Proxule
Ultra Member
From my research you cannot b6oy a better craftex for the same money..... not to mention the warranty period with PM is 5 yrs !
Craftex vs King Canada
- Thread starter Intensemonerider
- Start date
trlvn
Ultra Member
I don't know where you live exactly, but Precision Matthews is before Pittsburgh. I considered buying their 10 inch lathe and picking it up from their location. But then BusyBee put the CX706 on sale, in stock, 20 minutes from my house. So far, I don't regret my decision.
Craig
slow-poke
Ultra Member
I have a fairly new about two years old CX706, It's a significant step up from the Emco compact8 that I was using. I'm overall happy with it and quite like the power crossfeed. I have done a few upgrades that help. There seems to be a reasonable number of Canadian made Standard Modern lathes floating around for decent prices, I have never used one but from what I have read these are quite good. Might be an option. Some examples from last year (definitely a step up from the CX706) https://canadianhobbymetalworkers.com/threads/standard-modern-2000-lathe-2-600-richmond-hill.5522/
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Yes, it’s basically GST you’re paying when PM does the importing for you.
I don’t have a Truck, so by the time I rented one to drive the 1.5 hours to the US border, got someone to forklift it on, worked out how to get it off at home it didn’t seem worth it to not get it shipped directly to a designate spot in my garage…
In my opinion, PM’s selling point is that they stock “better quality” Chinese equipment, “upgraded“ to their specification, and Taiwanese equipment.
I cannot comment on whether that really makes PM’s Chinese equipment better than Busy-Bee’s Chinese equipment. Though the 5 year PM warranty is definitely a plus.
When I purchased my Taiwanese lathe, Trump had introduced his China tariff, so it meant that the difference in cost of going from Chinese made to an apparently better quality Taiwanese lathe was in the order of $500-$700, if I recall correctly.
Now that tariff is gone, the difference will be greater.
All I can say is that I’m very happy with my Taiwanese lathe, so when I decided I wanted a Mill, it was also going to be Taiwanese. But I don’t think you can automatically say purchasing Taiwanese means you will always get better quality.
I’m also of the opinion that any Mill is better than no Mill so purchase what you can afford and justify.
slow-poke
Ultra Member
My neighbor has the PM1022 version of the Craftex CX706, they are near identical in every way (except the supplied tool post and color). From what I have read and observed the PM machines have atleast had someone check the basics and tweak if required, whereas with the Craftex machines it's a bit of a crap shoot. On my machine I found one small flaw with the compound screw (slightly warped) so it would not turn smoothly, I could have ignored this but instead called BusyBee and they ordered the replacement part, it was here within a few days and covered by warranty. Replacement was trivial, so in my case the lower cost of the Craftex paid off ($1500 less expensive).
That’s great you’re able to do the comparison!
PM does say they specify some internal upgrades, like headstock bearings. My bet though is that you and your neighbours lathes will almost be interchangeable .
I did consider trying to do that, to get around the Trump tariffs, and had some discussions with Sieg.
But it sounded too risky:
- No local support.
- The tool likely would have been shipped to a US port of entry anyway, and if that happened then I’d have to pay US tarrif’s and then get a rebate before paying the Canadian tarrif’s.
- Shipping cost likely would have been greater, because I wasn’t shipping a container load of machines.
- The company said they could supply a machine with Canadian electrical certification, but I suspected I‘d still need to get it inspected.
- The possibility that parts available in North America would turn out to be not interchangeable.
The big one for me was no local support, so I dropped the idea of importing myself.
@Brian H imported a lathe in 2019......
canadianhobbymetalworkers.com
My new lathe
I have been waiting for this to get here for almost 3 months. I imported it from China (which was interesting to say the least). There are a few things that need attention, a lot of stoning and careful filing on ALL the sharp edges. I have spent the better part of a week just cleaning and...
Proxule
Ultra Member
Impressive. He is a wealth of info for us.@Brian H imported a lathe in 2019......
My new lathe
I have been waiting for this to get here for almost 3 months. I imported it from China (which was interesting to say the least). There are a few things that need attention, a lot of stoning and careful filing on ALL the sharp edges. I have spent the better part of a week just cleaning and...
Thanks!
I have to agree with your decision.
Even if you are capable of designing and making you own replacement parts, you still need the reasoning that backed the decision why details are included in a machine assembly.
Being able to communicate with a sales engineer that knows the product is very valuable, even if they maybe stretching a few facts during the purchase investigation. Getting answers from a foreign office can be very frustrating.
I you are able, find some other CHMW members that are in your area and visit them to see and touch working units. Try to narrow down the actual ’size & operations’ that you foresee you will be doing. Local hobbyists with similar interests are usually proud to show off their machines and experiences.