Which lathe

[monte55]

I have a Jet 9x20 lathe and a Jet mill drill which I have been reasonably happy with.
I am wanting to go larger on both. My understanding was Jet was better quality than the same machines with a different name. I know they cost more.
A 9x20 ENCO or Grizzly can be had for about $800. I know the ENCO has a metric spindle etc. The Jet goes for about $1200. There has to be a quality difference. Just because they look alike doesn't mean the same time and care
has been givin to each such as grinding the ways etc. I've seen larger lathes at Harbor Freight that looked like a big piece of junk if they wern't already damaged just getting here with all the parts. What ever brand I buy I need to know there is a good parts availibity for them. I'm not sure I'd want to buy a lathe from ENCO. I'm looking at Grizzly which is only 140 miles fom me in Missouri. But I know nothing of their quality. When your price is so much lower than others, I wonder what's the catch. Can anyone with experience
on these brands shed some light on this....thanks.............Nick

[Jack F]

I recently bought a used Grizzly 14X40 (G0554) and have found it to be a verry good machine. No broken parts, good finish, quiet, and turns a good finish at close tolerance (.0005 over 8"). I work with metal for a hobby so that tolerance may not meet the needs of a machine shop but it is fine for me. The only negative I have found with it is all the putty on the castings. In moving the machine I bumped the base several times and now have to re-putty the gouges and repaint. Hope this helps. Jack.

[Jack F]

I forgot to add that I had to take .020 off the 12" face plate to get it to run true. Jack.

[jackson]

i had a jet years ago and loved it dont know about the new ones

[Zumba]

There are no rules when it comes to Chinese lathes. You must look at every lathe on a case by case basis. Actually, that's true with every lathe regardless of origin. I've heard from owners that the Haas TL1 $22K toolroom lathe is a POS. Crappy ballscrews and the tailstock bends the ways by .006 when clamping down. But I digress... let's talk about non-Japanese Asian lathes.

Is Jet better than Grizzly? I sure as hell didn't think so when I sold my Jet BDB-1340A and bought a Grizzly G9973 15x50.

Of course, this particular Grizzly model is a top of the line Taiwanese machine that cost four times as much as the Jet. Not a fair comparison. Jet does, however, sell machines in the same $12K price range... namely a 16x60 that is much heavier than my Grizzly (6000 vs. 3500 lbs) with a larger 3" spindle bore as well. All this looked great on paper. Too bad it's made in China, and doesn't have the Meehanite castings that my Grizzly does. So in this particular price range, Grizzly's offering beat out Jet's.

The opposite is true with mills. My 9x42 Jet knee mill (JTM-2) is a solid performer... it is Taiwanese with Meehanite castings and has very smooth motion on all axes. Spindle runout is under a tenth. Grizzly's offerings are, unfortunatly, all Chinese in this size range (they discontinued their Taiwanese 9x42 3 years ago), and inferior. Chinese machines don't have Meehanite castings (their castings are often pitted), components are much rougher, etc.

You can probably see what I'm getting at. Taiwan >> China.

Unfortunately, Taiwnese machines are expensive. Grizzly's 20-something lathe lineup only has three Taiwanese offerings, the cheapest being a $7K 13x40. So if your budget is lower, you'll have to compare Chinese vs. Chinese, which is more difficult and pretty much requires user reviews.

The Grizzly G0554 14x40 is a decent machine but isn't free of minor problems. The Jet GH-1440W, for one user, was a total piece of crap. Read this review and prepare to be SHOCKED. http://www.makeitsimple.com/sections.php?artid=14

As for why Jet machines cost more than Grizzly... 2 reasons.
1.) They are sold through a distribution network, so the distributor gets a cut.
2.) The shipping is usually included in the price.

I think Grizzly's customer service is excellent. Not only do they make things right, they actually respond to emails.

[Zumba]

BTW, check out this post on the Haas TL-1.

http://www.cnczone.com/ub...c/13/4889.html

Like I said, $22.5K lathe. BASE price.

