I wish I had the capability of posting the video my wife took of me taking apart a 1968 Spyder in my driveway... with an axe. Enough was enough. Italian electrics and transmissions really suck. For all of you "touchy feely" guys, go ahead and label me a racist. :)
Jim Kovar Vulcan, Mi
The famous tinfoil hat for the hon. mr. rodryker, for one. The goat thing. Not to mention an occasional foray into inverted jeep flight.
Yep, he may have been a 'kraut' but I don't think anyone here would apply the term racist. Well almost anyone.
Jim
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Do a google and read some of his responses to newbie questions. Bad thing about google, it's there forever. Even stuff from wannabe's like pet.
Nobody ever listens to me, but I own a Lathemaster 8x14 and I don't think I'd be any happier with an HLV or EE. Other than quick change and power cross feed which I don't have. Nobody ever listens to me, but I'm in AWE of the Chang Xiang ???(i forget) tool co.. I really doubt that a 4,000 dollar grizzly would be as well built, and engineered as my 680 dollar 8x14. I feel I have a guilty secret....that, quite likely, I couldn't 'upgrade' to a significantly better lathe for less than 10,000 dollars. But, as I bang my head against the wall, watching newbies waste money on 7x14 or 9x19 grizzlys because they are unaware, everyone has an objection even though they have no experience with the Lathe. I'm not promoting Chinese lathes at all, just this one. There's Pride in the design and constructin of this Lathe. Something that has been imported and exported out of the United Siestas completely. But who has ears?
Sounds like a neat machine. How large is the bore in the spindle?
Jim
================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================
Think this is one where we'll just have to agree to disagree, Lennie. Beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that.
John Martin
I was one of the ones who stopped frequenting the group because of his and some followers constant tirades- if you had an old Atlas or something, he would be very helpful, but if you had a Chinese unit you were in for some real vicious name calling- Maybe old Pete finally expired after a visit to the Port of Long Beach where he saw lines of container ships unloading an endless stream of Chinese goods.
Yeah, I really missed ya. All of 6 posts and 3 of them were spent whining about Pete. You aren't the one with the goat thing, are you?
And yet you find the present atmosphere acceptable? How do you feel when somebody enumerates the flaws on one of the asian imports, as has been done recently?
Jim
================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================
Sorry- I have no idea what the goat thing is, so it must be someone else. But you are right- enough of old Pete- in a sort of horrible irony, his ashes may be resting for eternity in one of those Chinese cloisonne' urns now popular in crematoriums. On a relevant subject, where can I find an original switch for a 9 X 20 South Bend?
I think LeBlond took over their parts supplies.
LeBlond Ltd.
3976 Bach Buxton RoadAmelia, Ohio 45102
Phone: (888) 532-5663
Fax: (513) 943-0101
Email: snipped-for-privacy@leblondusa.com
Thanks to Jim Kovar for the lead on the switch-
turnitdown
This is an emminently reasonable position. However my recollection of the events of those years gone by is that folks here were escoriated for doing just that - saying that they had used the asian imports, and a great deal of work was required to bring them up to mere operational status.
Then somebody would chime in that they could obtain a better US made machine for less than the import, and that's when charges of "racism" began to fly around.
These are of course only my recollections and no doubt somebody is going to produce a google link that shows albrecht or whomever (note for gunner, this is the correct time to use this) making some incindiary remark. No doubt if one followed this out in all its glory you will find depth charges were dropped from all sides of the controversy, not just pete's.
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COOL !!! I've never lost it like that on anything. Sounds like fun. I did burn up a RX2 once , but it wasn't cause it was a BAD car. Nothing like AV gas , I forget. The green stuff is around 124 oct. , but the pink stuff is better ? Anyhow, I could swear that car had another inch under the gas peddle at 125 mph. Never scratched the car ,but the threads where hanging out the sidewalls. I would put it in bat man turns at over 50 in reverse. That's after slamming on the brakes at close to 100 and have it in reverse before it got down to
Sorry, but true.
I shutter when driving by a Mazda dealer and imagine the sales baby to ask me for a test drive. "Hmmm , Rotary engine ?" "yeap"" Got a 5 speed and 5 point seat belts? ""yeap" "I'll be back with the gas..."
Back it off the ledge screaming like FALILV to see if it will hold together before we start. Do they have Fiat dealerships?
And in pets mind, or what passed for one, it was better to buy a clapped out piece of junk and spend the next two years rebuilding it, when what you wanted was a running machine, NOW! It didn't matter if you already had oriental machines before you came on the group, he would take you to task for not spending an unreasonable amount of time looking for said clapped out POS.
pets position was that no matter where in the US it was, it was within easy reach, and no matter how cramped for space you were, a Bridgeport would always be better, even for working on parts for camera shutters. His advice to me, I should raise my house a foot, break out part of a concrete wall to put in an outside stairway, so I could spend the next couple of years rebuilding a machine that would be far too large for my purposes to begin with.
