Jet vs. Grizzly

[Frank Fusco]

I don't want to start something here. Well.....yes..I do.
Ennyehow, I got in a friendly PM exchange with a member who is selling a used Jet 16-42 lathe. I declined his offer as too high for used and because I could buy the identical G0632 item from Grizzly, new, for about the same money. He responded that he had looked into the Griz and found features inferior to the Jet. Well, OK, I suppose that's possible. He said the bed on the Griz was steel and not cast iron like the Jet. That raised my curiosity because I visit the Grizzly store half a dozen times a year and have never seen a steel bed lathe there. And, even, my entry level $325.00 (at the time) Grizzly G1067Z has a great cast iron bed on it. I wrote to Jet customer service. The reply from and Aundrea said, "(the Grizzly has a steel bed)." A similar request to, and from, Grizzly said, "The bed of the G0632 is made of precision-ground cast iron."
No other features that might distinguish one from the other could be identified. Jet did say theirs had an indexing head and Grizzly didn't. The Grizzly does have an indexing head. I am distressed that the Jet rep. would state outright lies and wrongfully knock a competitor in that manner. For several hundred dollars less, relatively local pick-up for me and previous excellent good customer service experience, I'll be going with the Grizzly. If I get full price for my tractor (that's where the lathe funds are coming from), I have been considering also getting a Jet Mini VS. Now, I'm going to explore other brands first.

[tod evans]

frank,
have you read the comments on amazon? here`s for the jet;
http://www.amazon.com/708360-JWL-164.../dp/B00064NGRO

and here`s for the griz;
http://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-G0632-...832833&sr=1-20

it seems as though nobody at amazon has reviewed the grizzly lathe? and the discription from grizzly says " precision machined steel bed and cast iron legs ensures stability and minimal vibration."
is it possible that somehow lines have been crossed? you may want to investigate a little more before cutting a check.......

[edit] copied from the grizzly site; "The bed is precision milled steel for strength and durability and heavy cast iron legs can be easily adapted for adding more mass. "

[Marty Walsh]

Frank,

With Denise's interest in lathes, I've been reading and comparing in preparation for the eventual purchase of a 'real' lathe for her.

As tod correctly points out above, the Griz does NOT have a cast iron bed, so the Jet rep was correct. But it does indeed have an indexing pin, so they were half wrong. (To me, the bed is more important than an indexing pin ).

Anyway...you may want to have a read through this article from Fine Woodworking. They compare the Jet 16-42 with the big brother of the Griz lathe you're considering. The one you're looking at isn't even in the same class as the Jet since the Jet beats out the bigger Griz...at least from what I can determine.

Just more to consider before you write that check...
- Marty -

[Stuart Ablett]

Frank, if you are going to spend that kind of money, the obvious choice is the Nova 16-24. If you get it without the bed extension, I think you can pick it up for around $1000, and then get the extension later?

I know you are a big time Grizzly fan, no problem with that, but if I were you, I'd look around a little more.

Cheers!

[Frank Fusco]

Originally Posted by Marty Walsh

Frank,

With Denise's interest in lathes, I've been reading and comparing in preparation for the eventual purchase of a 'real' lathe for her.

As tod correctly points out above, the Griz does NOT have a cast iron bed, so the Jet rep was correct. But it does indeed have an indexing pin, so they were half wrong. (To me, the bed is more important than an indexing pin ).

Anyway...you may want to have a read through this article from Fine Woodworking. They compare the Jet 16-42 with the big brother of the Griz lathe you're considering. The one you're looking at isn't even in the same class as the Jet since the Jet beats out the bigger Griz...at least from what I can determine.

Just more to consider before you write that check...
- Marty -

In an e-mail Grizzly said it is a cast iron bed. As for the 'big brother' Griz lathe. It is an over rated bummer, IMHO. Lots of features but still relatively underpowered and won't go slow enough for big hunks. I'll do more looking into this in the a.m. Oops, no I won't, be gone to a day long turning demo.

[Frank Fusco]

Originally Posted by Stuart Ablett

Frank, if you are going to spend that kind of money, the obvious choice is the Nova 16-24. If you get it without the bed extension, I think you can pick it up for around $1000, and then get the extension later?

I know you are a big time Grizzly fan, no problem with that, but if I were you, I'd look around a little more.

Cheers!

I'll certainly check it out. Does it come with a base?

[Bill Lantry]

Frank,

I know you're not quite as cheap as me. I need to squeeze those dollars till the eagles grin. So I've looked into features pretty closely, even though I'm strongly leaning towards building my own.

This is one of those rare cases where everyone's right. If you don't mind messing with belts to change fixed speeds, that sub-1000 nova is about the best deal out there. I wouldn't even think about that big old honking cabineted grizzly, it's all hat and no cattle. But the next step up is the lowest cost big variable speed lathe you're gonna get: the G0632. You need 220 in the shop to play that game. Yes, you can get similar features on the jet for a few hundred more... but by the time you pay those few hundred, you're in the range of the nova dvr-xp, which is what I would get if I had that kind of money lying around. From there, it's a long way to mustard, and I'm not sure if the extra juice can justify the jump. No offense to mustard fans, I'd love to have one, I just know I'm not going to have that kind of money, at least not for the next many years.

Anyway, if I were you, I would look pretty hard at that 632... I know you have a 642 lying around, and that *does* have a cast iron bed. I wonder if the headstock is interchangeable?

Thanks,

Bill

[Vaughn McMillan]

Marty, the Grizz lathe in the FWW article is an older generation lathe, so it's not really germane to the question. The G0632 Jet clone is a whole 'nother animal. It looks pretty decent on paper, but I don't know how it compares in the real world.

[Bart Leetch]

The MODEL G0632 16" X 42" VARIABLE SPEED WOOD LATHE
MACHINE DATA SHEET says

Construction
Bed Construction....Precision Ground Cast Iron

Or you can call.

Customer Service #: (570) 546-9663

[Bill Lantry]

Yep. *And* the headstock swivels...

Thanks,

Bill