Smithy machines

[CurlyEars]

Greetings...

I am new to this BB. I am presently in the final design stages of building a Gingery lathe, with modifications. It will be 10" swing and 18" center too center.

My dilemma: I just received the most recent mailing from Smithy, with their pre-price-raising sale prices.

The Midas 2220 for $995 looks on paper to be a pretty potent little machine. How does Smithy rate with people who have actually used machine tools? (I have a few hours total experience on lathes and mills...hardly a machinist yet)



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Steam is Grand!

[Thrud]

Save your money up and keep checking auctions , estate sales, bankruptcy sales, newspapers, etc. I think you will be happier with a good used industrial grade American, Canadian, British, German, or Austrian machine.

Check out www.lathes.co.uk (http://www.lathes.co.uk) there is much information to be learned there.

If you are going to buy a machine sight unseen make sure you get it from a reputable dealer, other wise go look at it yourself.
Don't trust ads! If you have a Machinist friend take him/her with you - some "beer and burgers" could save you alot of anguish.

You should also be aware that not all "Import Tools" are junk. Tiawanese and Chinese OEM's will build whatever quality the purchaser is willing to pay for - nothing more. So, two machines may look similar but vary much in quality of craftmanship and materials.

I paid half as much for a 6 1/4" Precision Forged Steel Chuck with two-piece Hard Topjaws as you are willing to pay for the Smithy but, I can assure you I have the better deal. Quality is rarely overpriced but often unappreciated.

Have fun but always make safety your never ending project!

Dave Smith

[sch]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by CurlyEars:
[ The Midas 2220 for $995 looks on paper to be a pretty potent little machine. How does Smithy rate with people who have actually used machine tools?
Smithy is fairly high quality, ie they exercise good QC with their suppliers but the price matches. This machine is an early
design and is a very limited lathe with an almost unusable mill grafted on. The mill table is extremely - note- extremely small.
The lathe on many of these early designs does not uncouple the halfnut drive shaft from the main drive so the machine coasts a few revs before stopping feed making precision use problematic. If you need a small lathe look at the 9x20 variants or follow Thruds advice. I think you will find this machine very limiting. The Granite
series are a much improved design but for the money, unless you are extremely space limited, separates are a much better buy.
Steve

[This message has been edited by sch (edited 09-27-2001).]

[SGW]

Yep - a $995 machine is...a $995 machine. A good used lathe might set you back $2000, and a good used mill another $3000 or more. But you'll LIKE them. You'll enjoy using them for years and years. I strongly suspect that if you buy the $995 job, you'll quickly get frustrated and wish you had something else.

Or if those kinds of dollars are just totally beyond reason no matter how much you save, look at smaller stuff like Sherline's machines. They're quite good, and although the size of work is necessarily limited, people have done some amazing things with them. I think if you got Sherline stuff you'd like it, and even if you decided later you really did want something bigger, you'd still find a place in your shop for the small Sherline. (Usual disclaimers on Sherline; there are other good small machines too.)

This is a long-term hobby. Stretch out your timeline. In a throw-away society the idea of buying something to use for the next 30 years is alien, but if you get a good lathe and mill, they'll easily last you 30 years or more.