let me second Bill R's comments - I have a Stubby lathe, paid about 6
grand for it a few years ago (it's a 1000, so it's larger than what
Bill R mostly sells), and it cost me more than my Logan metal lathe
and my Sweedish 3,000 pound toolmaker's mill combined. but, I can't
turn 44 inches between centers on the Logan lathe, nor on the Abene
mill (though I suppose I could use those two tools to make a
replacement for the Stubby if I would work for 5 cents per hour and
had a huge pile of scrap metal to start with.
If you have lots of space and lots of time, a huge old metal lathe can
usually be had for less than scrap value - but you need the space for
a huge machine, and the Stubby is very space efficient, in fact that's
a key reason why I bought it - it also happens to work very well, the
other key reason I bought it.
I also agree that if we don't get our financial house in order, the
dollar will continue to slide until we can't even afford to buy cheap
chinese lathes from Harbor Freight.
On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:25:46 GMT, Bill Rubenstein
wrote:
Charlie:
I guess that I must respond since I'm the importer of the Stubby lathes
(www.stubbylatheusa.com).
I'm not sure if you believe that the Stubby comes from Austria or not,
but it doesn't. It comes from Australia.
Anyway, the combination machine you refer to could be a very nice
machine. But, you can't turn a 30" bowl or hollow form on it. In fact,
you can't turn anything on it.
The Stubby is expensive to build, expensive to import, and a major
factor is that the US dollar is so poorly thought of on the
international market. I know what my costs are and am doing everything
to keep them down and to keep the selling price down.
Build costs keep rising, though, and I've just returned from a trip to
Australia where we sat down for several days and determined what we
could do to keep selling prices stable.
Let me give you an example of the kind of 'stuff' you run into in this
business. The only way to get the machines here undamaged is to ship
them in pretty substantial wooden crates. For years the crates were
built out of low-value, air-dried lumber. Mid '05, the US government
decided that the crates had to be built out of kiln-dried lumber so as
to kill any bugs. That raised the price of the crates.
This is a little retirement business for me and if I hadn't been
successful in my earlier years, I couldn't afford to run this business
-- my accountant thinks I'm crazy to be doing this. Maybe he is right.
Anyway, if you have never turned on a Stubby and you'd like to see what
it feels like, let me know and we can probably find someone close to you
who has one. It may cost you $5175.00 + shipping (no handling), though.
And, have you priced the Oneway offerings lately? If you do, be sure to
add the stuff you need for big bowls and such.
Bill
Stubby Lathe USA, Inc.
charlie b wrote:
$5,175 + S&H! For $825 more I got a 5 function
(10 TS -with riving knife, shaper that'll handle 7" diam.
1 1/4" bore shaper head, 12" 3 knives jointer. 12" planer,
a horizontal boring/mortising head - with XYZ table AND a
sliding table for the saw/shaper) 1100 lb combination
machine with 3 TEFC German motors. Made in Belgium
rather than Austria, it ain't pretty but it does all
the basic jobs and then some pretty well.
But I guess it's a Whatever Floats Your Boat thing.
charlie b
Bill
www.wbnoble.com
to contact me, do not reply to this message,
instead correct this address and use it
will iam_ b_ No ble at msn daught com