[jdclark]

Don't waste anytime or money on this machine. The software is so bad. Eztrol is nothing short of garbage, even chinese software works better. That's sad. Save ur money,

Ever consider just dumping the whole control system and buying a domestic one? If the machine is good, it could get you up and running.

[jdclark]

Id post pixs if it were running. Currently i am not very happy with the machine. Here is why..

1.The casing leaks badly, turn the coolant on and you have a shower out the back of the machine.

2. The electronics on the lathe short out when splashed with coolant.

3. Support from smithy is non exisitant.

4. Ez Trol is a joke, no wizards, even though they advertise them and the program is basicly a rip off of sharewhare EMC. Its very primative and basic. Smithy really dropped the ball. In the process of trying to squeeze every dollar of profit out of this sub par machine they really screwed up by no going with MACH 3.



Right now I would just like my money back

FYI- there's a guy over on the Syil forum who wants a CNC lathe real bad- maybe you could make a deal with him and kill 2 birds with one stone.

[307startup]

That would be me. I want no part of this lathe, it is about the same size as the C6 Syil lathe, and has a worthless operating system.

FYI- there's a guy over on the Syil forum who wants a CNC lathe real bad- maybe you could make a deal with him and kill 2 birds with one stone.

[Legion99999]

I wouldn't do that to some one else. It has cost me a ton of money but to pass this piece of crap on to another person isn't something i wouldn't do. I contacted art some time ago, and he said no prob retro fitting it to mach 3. Just need some free time to do so.

Sad to say my syil machines are far better..

[g29cc]

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 ?

[Willyb]

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

[g29cc]

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 ).

[foam27]

Yeah, WTF is the big secret?

Did you send it back or not?

....or did you just accept the idea of keeping the POS?

[matt_g_shaver]

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.

[g29cc]

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

[mapex99]

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

[irrational]

Ya i have to agree with mapex99, smithy has helped me out a lot and i bought my machine second hand.

[AiR_GuNNeR]

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.

[jdclark]

I wouldn't do that to some one else. It has cost me a ton of money but to pass this piece of crap on to another person isn't something i wouldn't do. I contacted art some time ago, and he said no prob retro fitting it to mach 3. Just need some free time to do so.

Sad to say my syil machines are far better..

Just curious- after nearly 3 years, did you ever get it working? , send it back for a refund?, scrap it out?

[cncbpt]

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.

[jdclark]

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
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/smithy...d_rebuilt.html

[cncbpt]

Sold as a brand new machine

[flatheadford49]

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
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/smithy...d_rebuilt.html

JD,
Do you still have your 3 in 1, or did you sell it and are looking for a used Smithy.


Here is your quote from another forum here on the CNC Zone.

"Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: usa
Posts: 74
jdclark
PATRIOT- Excellent quality
I opened up my Patriot over the weekend, and so far I am very impressed with the overall quality of the machine. I have the DRO system installed as well. I read as many posts as I could on this and other forums as well as visiting some owners of different machines. I think Shopmaster and Smithy have the best quality machines, but Shopmaster has a much better design, especially in the milling function. I welcome other patriot owners to share any tips or tricks not already posted here."

[jdclark]

JD,
Do you still have your 3 in 1, or did you sell it and are looking for a used Smithy.

No- still have the Patriot. I have gotten good service from it and consider it the best of the 3 in 1 machines due to its better mill design. The only down side is that now Shopmaster has the new version with ball screws, VFD drives and CNC as standard features. They offer upgrades for the older machines, but by the time I do them, I am at nearly the price of a new machine. The good news is that they offered me 80% of my original purchase price on trade toward a new machine, and since I am in driving distance of Vegas, I won't have freight to pay.
While thinking this deal over, it jogged my memory of the guy who bought the Smithy lathe and was unhappy, and was curious about whatever happened. His lathe cost him around 10 grand and is a 9 X 24. While I can get the new Shopmaster for 1/2 that price and it is a full 17 X 30 CNC lathe plus a 10 X 25 CNC mill. Plus Shopmaster uses Gecko drives and Mach III software which have the best reputation in this forum. I haven't seen anyone who can offer as much as that for 5 grand.

[flatheadford49]

No- still have the Patriot. I have gotten good service from it and consider it the best of the 3 in 1 machines due to its better mill design. The only down side is that now Shopmaster has the new version with ball screws, VFD drives and CNC as standard features. They offer upgrades for the older machines, but by the time I do them, I am at nearly the price of a new machine. The good news is that they offered me 80% of my original purchase price on trade toward a new machine, and since I am in driving distance of Vegas, I won't have freight to pay.
While thinking this deal over, it jogged my memory of the guy who bought the Smithy lathe and was unhappy, and was curious about whatever happened. His lathe cost him around 10 grand and is a 9 X 24. While I can get the new Shopmaster for 1/2 that price and it is a full 17 X 30 CNC lathe plus a 10 X 25 CNC mill. Plus Shopmaster uses Gecko drives and Mach III software which have the best reputation in this forum. I haven't seen anyone who can offer as much as that for 5 grand.

You must really love your 3 in 1, your post sounds like a sales pitch. The CNC Zone is going to send you a bill for advertising.

If you can get an 80% trade in on a new machine with those kinds of upgrades, you should go for it. But then you seem to be ok with the 3 in 1 design. For me they are too limited and restrictive. I bought an older yellow manual model at an estate sale years ago. Instead of $5000 it only cost me $300 to find that out, and I ended up buying a lathe and a mill separate. But any machine is better than no machine.