Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Chinese Lathes.

> The problem with much of this low end junk is the buyers are defining
> the quality at a much too low level. Silly magazines like Home Shop
> Machinist are further complicating things by constantly publishing
> articles on how to rebuild NEW machines, which tends to make the
> novice think that "kits" are an acceptable standard for the machine
> tools.

The situation here seems to be multifaceted.

One facet is that, there is an eager hobbyist market for functional
machines at aprices which make it hard to produce anything of real
quality.

Another, which the above quote comes closer to in my mind, is the kind
of shoddy design, implementation, and workmanship that shows up in
even higher priced machines.

For example, a lab at MIT recently bought a bunch of shiny new top of
the line and doubltess pricey versions of the same basic 13x40
gearhead lathe that is available everywhere at any price/quality level
you could choose. Or so it looks in the marketing literature. The
power feed lever of one of these machines fell off in my hand! It was
held on with two sorry looking set screws, fixed in place by jam nuts,
bearing in little divots cut on either side of another piece. Get
real! This is the kind of thing one expects on a $1995 hobbyist
machine - but it's no better on the pricey one because the basic
design is flawed. You see it in other things, too - little
handwheels, dual crank pins on the compound so you can't really turn
it, etc...

So I guess we have to accept that they don't make them like they used
to. Now what? Will our grandchildren rescrape our South Bends? Will
the developing world learn to make well thouht out machinery? Will
we continue to buy and improove the current lathe kits?

Probably all of the above...

Chris

--
Christopher C. Stratton, stratton@...
Instrument Maker, Horn Player & Engineer
22 Adrian Street, Somerville, MA 02143
http://www.mdc.net/~stratton
NEW PHONE NUMBER: (617) 628-1062 home, 253-2606 MIT