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About LinkBacksI am glad I read this, because at one point I had looked at this lathe. Though I highly doubt I would have gotten it because its too small. But sorry to hear your trouble with it.
I ll assume from your last few posts that your stuck with it ?
I am glad I read this, because at one point I had looked at this lathe. Though I highly doubt I would have gotten it because its too small. But sorry to hear your trouble with it.
I ll assume from your last few posts that your stuck with it ?
Hi Legion99999
It's been 15 months and no word. Did Smith ever make good on the junk they sold you? Did they ever come and fix all the problems with the CNC Lathe?
Willy
I am curious to know what happened as well. I was always under the influence that Smithy was a good company to work with. But I ve read more and more bad things ( all hearsay though, so I take that into account as well ).
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/chinese_machines/128856-my_j-cut_nightmare_machine_one.html#post944750
Yeah, WTF is the big secret?
Did you send it back or not?
....or did you just accept the idea of keeping the POS?
I do engineering consulting for Smithy, and I have spent many (many, many...) weeks working at their facility. I've been watching this thread since its inception and have wanted to comment, but the folks who run Smithy didn't want me to reply. Their attitude was essentially, "Don't feed the trolls". I can understand this position but, seeing the number of views that this thread has, it pains me to see this go unanswered. So, even if it gets me in trouble, here goes:
1. I'm pretty sure I saw this machine run at Smithy before it was shipped. I remember it because at the time we were doing a bunch of threading to test the software and I think this was a machine I used.
2. After the customer received it, he called to complain about coolant leaking, and I think he said, "leaking into the relays". I didn't take this call, so I heard this second hand. This didn't make much sense to me, but I figured I would sort it out over the phone.
3. WE COULD NEVER GET THE CUSTOMER ON THE PHONE! I left a one or two messages on an answering machine, leaving both my home and cell numbers for him to call back. I think he left a message on my machine one day, but after this his message machine was always full and no one ever answered the phone. Other than his initial phone call I don't think he ever tried to call Smithy (or me) back, and we could never reach him.
4. I've seen the folks at Smithy bend over backwards to please their customers. I've never heard them say, "Sorry your machine is out of warranty", no matter how old it was. If we could have talked to the customer I'm sure we could have fixed whatever was wrong! If all else failed, we could send another machine, as far as I know they were/are in stock. I've personally gone to customer sites to solve problems when there was no other way to figure out what was wrong.
5. I really think this was a problem of no communication, rather than an insoluble machine problem. After all, we have spare parts for everything and there is no electronic problem we cannot solve!
Anyway, I had to say something about this. Smithy has problems just like every other company, but they really do try to fix customer's machine problems when they arise, almost without limit. There are some folks you just can't please, but most of them can be satisfied if they are willing to work with you.
Matt,
I can appreciate you stepping in and commenting in a professional manner. And being a small business owner myself , I understand walking the fine line when something arises that you need to take care of verbally and in writing.
When you get someone that won't respond back to you that is tough. But even tougher when they go out and start telling everyone this and that. There are two sides to every story and I am not taking any sides in this, but was curious to know what happened.
I think you did a good job in your post in being clear and to the point.
Thanks
Todd
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/chinese_machines/128856-my_j-cut_nightmare_machine_one.html#post944750
I have to chime in here too as I've had great experiences with Smithy, working with Matt, Kerry and Michelle. They are very responsive and work quickly to solve issues. I have a 622 CNC and am extremely happy with the machine and support I've received from Smithy.
Andrew
Ya i have to agree with mapex99, smithy has helped me out a lot and i bought my machine second hand.
I've had nothing but positive experiences from Smithy. Like "irrational", I bought my lathe second hand and they have always bent over backwards to help me out with any issues.
Just curious- after nearly 3 years, did you ever get it working? , send it back for a refund?, scrap it out?Originally Posted by Legion99999
I personally would not buy another smithy.
I purchased a 1340 quite a few years ago and just out of warranty the speed control went out of it.
To their credit they did replace that and shortly after that the motor went out and they did replace it also.
They wouldnt admit there was a problem with power at low rpms in these units but then came out with a I model that was suppose to solve that problem.
Thats great but doesnt solve an ongoing problem with mine.
The head will not clamp tight enough to do any cutting without it moving.
I see they have worked on that issue also but still my machine is stuck with the problem.
The v-belts were cheap junk,the finish chips off and the machines look like they have been used hard and have alot more hours on them than they do.
For the amount of money you spend on one you are better off going out and buying a bridgeport mill and a good used name brand lathe.
Then you can do the work you were hoping you could of done on the Smithy when you bought it.
I dont use mine anymore and wished I would of never bought it.
They are not easy to resell for what you should be able to get out of them because now most guys know they had issues.
Smithy should of sent out updated parts to get the older machines up to par with the new ones and make them useable.
May be ok for aluminum or plastics but not much more.
Thats interesting- there was another thread a while back in which someone claimed that Smithy was imported used/rebuilt machines. Did they sell it to you as used?
here's the link
ARE SMITHY MACHINES USED / REBUILT?
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