Looks like Smithy dropped their 1034 CNC model

[djnbig]

It's gone from their website, I guess they dropped this model? I'm guessing it was somewhat unpopular considering the 1240 cost difference was nil for people willing to spend in this dollar range.


i dunooo..

djn

[smallblock]

Hard to believe it was in the lineup to begin with- as you said, for the price difference most would go to the 12-40 or better yet the Tormach. You'd think one of those PhD's would have seen that in advance. They seem a bit like a rudderless ship lately. The 12-40 is a catch up copy of the Tormach, the little CNC units are like the Syil and others. They tried a bulldozer ??!! a while back and quickly dropped it like a hot potato. The Shopsmith clone was probably pretty popular up until the housing crash put the skids to all that woodworking stuff. Some financial guru wrote that in tough economic times a business must concentrate on its core products. For Smithy, that has always been the 3 in1 machines, but that line of products is showing their age as well. They are all old 80's designs that they keep propping up with a bunch of new names. Consumers are pretty savvy these days, and slapping a different name tag on the same old stuff doesn't work when people are watching every penny. ( remember the Cadillac Cimmaron and Lincoln Versailles )

[digitalmdj]

The chinese are having to raise their prices and do better quality control. The day of the cheap lathe and mill is coming to an end. Company's like Shoptask and Smitty will be a thing of the past. Raw Materials and high Oil prices will put them out of business. American made products will once again be on top. Just look at Shoptask prices they are going up and thats just the beginning. Poor quality and bad castings will have to be delt with and very soon . The value of the dollar is droping and people overseas are already taking advantage of it by buying American. Smitty can no longer compete and are droping the line of products that are not selling because of the recession we are in that even our own Goverment won't admit. The only country left to exploit right now is India. They are the next industrial nation to take off. We will see what kind of lathe or mill they can produce. By the way shoptask hasn't changed their lathe spindle casting since 1990 . They just keep rebranding their machine also.

[smallblock]

It will be interesting to see how things shake out as the recession deepens. You will see fewer people buying machines strictly as another garage hobby, but you may see an increase in people buying machines to start up home based businesses. So, the companies that can offer a reasonably priced machine with good capacities may prosper, while the guys selling to the " bottom feeders" will fall by the wayside. I'm not sure about India as the wave of the future though. They have a lot of cheap labor, but not the government subsidies that keep the Chinese export market moving. The cost of steel and oil is just as high in India, so they really don't have an advantage over China in manufacturing costs. As for Shoptask, I had an early 17-20 model and now have a Patriot, and all the castings are a new design on the Patriot. Looking from the outside they look alike, but the Patriot uses all caged needle bearings where the old machine had bushings etc.

[digitalmdj]

The Patriots is a thousand dollars more than the tri power . With very little improvements. I don't think they are selling very well right now. People want to see it run first . The quality has made more people eager to see the machine before they buy it. Since they cant produce people who own one close to them they just wont touch it. So john your out of luck they want to see the quality before they throw their hard earned money away.

[sharpshooter90]

I got a good offer on my used Quadra Lift model, so I am going to order the Patriot. I thought about the Tormach, but I know I will want a lathe as well, and the patriot is the only combo machine with the capacities I need. They are sold out about 30 days in advance right now, but that gives me time to get my projects done and get the Quadra lift out of the shop. The Patriot is 200.00 more than the old TrI power, but with the money I made and a little profit on the Quadralift, I am ahead of the game overall.

[djnbig]

Looks like Smithy dropped another model from their CNC lineup . Possibly moving towards the release of something new? Down to two models only now.

hmm..

djn

[sharpshooter90]

This is the 3rd product line they have dropped recently. Perhaps they expanded too quickly without enough test time. From other posts here, it appears that Tormach and Syil are beating them in the CNC market. It must be tough over there in the Detroit area, with the economy in the toilet. I'm sure a lot of their customers were auto related people. On top of that, they have the Shopsmith clone and the small bulldozer aimed at the home building business which is another dead industry. I see a lot of used Smithy 3 in 1 machines on e-bay, indicating that the low end machine tool market is also slowing- guys now dumping anything they see as un needed to generate some extra cash.