[DarbinCo]

Yea another noobie question here.

I am looking at a couple BT lathes. Having exhausted the search function on this site I fugured it was time to make a post.

I would like to get a BT lathe. Honestly at this time I would have no plans to CNC this machine (I know..... find another forum right! LOL)

I have looked at a bunch of them and a couple that stick out are the Grizzly G0602 and the Weiss 210/240 machines. I noticed that Weiss has a couple different sites on the web and one of them isnt working correctly at this time. They are also fairly new from what I understand.

Anyone have a Weiss bench top lathe and how do you like it.
I know these machines are put out with several different names on them, any copys of the weiss out there?

Whats your thoughts on the Grizzly machine G0602?

Thanks for your responces,
D

[RotarySMP]

Buy the biggest heaviest lathe you have money and space for. Budget the same amount for tooling as the lathe cost.

Enjoy.

[packrat]

Take a look on Enco; http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRHI?PMSECT=1182
They even have free freight from time to time.

Their quality is in my opinion, better than Grissly.

cary

[ridgway]

Bench top is a relative term with the user.
I have an old Altlas 6x18 and a floor model of a Logan 820 which I am going to convert to bench top.
Enco supplies some good lathes and so does Grizzly.
I've used both.
I am really impressed with the new Grizzly Gunsmithing Lathes. They now have a smaller version you might want to check out.

[Al_The_Man]

My son picked up a Lathmaster 9x30 that I am CNC'ing for him, it comes with quite a few accessories, built around most of the ROC designs, also comes with flame hardened ways.
http://www.lathemaster.com/
http://www.cnccookbook.com/MTLatheFirstChips.htm
Al.

[Crevice Reamer]

The Weiss is a mini lathe. I am sure it is excellent quality, but still only a MT3 mini lathe. You could save some bucks and get the same size HF 8x12.

I recommend the much larger Grizzly G0602. You really get a lot of lathe value for the money:

http://crevicereamer.com/Page_70.html

CR.

[DarbinCo]

The Weiss is a mini lathe. I am sure it is excellent quality, but still only a MT3 mini lathe. You could save some bucks and get the same size HF 8x12.

I recommend the much larger Grizzly G0602. You really get a lot of lathe value for the money:

http://crevicereamer.com/Page_70.html

CR.

Nice site and well put together.


I have been doing some more searching and found another machine I really like. Its bigger than the Grizzly and some here and elsewhere have good things to say about them.

Its a copy of the Weiss (280 I think) this one is 11x27 from Precision Matthews. This one has a variable speed motor and a power cross feed which would be nice. Comes with the base also. Its short of twice the cost of the Griz but the size and options I think make it a more useable machine. Your thoughts again?

http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM-1127-VF.html

[Crevice Reamer]

Nice site and well put together.


I have been doing some more searching and found another machine I really like. Its bigger than the Grizzly and some here and elsewhere have good things to say about them.

Its a copy of the Weiss (280 I think) this one is 11x27 from Precision Matthews. This one has a variable speed motor and a power cross feed which would be nice. Comes with the base also. Its short of twice the cost of the Griz but the size and options I think make it a more useable machine. Your thoughts again?

http://www.machinetoolonline.com/PM-1127-VF.html

Thanks! Thats a good price on the 1127 with variable speed. Grizzly also carries one similar, but without the VS, power cross feed and stand:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/11-x...Gearbox/G9972Z

You can't go wrong with either one, but that PM is a deal--And a LOT of value for the money--ESPECIALLY if it has the BLDC motor.

CR.

[tlfamm]

We just took delivery of a PM 11x27 VF two weeks ago - still learning our way around it (in the middle of 2 basement floods) - but we are very pleased so far.

DarbinCo:
>>>"Its a copy of the Weiss (280 I think) this one is 11x27 from Precision Matthews. This one has a variable speed motor and a power cross feed which would be nice. Comes with the base also. Its short of twice the cost of the Griz but the size and options I think make it a more useable machine."

"Copy" wouldn't be quite accurate - these lathes almost certainly came out of the same factory (except that the PM has inch lead-screw and cross-screw). In fact, the driver-card for the RPM display says "www.weissmachinetool.com" on it, and the "users-manual" (a miserable specimen of the species) has images of Weiss lathes in it. Also, while the 280 is probably a better guess, it could be the Weiss 290 ...




Crevice Reamer:
>>>You can't go wrong with either one, but that PM is a deal--And a LOT of value for the money--ESPECIALLY if it has the BLDC motor.

We're not sure about the motor technology - somehow I got the idea it is DC + brushes, but I'm not really certain.
--------------------------------------------------------------
We ordered the lathe with DRO & Multifix-clone 40-pos toolpost: pretty slick, but tough on the budget.

[tlfamm]

(hopefully)

[DarbinCo]

tlfamm
How long was the wait for your machine. Was it in stock or was there a long lead time or backorder?

I talked with weiss on friday, sound like its a long wait for a machine from them 50 to 70 days. That could be shortened to 20 days if I was to pay the extra 300 dollar LTL charge for an "expedited order"

Hahaha....... I deal with LTL carriers all the time in my business, they dont charge extra to deliver from point A to point B. LTL isnt a expedited service by any means, they dont know its a rush order, least of all care its fragile! I think its the seller wanting to make a few extra bucks because I dont want to wait 6 to 10 weeks for a machine. I dont know the whole thing sounded really strange. I listened to the deal twice to make sure and very nicely got off the phone and started looking elsewhere.

