Craftex vs King Canada

[slow-poke]

Makes me glad I picked up my round column mill for $500 with tooling (made in Taiwan with no plastic anywhere). A bit heavier though at 650lbs, now about a hundred pounds heaver. Three "manly" men placed it gently in the back of my wife's Sienna and I took it out the side door with a shop crane when I got home. Getting it into the basement in one piece by myself was a bit tricky but doable.

FWIW I think my BusyBee mill (Taiwan) and 40+ years old is better built than my King bandsaw (China) that had a worm gear failure within about one year of new with occasional use.

 

[Proxule]

Has anyone ever used a Precision Mathew’s bench top mill or a Baileigh vmd-15? Lots of brands just very few in Canada…

From the reports and reviews, They are top shelf. But USD to CAD, PLUS USD shipping ..... OUCH

 

[StevSmar]

Has anyone ever used a Precision Mathew’s bench top mill

I have a PM-833TV that’s apart in the basement, but I’ve yet to use it. Perhaps in a couple of months I‘ll have it back together.

It appears to be a good quality machine, how it compares to others I cannot say. I’m happy with the fit and finish to my untrained eye though.

I thought the cost of shipping and brokerage to Winnipeg was reasonable. I could likely have spent a few hundred dollars less on shipping by picking it up in the US, but I likely would have spent 2/3rd’s of the reduction in shipping doing that…

 

[Proxule]

I have a PM-833TV that’s apart in the basement, but I’ve yet to use it. Perhaps in a couple of months I‘ll have it back together.

It appears to be a good quality machine, how it compares to others I cannot say. I’m happy with the fit and finish to my untrained eye though.

I thought the cost of shipping and brokerage to Winnipeg was reasonable. I could likely have spent a few hundred dollars less on shipping by picking it up in the US, but I likely would have spent 2/3rd’s of the reduction in shipping doing that…

Mind sharing the cost??

 

[StevSmar]

Mind sharing the cost??

No, I don’t mind.

PM’s website currently lists a bare bones PM-833TV at US $4,699.

In July 2022 I paid:
- Shipping from PM to Winnipeg: US $550.
- Brokerage: US $95.
- 5% GST (Collected in USD by PM and remitted to Canada)
- No import duties.

It definitely was an:

OUCH

In very large letters.

 

[phaxtris]

Anyone ever tried to import directly from china ? ive though about trying to bring one of these in (zx50/zd50), but i can imagine it costing another 2-3k on top of the price, making the thing around the 6-7k. But who knows by the time its landed customs/duty kinda has you by the cojones and can pretty much charge you what ever they like. Anyone have an experience with that ?

 

[Everett]

For what it's worth, if I had space in my old shop when my knee mill came along I would have kept my round column mill as well. Was a Craftex CX604, and once I got used to the round column quirks of head raising/lowering I did lots of fum projects with it. In Ontario you'll have more on the used market than out here, best to just keep watching with cash in hand. One suggestion if you get a round column unit would be to make/get a DRO for the quill. Turned out the quill downfeed graduations were not quite right but a DRO (well, repurposed digital caliper) solved that.

 

[Proxule]

No, I don’t mind.

PM’s website currently lists a bare bones PM-833TV at US $4,699.

In July 2022 I paid:
- Shipping from PM to Winnipeg: US $550.
- Brokerage: US $95.
- 5% GST (Collected in USD by PM and remitted to Canada)
- No import duties.

It definitely was an:

In very large letters.

Ouch indeed.
5% on the declared value of 4700 usd ?
Thanks for sharing!

 

[Susquatch]

But who knows by the time its landed customs/duty kinda has you by the cojones and can pretty much charge you what ever they like.

"Cojones"? In my current frame of mind (nasty case of cabin fever) I'm calling you out on that spelling. My flipping nurse nazi can't even pronounce that.

 

[phaxtris]

"Cojones"? In my current frame of mind (nasty case of cabin fever) I'm calling you out on that spelling. My flipping nurse nazi can't even pronounce that.

That's because your trying to pronounce a Spanish word in English, think jalapenos....the J makes an H sound

 

[Proxule]

flipping nurse nazi

Did those originate from Germany ?

