Lathemaster lathes

I've owned one for a year actually,now that I think about it, time flies, and I think it must be. I really fail to see any room for improvement. And Bob Bertrand is the greatest guy you could wih for. Really. For 679.00, nothing can touch it. I'd love to compare it to a Hardinge HLV :-) I'm in love with mine.

I looked at their Website coupla weeks ago don't you find having to change a gear to cut towards the tailstock to be a bit inconvenient?

Dale

No, and the lathemaster is not any higher qaulity machine than the HF, Enco, Grizzly etc.

In fact, for more money, you get less features on the Lathemaster.

I have an Enco (since 1998) and a friend bought the Lathemaster a few months back. He has since realized that he paid too much for a machine that lacks several of the features of the other machines...

The only advantage of the lathemaster is that it comes with a 5" chuck vs the 4" on the other machines... It does not have the QCGB and you must use the half nuts for carriage travel.... not a desireable feature.

Lathemaster claims their machine is "heavier", If it is, we couldn't tell it...

Also Lathemaster does not have the "clout" with the shipping companies that Enco and the others do. Shipping is quite expensive with them vs Grizzly or Enco or HF.

If you have a HF store near by, you can save on the shipping and actually see the machine you're getting.

HF occaisionaly offers these machine on sale for around $650

My local HF had the 9x20 on sale for (I think) $599 last week. They also had their RF30 clone on sale for $799.

I had a look at the Jet BD920 and was not impressed with materials and workmanship.Jet has a reputation for better fit and finish,but not this time.The HF,Enco,Grizzly appear to be made by the same people as the Jet.Probably make the 4 hour drive to Grizzly to see their machines past the 9x20 stage.

I don't know about the lathe but the Zay dovetail column gearhead mill that Bob sells has the Rung Fu dovetail beat hands down. I ended up with one when my neighbor was given a choice between the mill and a divorce lawyer. :-)

Def> I've owned one for a year actually,now that I think about it, time

Not at all. In fact, you change a gear, you add a gear by screwing it in. I did a LOT of research before buying the lathemaster. The 9x20's all have problems endemic to the basic design. I don't know why, but they do. What's really cool is the precision of the lathemaster. .0002 TIR. I mean, I really was going to get a 4000 dollar Prazi SD400 and decided to give this a try. I'm glad I did. I'm serious when I say I'd like to compare mine to an HLV. Of course I'd rather have the 16,000 dollar HLV, but I doubt if there is much functional difference, at least not 15,000 worth. But don't take my word for it, go here:

problem with the lathe is it's too small. I really need a 12x30 at a minimum. Heavy? They had to put it in my car with a forklift and I had to totally disassemble it to get into my apartment. They say it weighs

190lbs, and it weighs every bit of that. It's not noisy at all. 3am turning projects and no one notices. The motor is really powerful so beware leaving the gear cover open if you've got little ones running around. It won't stop for fingers. I really love it. If it were a woman its hair would be all in a dander and it would be glowing. It is a real lathe. If they've got lathes on nuclear submarines where space is tight and demands are high,I figure this would be it. Made in China to boot :-)