I'm considering a new drillpress and an engine lathe. I ran across Grizzly Tools site, but I don't know anything about their products. I don't do production work, just a home backyard workshop. What are your opinions of Grizzly, both the company and their products?TIAPaul

They sell their own color of the standard Chinese manufacturedmachinery. Quality is something of a crapshoot, if you get a good onethen you'll do fine. If you get a lemon, then you could be in for aworld of pain getting the bugs worked out, which in the extremity oftrouble could include re-crating the machine for return. Customerservice wise, Grizzly seems generally considered to be a more responsiveoperation than Harbor Freight, though some say Harbor Freight isn't sobad.If you get one of these import machines- no matter from whom- expect todo a good deal of cleaning (which may include getting sand out of theheadstocks and bearings), sometimes stuff like sludgy paint is left ingearboxes, etc.. and be prepared for the possibility of things like badbearings, lumpy belts, failing motors and erratic paint jobs right outof the box. These machines are sometimes termed "kits", rather thanfinished equipment.Which is not to say you are guaranteed to have problems, many peopledon't- but...

Grizzly tools Good or not so good?

Feb 20, 2006 21 Replies

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Siggy 20 years ago

I know on the HF 12x36 model the double speed is achieved by using 2 different sized pulley sets between the motor and the head. On the Enco is it really double the gear combinations or is it double the pulleys like the HF models?

Robert

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jk 20 years ago

Well I don't know about craigs list, but I've seen a lot of shopsmith stuff get snapped up on ebay. jk

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