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The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend - Robertson Davies
When it arrived it did not work, Missaligned Vertical (z) Axis motor/pulley, hole drilled in (z) axis Belt that made it skip when cranking it manually, Idler Pulleys that had bearings destroyed by the sholdered bolt having too short a shoulder causing severe side-load when it was tightened and a computer that was prone to crashing and had none of the alleged files on the hard drive, All that was even before I lifted the unit into the base frame. The parts that I ended up changing or upgrading are here:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/11263776233...84.m1558.l2649
There are many shill accounts on here that defend Shopmaster/Shoptask and many negative comments get pulled by moderators.
https://en.industryarena.com/forum/mill-turn-owner-feedback-prospective-buyer--328284.html
Wow Norton, I'm sad you had such a terrible experience. Actually it sickens me. I'm, as of right now, in the market for a small CNC lathe for my gun business. I currently do barrel re profiling work on a WT 11x26 and I'd like to free myself up from the drudgery of that task. I am looking hard at everything in the $6000 to $12,000 class and I'm frankly scared sh$tl$ss. I have never ran CNC, I just turn the knobs and have all my life. I have always been pretty computer literate but half the terms you all throw around about these CNC's are greek to me and I don't have the time or aptitude to learn this thing as well as fix it. I have to have that small footprint and that's why the shopmaster appealed to me along with the microkinetics. I can't seem to find anyone else with something less than 68" long and 30" deep.
I ramble on. The law of merchantability clearly states that something must be able to be used for what it was marketed for. I can only say that if I sent a firearm out and it didn't work as it was intended I'd be ashamed. The CNC world seems to operate on a different standard because from what I read... They all suck! I just need to find the one that sucks the least
If you don't need a tail-stock, you can probably get it to eventually turn. My tail-stock is so wobbly and mis-aligned, I have never gotten it to a useful point. The centerline of the tail-stock is at least 2mm lower than the centerline of the chuck.
I'm about 2 years in with mine and I've certainly learned how to better spend my money next time. The owner still has never made an effort to make things right with my purchase and I boxes of the junk I've had to strip off and replace. Fortunately I continue to have access to real CNC machines at work to machine the band-aids for my Mill Yurn.
You'll find the only positive reviews on this forum come from guys who all use the same style of writing and the same all-caps user-names, shill reviews on Amazon are less obvious :P
Yes n1tr0 I do need the tailstock. Now my search continues to find the small CNC lathe package that sucks the least. I will not buy from a company that does not back their customers and product. I have read enough on just this thread to rule out shopmaster and it's a shame. The footprint and theory of the shopmaster design seemed to be best suited for my needs.
[QUOTE=Norton_BMW;2169988]In mine I had to fix the alignment and had the surfaces precision ground and then use a precision shim. The GIB retention plate was also too flimsy.
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I had read that several pages back. My cheap WT 11x26 has issues but nothing like some of the things discussed here, the tailstock works great . I do believe that you all are expecting a tad too much from a $6500 machine, might be the lowest price on the market. On the other hand it was the $6500 units marketing that boasted of the specs and the things it could do, not you all.
It sucks when a 'company' tries to hide behind the fine print rather than stepping up and fixing/replacing their defective parts.A lot of the numbers look good, but I know when I ordered mine they omitted some critical ones by using terms like "0-max" on the speeds. The whole, you have to keep the machine for a year before you can return it is just a gamble that people will give up and walk away or try to resell the turd privately at a loss before then. I've heard a few stories about guys having to sign NDAs and take down youtube videos before they could get any sort of return as well.
@Norton, thanks for the suggestion on the shimming. When I found that tail-stock so out of alignment, I just pulled it off the machine and stuck it on a shelf. To be fair, I haven't tried to use the machine in ages, I usually just knock out the parts I need after-hours on either the Haas or Tormach at work, no surprises there.
OOPS- in your haste to respond you forgot to log in under your other alias.
I guess I'm confused. My name is Tim Shufflin and I own Shuff's Parkerizing. If anyone ever wants to chat with me my phone number and email are clearly listed on my website. Now "instructor37", that's an alias. My name IS my forum name. Before you insinuate something please know your stuff.
OK- I'll call you Dr. Jekyll- watch now as Mr. Hyde shows up.
What are you insinuating Sir/Ma'am (I don't know because you are an alias)? Quit speaking in riddles and let loose. I came to this forum looking for a machine to help my business and now I'm accosted by the riddler. Like I clearly said, anyone can see who I am and how to contact me. I don't hide, I don't play any games, I'm right here asking you what in the heck are you trying to insinuate?
You know instructor37 the Shopmaster is the machine I wanted. The machine has the right spindle bore for me, the right footprint, nobody can say the price isn't right... if it works. It would even probably allow me to get rid of one of my extra mills. How can I take the risk of buying it though? I look at all sorts of posts/videos and I have never seen so much like/hate for a machine. Seriously, it's all over the map. I don't need to put a man on the moon with the machine either. The lathe needs to re contour some gun barrels, cut a few vertical keys, put some 9/16 32 threads on, finish it all of with an outside crown . The Mill (if there's room on the bed for an indexer) needs to cut some horizontal keys and drill a gas port. The rest of the time the lathe needs to make gas pistons.
instructor37, if you have a special place in your heart for Shopmaster then put in a good word for me. Perhaps we can all win. I have the cash money to buy that machine no problem. Have them put up a public posting on this forum with a field review challenge. I'll buy the mill (cash for the mill held in escrow till the end of the review) and Shopmaster gives me an un conditional money back warranty if I'm not happy with it after 90 days are up. I'll post in detail, all my trials, tribulations, victory's, and wins with the unit. The clock will tick down to day 91 where I get to decide if I keep the mill or not.
I'll put some skin in the game and have to pay a flat $500 shipping to return it (NO restocking fee). I'd expect that Shopmaster would have some skin in the game as well because they'd want to make sure they get a good review and keep the sale. We can take a look at how many days the machine is broken down or running over the 90 day period. Examine how quickly Shopmaster responds to my stupid questions, and I will have stupid questions. Evaluate how long it takes to get parts if needed and blah blah blah.
If you have pull instructor37 have them contact me. We can have their corporate lawyer chat with my corporate lawyer and put the whole thing together.
And the final benefit? The Shopmaster would be sent to my NON alias address of 8300 Walworth Road, Jerome, MI 49249. See now instructor37, you'll even get to see that I am who I am, Tim Shufflin the owner of Shuff's Parkerizing.
JT/smallblock/bigblock/instructor/shopmaster/whatever just assumes everyone else is an alias because that's what he does.