 

[Intensemonerider]

I

Anyone ever tried to import directly from china ? ive though about trying to bring one of these in (zx50/zd50), but i can imagine it costing another 2-3k on top of the price, making the thing around the 6-7k. But who knows by the time its landed customs/duty kinda has you by the cojones and can pretty much charge you what ever they like. Anyone have an experience with that ?
View attachment 30514

I want!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Susquatch]

Did those originate from Germany ?

No. She is a feisty teeny tiny Italian hottie with a temper that runs a good 200 degrees hotter still.

 

[Susquatch]

That's because your trying to pronounce a Spanish word in English, think jalapenos....the J makes an H sound

Holy Crap! Big day for me! Even got a Spanish spelling lesson!

 

[phaxtris]

¡Español es muy divertida! ¡De nada!

It helps with the yearly taco pilgrimage to the baja, although im not actually very good at speaking spanish...Just dont tell my wife, she thinks im awesome at it

 

[Janger]

My King KC-20VS-2 definitely has plastic gears, can't speak for the Craftex CX600. Due to inadequate workpiece holding (operator inexperience!) the workpiece shifted during a heavy cut and stalled the motor. The photo shows the damage to one of the plastic gears. The local dealer supplied a new gear under warranty, and it wasn't that hard to replace. But the mill still has a noisy low range, so another plastic gear, deeper inside and harder to change, was also damaged and is on order. Weiss, who seems to be the Chinese maker, admits these plastic gears are breakage prone in their promotion of their newer, DC motor belt drive mills. The Grizzly G0704 looks to be the same mill, so they have the gears available if King doesn't. But I would have gone with a different mill if I'd known about the plastic gear issue.

View attachment 30469

I can confirm the CX600 has plastic gears too.

 

[LenVW]

There are lots of ‘decent’ machines out there.
Craftex, King, PM, most are made in China.
The plastic gear in the drive is a designed ‘weak’ link that is meant to be the ‘shear pin’.

Replacing a stripped plastic gear is far cheaper then rebuilding drivetrains, replacing damaged shafts and rewinding motors.

If you want to cut your own gears you will need :
-Rotary Indexing head
-Hefty steady rest
-Gear tooth form cutter
Oh yeah . . . And a ‘horizontal mill‘
Then you can part-off your gear and broach the keyway in the gear hub.

If you can purchase the required metal gear . . . It is the less expensive option.

 

[Janger]

There are lots of ‘decent’ machines out there.
Craftex, King, PM, most are made in China.
The plastic gear in the drive is a designed ‘weak’ link that is meant to be the ‘shear pin’.

Replacing a stripped plastic gear is far cheaper then rebuilding drivetrains, replacing damaged shafts and rewinding motors.

If you want to cut your own gears you will need :
-Rotary Indexing head
-Hefty steady rest
-Gear tooth form cutter
Oh yeah . . . And a ‘horizontal mill‘
Then you can part-off your gear and broach the keyway in the gear hub.

If you can purchase the required metal gear . . . It is the less expensive option.

Great insight @LenVW

I've had my CX600 for 5 years or so. I have not broken the gears yet. I think the downsides of the plastic gears are perhaps overstated. If someone out east has the CX600 or similar maybe they could host a demo for @Intensemonerider . Seeing is understanding. and I think the craftex mills get more of a bad rap than they deserve. Mine has been great to use. It's not super fancy but I've added a modest DRO to it (iGaging) and it's a great first machine in my opinion. It was my first mill and I've owned 4. I kept this one while trading around for other ones.

 

[Janger]

I guess I would add there have been a few cases on the forum of CX600's having some electrical problems. I think those are the exception. If you search around you can read about those issues. One possible answer is to ask the busybee people to power it up before you take it home. I don't know if they would do that but it would prevent some problems some people have had.

I think you find similar issues with other brands. Blondi hacks had a bad unit from PM for example. I know kings are sometimes a problem too.

 

[Intensemonerider]

Are Precision Mathew’s crazy expensive when all shipping duties costs are added up? Anyone with experience out there? Sometimes shipping from the USA is just not worth it. You could buy a better Craftex model for the same money. I spoke with PM and they said there competition has great products.