when is a precision vice not a precision vice>?

Much of the Chinese stuff is pretty good these days, the early stuff was suspect (It is like comparing early Japanese motorbikes with the modern ones: they learnt and left us far behind).

I must be honest keep looking at the Little SEIG 1 Mill and thinking "I don't like the quality but as a set of castings to make a decent little mill I couldn't get the raw castings for that money". Throw away a few bits make some quality items. Or would I rather be making model engines?

Jo

Offered as a point of reference, and nothing more:

Louis Levin & Son, Inc. continues to make high accuracy, high precision, small lathes.

... they are priced accordingly.

MichaelG.

Jo's point is very pertinent. In the past if you wanted a new mill the only affordable option was a Dore-Westbury kit to make it yourself. The quality of the resultant machine would be as variable as a far east import. I've made dividing heads, cutter grinders, precision drills, gear cutters etc. etc. I stiil have castings for machine vices which I've never made. The advent of the far east important has given us a choice to make or buy that we never used to have. I've got a s/h Myford super 7 and Sharp mill which I bought new. A friend asked advice recently on getting started in model engineering (he got fed up with keeping TVRs on the road). I sent him straight to Warco who are our local supplier. He set up a workshop for £2000 - about what I paid for the mill 25 odd years ago. The quality of his machines is enormously improved since the economy mill/drill I had before the Sharp - but I still use that old Warco milling vice. Looking around the exhibitions the same goes for Chester and the other importers. Please don't impose standards on the manufacturers that will make their products unaffordable - leave us with the choice.

cheers

Rod

My Warco lathe and my Chester 626 mill was straight out of the box have given no problems and excellent service. I have converted both to 3 phase well worth it. The only problem I have ever had was the swarf apron fell to bits after 2 years, but used a bit of lino and 5 years later still ok. Have built a 7.25g and almost 5" B1 loco. I have found both machines very accurate.
Bob

Sorry, double post

Rod

Edited By Roderick Jenkins on 25/01/2013 10:30:32

In NZ the tool suppliers that I have used send a buyer to China, or Taiwan, to hand pick the machinery, and tools. In China there is a central design bureau that sends the designs out to the various factories, these factories have a very wide range of standards ranging from very poor, to excelent, its up to the buyer to find the best manufacturer, who will manufacture to the standard required, and do modifications to the design if need be. I don't think there is much Indian machinery of hobby size imported to NZ, mind you I'v had a hard job over the last couple of years getting to see much of that sort of thing here. Ian S C

ps:  the 4x6 horizontal / vertical bandsaw was designed in the USA for one of the large chain stores, sometime in the 1940/50s

Edited By Ian S C on 25/01/2013 11:21:02

Usual same old, same old from the same suspects.

Said it before the expression is not fit for purse.

I have two very nice precision vises here but they cost £2,600 for the two , no typo.

So it's obvious they are this price for a reason and anyone spending £3 7s and 6p is going to be left wanting.

Perhaps they are short of money to spend on DECENT tooling because those rip-off bastards at the local Audi dealer has took their pants down for £225 for a simple service but we never see them moaning about that do we ?

Before any of you take any more notice of Alan Smith 6 (oh dear are there more of them?) just take a look at his photo album , says it all really.

Hi Kwil

Which album (there are several) and why?

regards David

Edited By Brian Warwick on 25/01/2013 15:42:12

David,

Why? Simple really here we have a Forum member pushing his views on quality of machines etc., available to the lower price end of the market when the apparent level of his own work hardly justifies his views

Hi Kwil

Which album?

The quality of someone's work is imaterial to the thread topic. Just because he may be unable to produce quality work it should not affect the items he buys.

Only the price should do that.

regards David

Yes I did look yesterday Kwil, anyone who uses a milling cutter in a 3-jaw obviously does not do any accurate work

Here you go test record for my Chinese lathe

TIR of spindle taper 0.015 permissible, mine came in at 0.01mm thats 0.0004"

TIR on a test bar in the 3 jaw which wee all know are not an accurate way to hold work permissible 0.08 to 0.10, mine came in at 0.05mm thats 0.002"

So why are you asking for the accuracy to be increased?

As for cost to our suppliers I don't really care what they make, if its anything like when I was involved in retail then 40-50% is quite normal. As to what the worker in the far east earns I think its better they earn "peanuts" as you put it rather than go begging or resort to prostitution. Then again peanuts is all relative as out there what we would call peanuts may well feed and house their family for a week

Anyway I'm off to the workshop now to see what inaccurate work I can produce on my shoddy machines

J

'Nuff said

Yep worked a treat though its in a nice oak box now if you mean the buzz coil

**LINK**

If you are refering to the fire fly then here it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvbnjyrHq8M

Edited By JasonB on 25/01/2013 17:00:24

Is that not a bit harsh>>

Who are you to judge if anyone is qualified to have an opinion or not. We all have a right to an opinion and just because you don’t like someone’s opinion does not give you the right to slag them, while I do not agree with a lot of Alan’s comments I would NEVER say he has no right to his opinion just offer a reasonable argument to try and let him see my opinion.>>

>

Clearly I am on the wrong site I thought this was a forum on engineering

>>

Jason: For comparison, my Colchester Master calibration figures

Spindle run out = 0.0001"

Runout at the end of a 12" bar worst case vertical/horizontal = 0.0001"

Tally round run out = 0.00008" = 0.002mm

I cannot machine to those tolerances, I wish I could.

Jo

Kwil and Jason B, You obviously take some kind of delight in trying to belittle Alan Smith6 when he was only putting across a perfectly valid point. Whether he is or isn't capable of producing accurate work is neither here nor there. I have looked through both your albums and whilst quite impressive it does not give either of you any right to have a pop at the aforementioned poster. I get the impression that anyone who is critical of Chinese machines on this forum is labeled a "bad guy"

Maybe you should go the whole nine yards and sell the family Ford, Volkswagen, Honda or whatever and buy a Chinese car instead. I'm sure that with a little fettling and some user made replacement parts it will go reasonably well, oh and its cheap.

Donald.

Alan, if you will listen, I did not come from the shop floor either