[Zumba]

And here's a review of the Grizzly G0554 14x40.

http://www.cnczone.com/ub...16.html#000000

[monte55]

Zumba..........thanks for the info. I don't machine as a trade so I don't need a high dollar lathe. I'm thinking of a 12x36 possibly. Do you think it's really
worth going to a geared head vs belt on a lathe this size. I may consider a 13 x 40 also. Sometimes I think the mill should be replaced first, then I think the lathe, then back to the mill...crazy! But when they put the real nice pics of the machines in the book.....you just want one of everything..........like women at a shoe store.

[Zumba]

I hear ya monte. It's a difficult decision as to which to get first.

In the 12x36/13x40 range, I think the belt drive machines may give you a better finish than a gear head due to reduced vibration. I say "may" because I have limited experience with the 12x36 gear head lathes. I did, however, own the 13x40 belt drive from Jet. It wasn't without its flaws, but I can say that vibration was never an issue. I suppose it could've been better, but that would've had more to due with the single phase motor and overall lightweightness of the machine.

Grizzly has a 12x37 belt drive lathe that appears to be pretty decent. I *heard* that the fit and finish is good, better than the gearheads. I've never seen it myself so I don't know how it compares to the Jet belt drive. I have a hunch that it maybe be better... but since you live so close to the Grizzly showroom, I'd suggest that you go see it for yourself.

The only thing I don't like about that particular model is that it doesn't have a camlock spindle, but that might be a negligible issue if you leave the 4-jaw chuck on it all the time (you probably won't have much use for the 3-jaw that comes with it). Features that I do like include the splash guard (the Jet doesn't have one available) and the inch/metric dials.

There's also that G4003 12x36 Gunsmith's lathe that was just introduced. Not sure how good it is... one buyer reported vibration and difficulty in releasing the half-nut. May have just been user error though.

[BobWarfield]

There are many many opinions on these lathes. You'll need to do a lot of reading of old threads. I would also look at what kind of lathe folks whose work you respect are using. For example, I seem to recall the Widgitmaster has a Birmingham lathe? I could be wrong on that, but he has one of the Chinese lathes.

There is also a Yahoo 12x36 lathe group. Join that and read all of their threads.

There are just a few common threads I've teased out of all this:

- If you are coming from a 9x20, nearly any 12x36 or larger lathe is going to seem like a phenomenal improvement. Even the Harbor Freight lathes seem to be well regarded by their owners if all they've used before that was a 9x20.

- Three phase gives a better finish than two phase. I don't know how much of this is due to the coincidence that the three phase is often only offered on more expensive lathes, but there you have it.

- More mass (e.g. a heavier machine) is better.

- All things considered, a lathe made in Taiwan is better, but may cost twice as much as a Chinese lathe.

Customer service is an interesting and hotly debated topic. I can find you a post from someone somewhere praising support and another post hating support from any manufacturer you want to name. I concluded a long time ago that if you are buying Asian machine tools, you need to be able to work on them a little bit. Even the big dollar CNC machines talked about on the PM boards seem to often show up with a surprising amount of issues. Witness the Haas that Zumba mentions (and I can find a bunch of fellas who will praise Haas and likely even that same lathe, LOL!).

Here is the short list of machines I'm looking at:

Acer Dynamic 1340G
Acer Dynamic 1440G
Birmingham CT-1440G
Birmingham LUX-1340G
Birmingham YCL1440
Enco 308-0233
GMC GML1440BGF
GMC GML-1440HD
Grizzly G9730 13x40
Jet 321810 GH-1340W-1
KBC GRIP-1440G
Sharp 1340VS

They range in price from $3200 to $9300. All have good reviews. Most have a bad review or two as well somewhere. At some point you pays your money and takes your chances.

Best,

BW

[smokin_arkie]

Looks like this Birmingham lathe is made in Taiwan CT-1440G:

http://www.americanmachinetools.com/lathe.htm

Maybe its a typo though as the price is pretty good. Anyone know for sure?