "BUT" i was able to disassemble half of the machine and do some detailing, cleaning up burr's, grinding better oil channels, carefully smoothing things up, adjusting things, etc. i am now getting .001 easy.
+ i need to fix it from time to time also :sad:
all in all it not bad for what i need, and so far i'm glad i bought it.
i lovingly refer to it as "the nicest piece of junk i have"