Frank Fusco
Member
- Messages
- 12,791
- Location
- Mountain Home, Arkansas
A friend of mine who is a gunsmith recently acquired a bench top machine lathe and a mill. Neither has a brand name on it. They are (Grizzly?) green but, to me, look cheaply assembled. Again, to me, they scream 'Harbor Freight'. But, in fact, I dunno.
While using a few days ago the lathe made loud noises and wouldn't turn despite the motor running. He opened up the gear box and found the plastic gears had stripped.
He claims these units are the same as those sold by Grizzly. Again, I dunno. But, I do have a gut feeling Grizzly would not sell something so prone to failure as a machine lathe with plastic gears.
I am really surprised something would be made like this. The gears that failed were of a soft, not particularly hard, plastic. There may be super-durable high density plastics avaiable but these were sure not.
Is this unusual or common?
While using a few days ago the lathe made loud noises and wouldn't turn despite the motor running. He opened up the gear box and found the plastic gears had stripped.
He claims these units are the same as those sold by Grizzly. Again, I dunno. But, I do have a gut feeling Grizzly would not sell something so prone to failure as a machine lathe with plastic gears.
I am really surprised something would be made like this. The gears that failed were of a soft, not particularly hard, plastic. There may be super-durable high density plastics avaiable but these were sure not.
Is this unusual or common?