Consider you paid $1500 for a lesson in how to research and buy things,
and $300 for a cheap tool. You bought something sight unseen from a glossy
ad in a magazine. You now have learned that this is a highly risky path.

The wisdom on this NG has been evolved over years. Buy used American machine
tools in decent condition. You could have bought a 9" South Bend lathe for
$1000 and a milling attachment for another $250 and you'd have had much
of the capability of the Smithy with no pot metal whatever. And years later
when you were ready to buy bigger machines you could have sold the South
Bend for about what you paid for it. Good luck getting 25% of what you paid
for the Smithy.

You ask has anyone else been screwed like you did? Sure they have. None
among us was born with the ability to resist human nature. We all want
a great deal with no stress and most of all we don't have to look for it,
it's right there in the magazine month after month. We build it up in our
minds until it seems like a rock-certain cinch. Hmm. For me it happened real
early when I answered an ad on a bubble-gum comic to make a ton of money
selling something.

Sell your Smithy locally to someone you don't know, for whatever you can
get for it, and start over. Don't waste time fantasizing about breaking
their kneecaps or suing them to oblivion. The lesson you have learned has
real value, even though it was real painful.

Grant Erwin
graduated cum laude from the school of hard knocks

Dan L. wrote:

I have a question and I would like to tell all prospective
metalworking machine buyers of a painful/expensive experience I had
with Smithy:

The question I had is there anybody out there that bought a Midas 1720
from Smithy and has had nothing but trouble from it?

As you can tell by my question, my story begins with the purchase of
the Midas 1720. I always dreamed of beginning a hobby in
metalworking. I didn't know where to begin. I found Smithy's
advertisement in a metalworking magazine. I received their brochure
and read as they claimed, "Smithy's are the highest-quality multi-use
benchtop machine tools in the world." "Smithy Lathe-Mill-Drill
machines offer the professional-quality precision and performance of
three machines in one." "When we say theses machines are versatile,
we mean it!" "You get the best machine: finest quality and high
accuracy." And finally they promised, "These machines are what we do
and we will take care of you. You have our promise." All these
claims, I quoted directly from their December 2000 advertisement.

Needless to say, I was impressed. I truly believed they would of made
a good partner with my new hobby because of my lack of knowledge and
their promises. I called their company and they recommend the Midas
1720. I spent the money I saved for two years and bought the Midas
1720.

From day one, I had nothing but trouble. I found the machine highly
inaccurate. The quill would actually flex on just about any cut. The
table had about ¼ inch backlash. After one month, a motor burnt out.
I also had an internal part in the mill head brake. When I took it
apart, I found the part to be made of a cheap pot metal.

Please note, I'm speaking now as someone with a little more
metalworking time under his belt. At the time, I had no idea what
kind of problems I was facing. I believed the problem was with my
inexperience and not with the machine. I still was in denial and
trusted Smithy.

This was all until the day I received their Father's Day 2004
advertisement. I glanced over it and stopped on a small story on the
bottom of page three. There, I saw a picture of the Midas 1720 with
an anti sign over it. I read in horror as Smithy denounced this
machine that they didn't bother to name. The article claimed how they
discontinued selling this machine but the company (China) is
continuing to import it. They were warning their customers not to buy
this machine because it's "Headstock & chuck too small for big 17"
swing." "Potential bearing wear: too small for swing." "Quill to
high, stroke too short making accurate milling difficult." "High
toolpost and vibration-prone design create flexing, diminish
accuracy." "Electrical design complicated and difficult to
troubleshoot." "No backlash adjustment of X & Y axis"

They went on to say that they sold this machine "years ago then
abandoned the project because the design just didn't work." All these
areas they describe was exactly the problems I was having. It then
dawned on me that it was in fact the machine that had the problem and
not me. So here's comes the painfully part.

Remembering Smithy's promises on how they would take care of their
customers, it was time to see if these were true. I called Smithy and
asked if they sold the Midas 1720. I was told that they no longer
sell it. This told me that the Father's Day advertisement was in fact
about the 1720. Even though the picture in the Father's Day ad showed
the 1720, I just wanted to be sure.

I spoke to one of their sales manager, henceforth shall be referred to
as T.S. I explained to him just what I have told you. There was a
moment of silence and without disputing the article or the machine,
T.S. asked, "What do you propose?"

Long story and several follow-up phone calls later, my proposal was
simple. Let's share the cost of this mistake. I would purchase a
comparable machine (1220LTD T.S. stated the 1220 replaced) with a 50%
discount. I don't know if this is the cost of manufacturing the
machine, but I suspect it is close. They might even break even on the
deal.

What do you think their answer was; remembering of course all their
claims of taking care of me? They offered to waive shipping if I
purchased the 1220 at their current sale price of $1895. So in
conclusion, I would have to spend around $4000 to get a machine that
can do what it was promised to do in the first place! Now you see the
painful part.

Well if nothing else comes of this, at least I was able to get this
off my chest. For future buyers of Smithy, read this and remember
caveat emptor! Oh buy the way; I did try to contact the Better
Business Bureau to resolve this issue and well, you get what you pay
for. That is entirely another posting.