I stopped at the Grizzly store in Muncy PA, And looked at there lathes I was not really impressed with the fit and finish but they probably work just fine.I talked to Greg Tannel,A VERY INTELEGANT, HELPFUL NICE GUY).He told me to look at the Enco or MSC lathes. He did not have much knowledge or exposure to the Grizzly line.But thought they would work just fine.I noticed that some of the higher end competition shooters that smith there own stuff seem to go with Enco's.Can anyone have a suggestion on what model Enco or Msc lathe I should be looking at for accurate gunsmithing?Or do I have to go to Clausing,Nardini,Sharp etc for a accurate lathe that will last?
Lathes Asian ?????
- Thread starter 6mmdasher
- Start date
It seems this subject has been beat to death.
There are many people who swear by the Grizzly lathes.
Then there are lots of people who have some deep pockets who say you need to go with Leblonde, Nardini ect.
I personally have bought Grizzly equipment,not a lathe) and was not happy with my purchase.
I have spoken with lots of people,,some machinist) who have Grizzly lathes and say there are nice equipment.
I have gone a different route and stayed away from Grizzly.
As far as Enco and MSC, my reading tells me they all come from the same place.
I know this does not answer your questions but that is all I have found on my quest fr a lathe.
Good luck.
There are many people who swear by the Grizzly lathes.
Then there are lots of people who have some deep pockets who say you need to go with Leblonde, Nardini ect.
I personally have bought Grizzly equipment,not a lathe) and was not happy with my purchase.
I have spoken with lots of people,,some machinist) who have Grizzly lathes and say there are nice equipment.
I have gone a different route and stayed away from Grizzly.
As far as Enco and MSC, my reading tells me they all come from the same place.
I know this does not answer your questions but that is all I have found on my quest fr a lathe.
Good luck.
I set up the Grizzly 16"x40" gunsmith's lathe for a friend a few weks ago and I have to say that I was impressed with the quality of the machine,the chucks that come with it are kinda sloppy but I used to working with a $2000+ Buck so its kinda hard to compair. I was able to dial an action in dead nuts .0000" as easy as on a big LeBlond with the earlier mentioned chuckand custom made jig, it also it cut some very nice threads.
Is it as good as a LeBlond ? in a production invoroment where it'll be running 8-12hrs every day, I'd say no but for a gunsmith thats making a couple dozen guns a year I think you'll be happy with it.
I've also seen some of the upper end JET lathes and they work great for what they are. I don't have any experiance with the Enco lathes but their mills are decient for the money, I can say that I would rathe use an Enco mill than a Lagune that cost twice as much.
You can pretty much make a semi crappy lathe work well for you is you invest in the better tooling, and honestly thats where the real money comes into play.
Is it as good as a LeBlond ? in a production invoroment where it'll be running 8-12hrs every day, I'd say no but for a gunsmith thats making a couple dozen guns a year I think you'll be happy with it.
I've also seen some of the upper end JET lathes and they work great for what they are. I don't have any experiance with the Enco lathes but their mills are decient for the money, I can say that I would rathe use an Enco mill than a Lagune that cost twice as much.
You can pretty much make a semi crappy lathe work well for you is you invest in the better tooling, and honestly thats where the real money comes into play.
Grizzly seems to have several different qualities and match more than one price point in a given area.
I have several pieces of Grizzly equipment and the stuff i bought is pretty decent. I didn't expect to get a Doall when I only paid $1200 for a bandsaw and it does the job.
I am soon to be in the market for a new,to me) lathe and i have looked hard at Grizzly lathes. I visited them at the SHOT show but unfortunately they had a horribly small booth that was overcrowded and made it difficult to do much but participate in a peep show.
My neighbor just bought a combo lathe/mill from Gizzly. To me it looks like something out of Harbor Freight!!! I haven't run it yet so I can't comment on the true quality, but the casting and stampings are extremely crude. The guy that bought it is a retired VP from Clausing and thinks it's better to have a new Chinese lathe with parts availability and a warranty than an expensive used American machine!
I am soon to be in the market for a new,to me) lathe. I have looked hard at the Grizzly stuff and stopped by their booth at the SHOT show but unfortunately they had a horribly undersized booth and most visitors could only window shop so to speak.
Their Taiwanese lathes are nice, but they are not cheap. The big gunsmith lathe has Timken spindle bearings and holds very good tolerances if you can get over the belt buckle and crude castings.
I think it's as good as any of the other Chinese import stuff.
I have several pieces of Grizzly equipment and the stuff i bought is pretty decent. I didn't expect to get a Doall when I only paid $1200 for a bandsaw and it does the job.
I am soon to be in the market for a new,to me) lathe and i have looked hard at Grizzly lathes. I visited them at the SHOT show but unfortunately they had a horribly small booth that was overcrowded and made it difficult to do much but participate in a peep show.
