[TheForge] Re: Taiwanese Machine Tools - and some Yak

[Andrew Vida]

On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 07:26:03 -0400, Steve Smith <sos@alum.mit.edu> wrote:

> I too have a hard time believing that machines made on the same line with 
> different labels are significantly different. One difference does show up 
> once the machine gets here in the company's support. If you dig around in 
> the internet news archives, it's pretty easy to find excellent support 
> stories after the sale concerning Jet (for instance). Try finding a 
> similar story about Harbor Freight (for another instance).

	I cannot speak for smaller tools, but in larger machine tools,
	there actually is a difference.  While the castings are precisely	
	the same, the machining, fit, and finish can vary significantly.
>
> So there are some differences. I still like used industrial tools over 
> the lighter built new Asian import stuff, but used often means you wait 
> until it shows up.

	Not all the Asian stuff is crap, but it is indeed all inferior
	to the older US and European made machinery.  There is nothing
	coming out of Asia that will compare to an old South Bend, far
	less so a Hardinge or Bridgeport, for example.

	I do not include Japan in this as Mori Seki and Okuma make some
	of the finest CNC machinery on the planet.

-- 
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/