[tlfamm]

>>>How long was the wait for your machine. Was it in stock or was there a long lead time or backorder?


3/12: ordered
3/22: delivered


The _apparent_ current availability (as suggested by their web site - but call them to verify) is:

PM 1127V: in stock
PM 1127VF: not in stock*
PM 1127VF with DRO: in stock#
----------------------------


* Last info I had from Quality Machine Tools was that their next shipment of Precision Matthews lathes & mills was due mid-May at the latest (and could arrive sooner). Our mill is in the mid-May batch.

# The QMT website is not necessarily updated day-by-day to reflect current inventory status - so this may be stale info (but it was true when we placed our order).

Again - call for the most accurate info: they are very friendly and easy to deal with.
===========

>>>I talked with weiss on friday, sound like its a long wait for a machine from them 50 to 70 days. That could be shortened to 20 days if I was to pay the extra 300 dollar LTL charge for an "expedited order"

>>>>Hahaha....... I deal with LTL carriers all the time in my business, they dont charge extra to deliver from point A to point B. LTL isnt a expedited service by any means, they dont know its a rush order, least of all care its fragile! I think its the seller wanting to make a few extra bucks because I dont want to wait 6 to 10 weeks for a machine. I dont know the whole thing sounded really strange. I listened to the deal twice to make sure and very nicely got off the phone and started looking elsewhere.

Recently Weiss, USA was reborn with a new organization and location - they are starting from scratch, and have very little stock. So for now, its almost build-to-order. In that environment, "expedited order" could imply much more than LTL expediting: from redirecting a "spoken-for" lathe to another customer, to expanding the existing production order (and causing ripples down the entire pipeline), to playing games with supply and demand: customer is hot to buy _now_, we don't have inventory _now_, we'll do what we can to satisfy him - but we're going to make him pay extra for the privilege.

Anyway, remember the big difference between these two sibling lathes: the Precision Matthews is an inch-machine, the Weiss equivalent is a metric-machine.

[gheumann]

Hi - I'll be interested to follow this discussion - I too have an 1127 on order (as of April 1.) Despite what the web site says, the DRO models are NOT in stock.

Anyway, I'm moving up from my first lathe which is a Grizzly G0516 and has served me really well. However it is definitely worn a bit, and I'm doing more and more production work - I am really looking forward to the heavier duty machine, not having to change speeds via pulleys and belts, change feeds via gears, etc.

Might be nice to have a Yahoo group for this lathe. Is there such a thing?

@tlfamm: If you have any suggestions for unloading/cleaning/installing from your experience I'd love to hear about it.....

/Greg
BlowsMeAway Productions

[blades]

The MicroMark comes HIGHLY recommended from Nelson_2008!

Sorry, J/K! Couldn't help it. :stickpoke

[DarbinCo]

Well things have changed a bit for me since I started this thread.

My wife asked me a little over week ago if I had ordered the lathe yet? My reply was no, she asked why..... I told her it was because I had a couple other larger projects in mind and didnt know if the 1127 was going to be enough machine. Her comment was something like "buy the machine thats big enough to..............

I really didnt hear much after that to be honest, LOL!!

She's gonna chit when she lays eyes on that PM 13x40 in the garage for the first time!

I looked hard at the 12x36 but for 800 more you get the 13x40, so 6 more inches of bed length, the QC tool post and a taper attachment, seemed like a no brainer to me. It will be all the machine I will ever need as a hobbyist even if gun smithing is in the far future.

[TroyO]

LOL... I actually had that backfire on me once...

I went to Lowes/Home Despot and was looking at a nice little single stage snowblower. My wife says "Well maybe we should get the bigger one.." and i go off like a flash with the 22", dual stage self propelled beastie.

So far so good... except...

It won't fit in the car.
We take it out of the box. Still no go in the car.
We go to rent a truck. I don't have my insurance card. She won't drive the truck.
Etc, etc... LOL

And now... I curse the big beastie everytime I pass the section of sidewalk that only about 20 inches wide and it digs in and I have to kind of walk it over.. LOL.

Now, if she says the same thing again.... I'll still do it. I'm a guy. LOL.

[gheumann]

A bigger lathe wasn't an option for me - I'm already cramped for space in my shop. But another interesting consideration is that as lathes get bigger the top spindle speed seems to go down. I turn a lot of 1/2" aluminum parts, as well as wood products. I like 2400 RPM! Bigger isn't ALWAYS better - unless you have room for 2 lathes, that is.......

[blades]

Good deal on the larger lathe! My wife is very much like that too, she doesn't want to see me buy something less than what I really want or need. Guess she's been well educated over the years, and knows compromise is not always the best path.

[DarbinCo]

I aint got room for an 1127! but if I have to make room for one, might as well make room for the 1340!

[Nelson_2008]

The MicroMark comes HIGHLY recommended from Nelson_2008!

Sorry, J/K! Couldn't help it. :stickpoke

Aw c'mon, I think you're just jealous 'cause my MicroMark lathe came with its own "built-in" taper attachment!

BTW, is anyone looking for a nice paperweight that resembles a lathe?