My neighbor just bought a combo lathe/mill from Gizzly. To me it looks like something out of Harbor Freight!!! I haven't run it yet so I can't comment on the true quality, but the casting and stampings are extremely crude. The guy that bought it is a retired VP from Clausing and thinks it's better to have a new Chinese lathe with parts availability and a warranty than an expensive used American machine!
I am soon to be in the market for a new,to me) lathe. I have looked hard at the Grizzly stuff and stopped by their booth at the SHOT show but unfortunately they had a horribly undersized booth and most visitors could only window shop so to speak.
Their Taiwanese lathes are nice, but they are not cheap. The big gunsmith lathe has Timken spindle bearings and holds very good tolerances if you can get over the belt buckle and crude castings.
I think it's as good as any of the other Chinese import stuff.
ArtinNC
Gold $$ Contributor
I have a Enco lathe 12X36 with a spindle bore of 1 3/8 .
I would not advise you to buy a Enco. It is belt drive and I had to change the belt on the spindle. while trying to get a pulley off the belt tensioner I was lightly taping the pulley on the side and broke the pulley in half. This lathe I bought new 20years ago and never used it much till I retired in 2001 and they have no parts for it. So if you need parts your out of luck. I took the pulley to a welding shop and they brassed it back together then to a machine shop to have it turned down. I put it back together and it runs ok. But the parts are cheep and made out of inferior material.
Also had a problem while turning in the lathe, the part I was turning had a pattern on it and couldn't seen to stop it. And after doing a lot of research I found it was from the motor. So I had to put 3/4 thick rubber between the motor and the lathe. And this did stop the vibration and it started making a smooth cut.
I would go with the Grzzly Gunsmith Lathe. I think they are made out of better material and better built. No more Enco for me.
Art
I would not advise you to buy a Enco. It is belt drive and I had to change the belt on the spindle. while trying to get a pulley off the belt tensioner I was lightly taping the pulley on the side and broke the pulley in half. This lathe I bought new 20years ago and never used it much till I retired in 2001 and they have no parts for it. So if you need parts your out of luck. I took the pulley to a welding shop and they brassed it back together then to a machine shop to have it turned down. I put it back together and it runs ok. But the parts are cheep and made out of inferior material.
Also had a problem while turning in the lathe, the part I was turning had a pattern on it and couldn't seen to stop it. And after doing a lot of research I found it was from the motor. So I had to put 3/4 thick rubber between the motor and the lathe. And this did stop the vibration and it started making a smooth cut.
I would go with the Grzzly Gunsmith Lathe. I think they are made out of better material and better built. No more Enco for me.
Art
It seems odd that with all the visitors to this site i have yet to see a pst from a machinist or for that matter someone who actually owns one of Grizzly's gunsmith lathes... I am very fortunate to have access to a large Leblond but i have often considered looking for a lathe for my shop at home... i have the room but buying a lathe seems to be more of a pain than most people realize...sirry got off of topic... would love to hear some professional opinions on this matter
I have no expercence with Grizzly but did buy one of the Enco 14X40 lathes for about $3,600. Fit and finish was pretty poor,typical Chinese) but it was heavy and solid,about 1,000 pounds) and the chucks were good. In fact the three jaw only has about .0015 runout in it, better than most 3 jaws I've seen. I think it was an excellent buy "for the money". Are there better lathes? Of course there are, but I simply cannot afford to pay the price of a new top grade lathe. I think the reason there so many different opinions on Chinese lathes is the varying quality from machine to machine. You'll get this variance no matter what brand you buy.
My Grizz lathe is such a pile, that it seemed like it said, "Here is some cast iron, you make a lathe out of it."
But there was so much material erroneously removed from the crossfeed and compound ways, there was no way to fix them, and the base had huge gaps in the casting that was filled with bondo and spray painted over to match.
SO I CAN'T MAKE A LATHE OUT OF IT.
Now that lathe is used mostly as a grinder with a spindle in the 3- jaw chuck. The tail stock - headstock alignment is good, and it can drill or ream on center, but so can my Atlas and my Clausing lathes.
But there was so much material erroneously removed from the crossfeed and compound ways, there was no way to fix them, and the base had huge gaps in the casting that was filled with bondo and spray painted over to match.
SO I CAN'T MAKE A LATHE OUT OF IT.
