Glad you found it and can see what a gem it is. Richard will get what he can for you, cut what he can for you, and if you do have to leave a message on his ansaphone, he actually responds.
I use it quite a bit. It's nice enough and I don't think it'll give you any problems in the turning, though, in my experience, you'll have to work to get a really nice finish on it.
I personally don't know how I would manage without variable speed. I'm gonna sound really dumb here, but you guys change belts every time you need to change speed? I'm up and down the speed range so often (I thought everyone was) it just wouldn't be practical. My one doesn't have a digital...