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Toronto lathe

I like in Toronto, Canada, and want to purchase a small lathe of about

9x20. I have looked at the lathes at Busybee and am not favourably impressed with their quality. That said, has anyone had experience (good or bad) with the Busybee B2227L?

My tiny workshop is down two flights of stairs so a used Southbend, Kerry or similar is probably too heavy and difficult to move. Is there any local place where I can actually touch and feel smaller premium lathes such as the Prazi SD400, Myford ML7, etc? Are these units enough better to be worth the large difference in price compared to the cheap Asian imports?

Reply to
Ken Strauss
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Hey Ken,

Have you tried to contact anyone in the Toronto Society of Model Engineers (TSME = tiz me).

Some of those fellows have that type of equipment, and a good bunch to know.

If you can wait until April 24-25, 2004 and come on down to Detroit to the NAMES show, you'll get to meet the Prazi man himself, John Szot, and sample all their wares. And there will undoubtedly be machinery for sale in the range you want. And bringing stuff back across the border is almost no hassle, with only GST PST applicable. And of course the show itself is outstanding.

And if it's only weight that holds you back, a 10" SB can fairly easily be taken into pieces quite manageable with a stair dolly.

Take care.

Brian Laws>I like in Toronto, Canada, and want to purchase a small lathe of about

Reply to
Brian Lawson

Ken

this question has been done to death on this newsgroup ... do a Google search on rec.crafts. metalworking and type in import lathes, American old iron, 9x20, Prazi, etc. TONS of comments about Asian versus other lathes.

In nutshell, with Asian lathjes, you get a lot lathe for the money, moreso than the Myford and Prazi. But, you have to tweak a Asian lathe. some more than others. Best comments I have heard is treat the Asian lathe like a kit of parts. Clean, deburr, new hardware, and you will do work to .001 easy. Plus, there are a dozens of websites on the 9x20 7 x XX minlathes and others on how to improve them.

Net, like anything, if money is no object, then the Prazi is an excellent lathe right out of the box. If you are like most of us, money is tight, and you can not beat the Asian lathes for value. Just spend some time tweaking it and you will have a good lathe, PLUS, you will really "know" you lathe.

Steve

Reply to
Steve Koschamnn

Mainway machinery in burlington is a Myford dealer and has a few new and used machiens on their floor right now.

Brian

Reply to
Brian

Ken,

I work at Atlas Machinery in downtown Toronto. We're not a dealer of the "high quality" brands, but we do sell King metalworking machinery.

Have you checked into prices on tooling for those machines? I hear that Myford tooling is very expensive... You should take this into account before making your decision..

Regards,

Robin

Reply to
Robin S.

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