Now that lathe is used mostly as a grinder with a spindle in the 3- jaw chuck. The tail stock - headstock alignment is good, and it can drill or ream on center, but so can my Atlas and my Clausing lathes.
rednek
One of my close friends purchased a Grizzly lathe last June. Since he got it setup, it has burned out 3 motors. He is only doing gunsmithing on the lathe, and it is a 3 HP so he should not be overstressing the motor. Each time it has broken down it has taken 2-4 weeks to recieve the motor and grizzly has refused to re-imburse him for any lost time or labor on the motor reinstallation. The last time they sent him a motor it was a 3phase even though he required a single phase. And that was with his model and serial number on file. That added another 2 weeks to his already 3 week down time. He is now trying to force them to upgrade to a Baldor motor, but they are content on sending him motor that wear out with 20-100 hours of work time.
I was considering buying a grizzly, but with the problems he has encountered I am now looking to buy a used Nardini, clausing,webb, ect..
I was considering buying a grizzly, but with the problems he has encountered I am now looking to buy a used Nardini, clausing,webb, ect..
Shiraz
Site $$ Sponsor
Clark posted "My Grizz lathe is such a pile, that it seemed like it said, "Here is some cast iron, you make a lathe out of it."
But there was so much material erroneously removed from the crossfeed and compound ways, there was no way to fix them, and the base had huge gaps in the casting that was filled with bondo and spray painted over to match.
SO I CAN'T MAKE A LATHE OUT OF IT."
Clark - In all fairness, the machine you bought in 2000 for $299.95 is literally a toy and was discontinued almost 10 years ago. We sell over 20 different models of lathes starting at around $500.00 all the way up to $35,000. Certainly, you cannot lump them all into one category.
We hear all kinds of comments like "I have a friend.....", but in reality they are simply repeating rumors that can be very damaging.
We have sold hundreds of our gunsmithing lathes and have a very good reputation for them. Just go over to Benchrest Central and do a search on Gunsmith lathes. We use US made Timken bearings and high precision hardened and ground gears on the gunsmith lathes. I have the G0509G lathe at my house and I can have any lathe we carry costing three times its price. She,G0509G) may not be the prettiest girl in school, but boy, can she make love!
http://www.grizzly.com/products/g0509g
We have just introduced a Taiwan made lathe which also has the outboard spider on it for gunsmithing. This one has all the bells and whistles, nice castings, CSS function, 2 1/16" spindle bore etc.. Costs a little more than the other lathes, but a very nicely made lathe. Long through the headstock, though.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/16-X-40-Electronic-Variable-Speed-Lathe/G0670
I was scheduled to take that one home, but the G0509G is so accurate and vibration free that I don't want to mess with it.
Shiraz Balolia.
But there was so much material erroneously removed from the crossfeed and compound ways, there was no way to fix them, and the base had huge gaps in the casting that was filled with bondo and spray painted over to match.
SO I CAN'T MAKE A LATHE OUT OF IT."
Clark - In all fairness, the machine you bought in 2000 for $299.95 is literally a toy and was discontinued almost 10 years ago. We sell over 20 different models of lathes starting at around $500.00 all the way up to $35,000. Certainly, you cannot lump them all into one category.
We hear all kinds of comments like "I have a friend.....", but in reality they are simply repeating rumors that can be very damaging.
We have sold hundreds of our gunsmithing lathes and have a very good reputation for them. Just go over to Benchrest Central and do a search on Gunsmith lathes. We use US made Timken bearings and high precision hardened and ground gears on the gunsmith lathes. I have the G0509G lathe at my house and I can have any lathe we carry costing three times its price. She,G0509G) may not be the prettiest girl in school, but boy, can she make love!
http://www.grizzly.com/products/g0509g
We have just introduced a Taiwan made lathe which also has the outboard spider on it for gunsmithing. This one has all the bells and whistles, nice castings, CSS function, 2 1/16" spindle bore etc.. Costs a little more than the other lathes, but a very nicely made lathe. Long through the headstock, though.
http://www.grizzly.com/products/16-X-40-Electronic-Variable-Speed-Lathe/G0670
I was scheduled to take that one home, but the G0509G is so accurate and vibration free that I don't want to mess with it.
Shiraz Balolia.
I purchased the Grizzly G4003G a little over a year ago and have had no problems with the lathe. The one problem I did have was the bearings on the steady rest and that was taken care of.
When I changed oil in the gear box I was very pleasantly surprised to find the Timken bearings on the headstock,as Shiraz just posted).
James
When I changed oil in the gear box I was very pleasantly surprised to find the Timken bearings on the headstock,as Shiraz just posted).
James
rednek
Excuse me, but ANY recalled story is coming from the horses mouth. I have worked on my friends lathe many times and have been quite happy with the overall unit. That does not change the fact he is waiting for his 4th motor, since the 3rd burned out. While you may like to think that this is a "stupid rumor that can be very damaging", this is the truth. If you don't believe me I'd be happy to give you his name, address, phone number, and you can ask him yourself. Heck you want to find out, I'll even leave the model number,G9731), and feel free to do a little reasearch for yourself.
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