I've actually had good success with King. They are still overseas models, but they are the only Asian manufacturer that stocks replacement parts for all of its machines in Canada. I talked for quite a while to their head office in Quebec before I bought a big horizontal bandsaw from them, and they were great.
Welllll ..... I wish my experience with King Quebec was as good. I think I called them about 5 or 6 times over the years with my King 14x40 lathe & King RF45 mill. I had to badger them to return a call, no effort on their part to see if they could source a part. I remember was ready to send them money for a taper attachment & they guy just couldn't figure out what was required because they either sold the lathe with or without pre-mounted from factory, that's all he knew. I even faxed him the manual PN's. Just basically brain dead. I can understand if it the machine was like 10 years old & model outdated, but at the time they still sold the same dang machine.
I bought my machines in '98 actually through Modern Tool Calgary when they were a King distributor, before they went Asia factory direct with their own lines. Get this, a couple years ago (that makes it +20 years after purchase & they had zero vested interest), Modern was able to use their Taiwan connections & get me parts that aren't even produced anymore & the factory is long gone. They combined the shipping & broker stuff with one of their ongoing shipments so it was very reasonable.
Anyways, its a good point to bear in mind. Wherever you buy from, try & get a warm & fuzzy that parts could be available if the time comes. New machines cost more up front but you stand a better chance. Older machines cost less but if its relatively common model, used parts could still be readily available as long as it isn't big iron shipping wise. I hear good things about PM & Grizzly but unfortunately both in the States.
