for canadian princess auto shoppers

[vulcom1]

Was at the store in Calgary yesterday and could find nothing for milling or turning. I rotate between Calgary and Lethbridge stores as I am in the middle. Neither one has anything like a mill or lathe. Wish they did but with them lots of times it is hit or miss. I would also like to see some large steppers in there surplus as they used to carry the small ones.
Like a lot of mechs when I was in the field half the time I used a lot of there tools. Especially the 3/4 drive set. Lot cheaper when I lost one in the dirt and in the shop usually Mac or Snap-on. Medically retired now from one of those incidences but still have the tools.
John

[trubleshtr]

Intresting, They advertised them in a flyer back in august. they were mini lathes, 8x12, chinese in origin, and I think identical to the ones at harbour freight in the states? like this...http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=44859

[dertsap]

some of their stuff has to be ordered , they don t stock everything in the store ,

[JerryFlyGuy]

They have them listed in their current Cat. Page 19 of 38 on this PDF link
http://members.shaw.ca/DL0003/SHOP-CAN.pdf [warning its like 3mb]

Just by looking at it, you'd think its the same unit as what BusyBee sell's?
I guess $800 is cheap enough.. I'd want to look it over pretty closely before buying it.. If its relatively tight, someone should design and sell a CNC adaption kit.. they'd sell like hot-cakes if it was all priced reasonably.

Busy Bee's Lathes are here http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/produ...01008061188824 for comparison..

If someone does end up buying one of these, let us know what kinda quality it is..

Jerry [I'd buy one if I knew it was worth it...]

[vulcom1]

I was in Calgary last week and could not see anything like that lathe in Princess. You would think in that place they would carry one as it is a new location. Busy Bee is a couple of blocks away and they have them on sale also. I have been looking at the ones with the belt driven with the gap beds and the twin carriage drives. As I have a 12" Atlas I do not want to be smaller. You can always turn smaller items with the larger machine but it is very hard to turn large items in a small machine. The reason for the belt drive is that if you gouge into something by mistake it won't usually break to much but just slip. Done that.
Another point to me is that the Bee deals in shop tools so they may keep parts in stock or have parts available fairly quick. Between the 2 places they are always competing on items. I wait for the sales flyers and then buy. Attachments and cutting tools come up usually every second quarter and that is when I stock up if needed.
A tip for buying the small lathes that I got info about was the spindle mount. It is a good idea to check that you can add accessories with out any problems. Some only have the 3 jaw chuck with reversible jaws. That is a pain in the butt when trying to centre a sqare object. No 4 jaw.
John

[triump]

Hey Trublesht

You said you were from Goerge Town and you bought a mill from princes auto. What princes auto was that and how much did you pay. Also was it a round collum or square collum.

Thanks

[Weldtutor]

Originally Posted by vulcom1 I was in Calgary last week and could not see anything like that lathe in Princess.

The mini lathe is also shown in the Princess Auto fall & winter 2006 catalogue, bottom of page 202.

Stock #8120974.

Their web site has a downloadable version of the catalogue.

Happy searching!

[Wineryrjd]

Where in Canada were you, I live in Halifax and would like to check that out

Thanks

Wineryrjd

[trubleshtr]

Originally Posted by triump Hey Trublesht You said you were from Goerge Town and you bought a mill from princes auto. What princes auto was that and how much did you pay. Also was it a round collum or square collum. Thanks

HI,
I'm in Georgetown Ontario. I bought the Mill from BUSY BEE in Mississauga.(B1977 model) round collum.....go with a square one if you are looking at buying a mill, alot less hassel if you need to move the whole spindle up/down with different sized tools, you lose your positioning if you are have way through a project.

I have only seen the lathe at Princess auto, no milling machines there?.