I'm sorry, but when a goddam kraut starts to preach like he was the Almighty, it's time to trash him out as worse than useless. I remember half a dozen people that he's either driven off the net, sometimes permanently sometimes temporary, and they were all far more knowledgeable than he was. Which is why he drove them off. When he shot off his big fat egotistical mouth on matters that he had absolutely no knowledge, meaning the situations of other people, he told me that nothing he ever posted would be worth reading.
MY feeling is still that having ANY lathe is better than having NONE. I have a gut feeling that next week I'm going to buy one of the 9 X
20's from Harbor Freight, just to find out if it can be as bad as everyone seems to think it has to be. My guess is that it's not.I measured .803 with a litle spit and a twist :-) I added grease fittings to the headstock and converted the toolslide to a wedge Aloris type. Pictures without captions of my mods are here:
STANDARD ACCESSORIES INCLUDED:
4" - 3 JAW CHUCK 5" - 4 JAW CHUCKFACEPLATE 4 WAY TOOLPOST
MT2 DEAD CENTER WRENCH SET
MT3 DEAD CENTER THREADING DIAL
INCH CHANGE GEARS METRIC CHANGE GEARS
STEADY REST FOLLOW REST
FEED REVERSE GEAR
FEATURES:
The Lathemaster 8 x 14" Mini Lathe is the highest quality lathe in it's size and price range available.
Unlike the popular Mini's on the market today, this is a true, ready to machine, no need to rebuild, benchtop mini lathe.
Removing the protective grease, lubrication, and installing the drive belts is all that is required to start turning with precision.
It is a solid machine (190lbs.) with induction hardened, precision ground, Dual Prismatic ways and a sturdy reinforced frame.
The spindle is constructed with quality tapered bearings.
Spindle speeds up to 2000 RPM for turning small parts.
Feed ratio and thread selection are a simple task of changing a few easily removed gears!
This lathe will cut left hand threads and make cuts away from the chuck with the easy installation of the included feed reverse gear!
It has forward and reverse motor switching and a safety Kill Switch.
All the gears are metal. ( No Plastic Gears!)
True Inch Pitch Leadscrews!
The Dials are all metal, satin finished, and clearly engraved in inch measure.
Well...as best as I can remember...Pete did take an inordinate amount of joy in flaming Lennies ass on more than one occasion. In fact..he and I tag teamed him pretty often, but only after Lennie would pop up with some outragious spew. I could search Google for Richard + pete's email addy. But then...Im not sure Richard (lennie)would appreciate his dirty laundry being hoist up the flag pole again...
Several times Pete did mention thinking about writing the " which piece of shit Chicom lathe should I get?" FAQ
Ill have to ask him next time I see him. I think the only reason he dropped the project was he was unable to determine if the source factory for all the imports was the Red Dragon Noodle and Machine Tool Factory, or if it was the Red Dragon Machine Tool and Noodle Factory.
Gunner
Liberals - Cosmopolitan critics, men who are the friends of every country save their own. Benjamin Disraeli
I seem to remember pete getting on gary coffman's case on a pretty regular basis.
Why should it bother him if someone states specific problems with a class of lathe? ( As opposed to generally badmouthing anything made by one segment of the earths population?)
I pointed out 4 generally accepted problems with the 9x19 class import lathes and others have pointed out other problems with them. My recomendation was to go with the logan if inspection showed it was a good lathe but I also offered the alternative of getting one of the
7x chinese lathes which I consider to be good values.I believe if you skip the 9x class of lathe and go up to the 12x
-14x class chinese lathes that you are agan into good tools. Of course buying any of this stuff (forign or domestic) is a pay attention sport. Regards Bob
Very true.
They really are as bad as (nearly) everyone says. Your little mini-lathe is better. The lathe portion of a Shoptask is better. Any Chinese 12 or 14 inch machine is *much* better. Most any clapped out rusty hunk of old American iron would probably be better.
Are you begining to sense that I don't like the Chinese 9x20 machines? If so, you're right. Better than no lathe? Yes. But nearly any other lathe would be better than the 9x20.
It isn't a matter of bad execution. It is simply a poor design. I can say this from experience. I briefly owned one sold by ENCO, and used another (a Jet) owned by a friend. Both had the same design defects.
If you can, examine one in person before you spend any money. I think you'll come away with the same conclusion, ie that your money would be better spent on most any other machine.
Gary
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