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Busy Bee Annual Machinery Clearance Warehouse Sale

Can anybody attest to the quality, reliability, accuracy availability of parts for Craftex mills? I believe they are China made so I have doubts. Thanks in advance.
 
The CX-601 and CX-600 mills are interesting...I just wonder how many they actually have. I hate the idea of driving an hour to wait in line to hope I get something (I never play the black friday games for instance).
 
As to BB equipment, in most cases it likely all comes from the same factories as Grizzly, King, PM and others, it is just a matter of which options and spec's they buy.

That said, on their clearance machines, buyer beware, No warranties so it is a gamble that can work for you or against you. I believe this machine I saw in their clearance room a few weeks ago, this one "looked ok" but I only saw it passing, the CX707 if the same one won't touch with a 10ft pole as it looked like a botch installation job or a "buy/return free rental scam" product.
 
I own BB lathe, mill, drill press, and grinders etc. I would say that their quality is not any worse than other competing Asian made machinery. China is usually the place of manufacturing but that can vary as my mill is Taiwanese made.
The BB "warranty" amounts to that they will order parts for defective machines and you do the repair. The parts might be in stock but often will be weeks if not months to recieve. So in my opinion the warranty is not much HOWEVER when they have machinery they are selling that they wont even offer that, that is a red flag for me. Unless I knew exactly what was wrong with the piece I wouldn't touch it with a 10ft pole unless it was dirt cheap.
 
I have a BB mill (ct054) and their 20" drill press. The mill (6x26) i like a lot, the drill press, better after a few tweaks.

In the wood shop..... lathe, dust collector etc. no issues.

Warranty/parts? One claim, got the part, took longer that I'd like, but still got the part. I also own a Modern Lathe, don't know if I'd be any more successful in parts other than I feel they would go out of their way to service it.
 
kevin.decelles said:
I have a BB mill (ct054) and their 20" drill press. The mill (6x26) i like a lot, the drill press, better after a few tweaks.

In the wood shop..... lathe, dust collector etc. no issues.

Warranty/parts? One claim, got the part, took longer that I'd like, but still got the part. I also own a Modern Lathe, don't know if I'd be any more successful in parts other than I feel they would go out of their way to service it.
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I have a CT054 also but its been tweaked a little ;), VFD drive, CNC upgrade and column extension, ball screws may be in the near future.
 
Tom Fitzpatrick said:
Can anybody attest to the quality, reliability, accuracy availability of parts for Craftex mills? I believe they are China made so I have doubts. Thanks in advance.
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I would make sure you can get parts from Grizzly. BB is not exactly known to offer good support - maybe if you live close to their HQ its different. Grizzly seems better but they also may not have all parts in stock.

As I mentioned in the other thread, these guys compete on price point with machines that are "good enough".
 
Tom Kitta said:
I would make sure you can get parts from Grizzly. BB is not exactly known to offer good support - maybe if you live close to their HQ its different. Grizzly seems better but they also may not have all parts in stock.

As I mentioned in the other thread, these guys compete on price point with machines that are "good enough".
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Don't make the mistake of assuming all parts are interchangeable on machines that appear to be the same. Both my BB lathe and milling machine have Grizzly counterparts that look extremely similar but there are incompatible differences in some parts between the two makes.
 
I've have several BB machines and added a CX707 this month. I use all my stuff regularly and push the limits. No complaints and overall have not failed me yet. Support if approach early is good, later can be hit and miss, buts thats with any firm.
 
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