Compare Chineese Lathes

[RedDirt]

I'm buying a lathe to upgrade my shop capability from rudimentary tractor implement fabrication to being able to fab precision parts for the implements. I want to bore, turn a shaft, cut threads, etc. Actually I am looking at 3 in 1 machines (drill, mill, lathe) so I can cut keyways slot holes and such too.

My question is regarding the quality the various makes available. When I look at a certain model I can find several companies offering precisely the same model, just painted a different color.

For instance I am considering a lathe with attached mill and see virtually the same machine built by Shop Fox, Bolton, Grizzly, and Harbor Freight. Prices are $1900, $1700, $1500 and $1300 respectively but they seem the exact machine with the same specifications. Occasionally some additional equipment is offered as standard equipment but this is normally not enough to warrant the cost difference. The Grizzly operator manual is far superior to the HF manual but both are downloadable...no biggie here.

So I am wondering, as a general rule, are the more expensive makes getting better machines from the manufacturer and the cheaper ones have imperfections, don't bench test as well or, in some way, an inferior machine? Or...if it looks and specs the same then it is only a "name" I'm buying and I am just as well off with the Harbor Freight as the Shop Fox?

With a readily available 20% off HF coupon the HF is roughly $850 less than the Shop Fox not including shipping for the Shop Fox and local pick up for the HF. That's substantial enough for most wallets to consider the HF model!

BTW - These smallish low price machines normally don't warrant an individual test certificate.

 

[NH-Rob]

I have the harbor frieght 8x12 bench lathe. I don't use it much so I am not very good with it but it has saved my but enough times to have paid for itself. I will tell you it is one heavy unit. I put it in my basement and had to use a chain fall to lift it onto the bench. A 3 in 1 would be nice but when I did my research I found it would be better to buy seperate machines, maybe I was wrong but that was the impression I got.
Rob

 

[mrennie]

All the machines you are looking at are similar quality, which unfortunately is significantly poorer than most any used US made machines will be. This is not to say they can't make decent parts, but if you ever crank the hand wheels on a South Bend or Clausing then do the same with a HF or Grizzly, you'll immediately see the difference.

Having said all that, buying a new Chinese machine does *hopefully* mean the machine is not worn out, and parts *should* be available, but it would be wise to check the gearbox and apron on any new Chinese machine for leftover casting sand or metal chips, and replace the fluids with new quality oils.

If I may offer 2 words of advice:

-Do not buy a 3 in 1 machine. They have extremely limited work capacity and take significant time to switch back and forth between lathe and mill, and are at best a serious compromise. You would be way better off buying a seperate lathe and mill, even if that means buying a lathe now and a mill down the road (get the lathe first!).

-Buy the biggest lathe you can afford. If you buy a 10"x24" lathe or smaller you will be disappointed the first time you want to chuck something bigger and it doesn't. Alot of work can be done on a 12"x36", and bigger = more rigid = more accurate and bigger cuts.

Have fun!

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

I have a Smithy 3 in 1 lathe,mill,drill. I have had it for 10 yrs without any problems. The only thing I find wrong with it is the lead screws aren't as precise as I would like. It is hard to take exactly .0001 off somthing. For generl fabrication it is great. For exact work it isn't.
It would be great to have a southbend lathe and a Bridgeport mill but most of them are 3 phase, weigh a ton or more and take up a lot of space.
Bill

 

[6sunset6]

I have a Southbend 10" toolmaker lathe. I replaced the 3p motor with a 1P
no problems except rewiring the reversing switch.
I also have an ENCO bridgeport type mill I ordered new probably 25 years ago.
It was ordered with a 1ph motor. Both machines work fine.
I have always swapped out 3 ph motors when I could. I had a Rockwell mill once that had a special motor and I had to build a rotary 3 ph converter for that worked fine. I have a surface grinder with a 3ph spindle motor and I built in a capacitor jump starter for that one. So there are a number of ways to get around 3ph. up to 5hp anyway. 3hp 1ph are more common than 5hp.

I have found used machines are pretty beat and chinese ones are so so. I lucked out with my Enco Mill I think.

 

[charlz]

Home Shop Machinist website is the place to go for Chinese info... you'll get badly flamed on Practical Machinist with their anti-Chinese, anti-hobby machines policy

From what I understand about the Grizzly vs HF vs Others is Grizzly has much better 'after the sale' customer support.

Be careful of the 'machine tools bug' I can already see how much better a larger lathe would be not to mention a nice mill Tooling $$ can be as much if not more than the price of the machine!

 

[jmc]

I used to hang out on that home shop machinist board that Charlz recommended and you'll find out more than you want to know about these lathes. The one thing that I do remember is the idea that most of these similiar machines are made in the same factory and that the more established sales organizations (like grizzly or jet) get first pick of the machines. Presumably they are willing to pay the premium for that privilege and it shows in their price. The lesser machines go cheaper to the mid tier distributors and so on. I don't know if that idea is fact or theory but it would explain the spectrum of prices, along with higher customer service commitment.

You didn't say if you have much experience with a lathe but you did say you wanted to turn shafts for tractor related projects. Check out the maximum stock diameter that will fit thru the headstock. A small lathe will limit you to small diameters, even if you are just turning one end of the shaft. A workaround would be turning it between centers, which is limited by the lathe bed length, plus its hard or impossible to turn, face, or drill the shaft end while its supported by the tailstock. Sorry if you knew this- it's just that I have a 14 inch lathe (max turning diameter) and sometimes its too small for my tractor projects.

John

 

[glc24]

If you can afford it,stay away from Chinese built precision tools. They don't have it right yet (and may never get it right) with quality Too bad our American companies that have things built over there,worry about that almighty dollar rather than putting out decent quality products.

Greg

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

If you can find you an oldie but goodie, there are now electronic converters that can give you extended capabilities on single phase. Most converters can be had for less than $300 now.

Look for old Southbend, Monarch, Hardinge, clausing colchester, the list goes on...

 

[EE_Bota]

I sure hope this does not post twice..I lost my first post before submission.
I bought the 3 in 1 shown below, and it has/had the following issues:
The ways were rough enough from the factory that if you tightened them for stability, they would not move when cranked. I resolved this by releasing all the moving works so I could slide all ways by hand, and then with lapping compound, I lapped and slid and slid an lapped until the machine and I had quite enough. Left behind were tool marks that would hold oil/ but not effect functioning.
Problem two...there is no knee like on nice milling machines, so when using short bits (such as all small diameter bits) the work needs to be elevated in the vice for the bit to touch the work. However, most large diameter drill bits are so long, that they will not clear the work, or in some cases, they will not even clear the table. So, I have to use my collet set for these, since I can hide some of the bit length in the collet. But as you can imagine, this is a pain if one wishes to start with a pilot bit, and progress through larger bits...painful.

It truly would make a much better lathe than it will a milling machine. The milling part does rotate clean out of the way of the lathe, and in a pinch, I hoist the milling head upwards and put spacer shims to try to deal with some of my drill space issues.