New Lathe

If you can find an American lathe of that size, with original paint, lots of tooling, and $3000, do it. Otherwise, get a Jet or Enco. I have a bought many things from Grizzly, and I have never been satisfied with any of them. I think the same factories across China may make parts for Jet and Grizzly lathes, the bad parts go to Grizzly. I have a Grizzly mini lathe that is so poorly made, the cross feed, compound, and feed systems can never be made to work. It is a very bad casting with bondo in the huge voids and spray paint on top.

The machinery from Jet, Enco, and imports from J&L I have seems much better.

Watch out for Ebay, lots of those lathes are freshly painted. The shipping can be $1/ pound retail. The crating can be $200. The insurance is a must, as cast iron does not like to be tipped over.

Well, let me give the opposing opinion.

Although I don't own this particular 12x36 lathe, I do own a Griz lathe and mill and am very happy with both of them. Quite to the contrary of Cark's experience, the fit and finish of my tools were pretty good. Like anything else, I went over them and stoned burrs, adjusted gibs, etc but after performing the basics I have 2 machines that have served me very well for the last couple of years. I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone. Also, I have dealt with Griz cust service/support a couple of times and found them to be extremely helpful and they took care of my situation with no arguments at all.

As for Jet, a friend of mine purchased their 14x40 and after a month or so had to replace the spindle bearings. Also, you might want to see if you can get Roy to post a line or two about his Jet lathe before deciding to go that route.

I think the bottom line is that you can get a good or bad unit from any dealer. The real question is who will stand behind their unit when the time comes. I can speak from experience about both Griz and Enco and I found both to be excellent.

Robert

atheists that will destroy the society. It is Darwinian.

Don't want to get into that political bit, BUT, you can do way better with used American iron. I'm a proud owner of a Monarch 10EE. One of the finest machines ever built. I've noticed its a buyers market on these right now. If this lathe is long enough for you (10"x20", swings 12" over ways), take a look before buying anything else. You'd have a Cadillac that will appreciate in value. Unless you have a son, like mine, that has already told me "Never sell that lathe, its mine to inherit". Right now, there's two on Ebay. The one at $4000 has a rebuilt VFD drive and taper attachment. The one, currently at $0.01, looks to be a nice machine also.

There are other fine examples of great value in used American iron, I just happen to know about this one.

Karl

||Hi. I'm new to metalworking and I am seriously considering buying a new ||lathe. I have my eye on a Grizzly 12 X 36" Gear head lathe (model no. ||G4003). The intended use is as a home hobbyist. I have no specific need for ||a lathe, I just want to take up the hobby. || ||I have decided that I could buy either a used American lathe of unknown ||quality or a new import for about the same money. Political arguements ||aside (American v. import), what is this group's thoughts about this ||machine?

Are the geared-head lathes noisier than the belt-driven ones? Seems to be an issue on the mill-drills. Texas Parts Guy

That appears to be the same model as this one

Wayne

I have a jet mill/drill. Their motors are CRAP! I went through 3 jet motors and then bought a leeson motor.

I have a jet cutoff saw. Works well, but clean the sand out of the gear box before using it!

chuck

Grizzly has the distinct advantage of having a showroom only 80 miles from my house. This would afford me the opportunity to actually see the equipment before I buy it. I don't begrudge $100 or so on a $2000 price in order to be able to see it. I would probably prefer to buy American iron if I could figure out a way to ensure that the used item is in good shape. I bought and watched Guy Lautard's video on inspecting a used lathe, but ti kind of requires hands on access to the lathe. Therefore, I am considering new, but I can't afford new American iron, so import iron will have to do. I am a little nervous about buying used, sight unseen. How does everyone else deal with this issue?

If you are anywhere near SoCal I can offer half a dozen used machines that were and are way superior to the Grizzly 12". You'll notice that Jet doesn't even offer the 12" generic Chinese lathe offered by so many others. I think it is such a weak machine they have avoided it. If you want to step up to a Jet, with full warrantee I will put one on your doorstep for 10% over dealer's cost or I can offer a slightly dinged up one for about 10% under dealer's cost (subject to availability). Leigh at MarMachne (949) 645-7601

My griz lathe needed the gibs to be adjusted, but the dovetails and wedges did not overlap enough to allow adjustment. They did not overlap enough for adjustment when I made my own tapered gib. The cut in the dovetail was so wide nothing could be done. So I put a huge gib in there that cannot support any real force or ever cut metal with the tool post, but I did mount a V block and mound a Dremel flex arm in that and cut with zero tool force.

I am 53 and I have never taken a piece of machinery apart before that was 10% as poorly made as the griz lathe. At first I thought is was just a blob of cast iron I would use to make a lathe. But with all the voids and overcuts, it is not possible.

Either you were extremely lucky, or they have reversed precisely 180 degrees. My experience with grizzly's customer "service" is that it is identical to the "service" bulls perform on cows.

-jc-

Except for the motor mount and pulleys, they are identical.

I mentioned HF in a grizzly store (Springfield, MO) and they told me to FOAD.

-jc-

atheists that will destroy the society. It is Darwinian.

Sounds like the build quality of my previous Shoptask 3 in 1. Which is why I jumped at the chance to drive 1880 miles roundrip through northeast evil weather to trade it for an old Clausing 12" X 36" lathe. Even trade and he gave me $100 for diesel fuel. I'll have no more Chinese machine tools.

Garrett Fulton