Hi Richard
I'll put the case for the CL4 (Richard and I have been in dialogue about my CL4):
Strengths:
It's a classic design that was by far Records biggest seller for decades because....it works. Pretty it's not but functional it is. Spares etc will be available for donkeys years as will the 2nd hand market.
Variable speed is, to me, a cant live without because there is a very frequent requirement for one reason or another to alter speeds with top of the list, the transition from out of balance after mounting to true. So you start slow and then as the blank becomes true, so you speed up. Changing belts manually would drive me insane with that process. There's also drilling with a Jacobs chuck in the tailstock, slowing down for sanding etc.....there are so many situations when variable speed is a Godsend that it's a no brainer for me.
The bearings design in the CL4 is pretty much unique. It's a wacking lump of bronze that is considerably larger than the norm. So big in fact that one has to put a drop of machine oil through a grease nipple each time it's used at the start. I often hear that people think of this as a disadvantage and it's always puzzled me. In practice, it takes nearly 2 seconds! Then you get to enjoy a spindle movement that's so smooth it's a joy.
The headstock has a swivel mechanism allowing the user to turn face grain stock where the diameter is greater than the swing of the lathe over the bars. The swing over the bars is 12" which for most normal turning is plenty. For the bigger stuff you just swivel the headstock to access it. I have a separate bowl turning jig rest arrangement that bolts to the lathe but I've never used it. Even if the bowl being turned isn't bigger than the swing, the swivel head is in fact really useful because it allows you to get access to those long passes through the hollowing of the centre without having to stretch over the lathe bars. Much more comfortable to work like that, another feature I used every time I turned a bowl.
The length is 36" which is also rather handy. Not necessarily because you might want to turn newel posts, stair spindles, table legs or anything, though of course it means you can. I'm more thinking that the length allows you to move the tailstock well out of the way when needing to get at the middle of stuff held in a chuck. This avoids the classic "turners elbow" where you gouge a large piece of flesh from your elbow with the live centre in the tailstock that you couldn't be bothered to eject when you mounted the piece in the chuck! Lathes with short bed lengths suffer from this and its my one bug bear when using club mini lathes for that reason.
The stand is well designed, heavy and yet can be disassembled for transport. For extra security it can be bolted to the floor although I've never gone to that length with mine. It can also be extended to 48" if you ever need to upgrade.
I believe there is only one area for improvement which is the spindle internal and external dimensions. It's a 1MT and 3/4" x 16 tpi. My preference would be for MT2 and M33/3.5. Just a little bit more heft. But for what it does and the range of woods I've asked it to turn, it's a real solid, dependable performer and despite the 5 year warranty, I've never had occasion to use it.
Richard, you've expressed a desire to turn larger heavier pieces and if that's really the direction you're taking I would personally recommend a larger more hefty machine with a 20 - 24" swing and a larger spindle. Vibration with heavy out of true blanks needs a lathe in the heavy category for safety and quality reasons. The CL4 is really a midi machine and I don't know about the Viceroy.
I don't have any personal experience with the Viceroy so cant intelligently comment on that choice.
