On 05/24/2011 04:42 PM, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
We needed another low-precision 13x40 lathe in the shop, and after having
reviewed all the Chinese and Taiwanese models, and talking with a few
machinists who'd bought one, we went with the Shop Fox 1098 -- a very
basic 13x40 with no real "toys" but all the basics.

It arrived Friday last, with the crate intact, and took us about an hour
to crane and wheel it into the machine room.

It turned out to be a complete lemon -- mechanical (major) defects,
finish and paint problems, missing fasteners; you name it. And it also
happened to be mis-wired, which prevented it from working AT ALL until we
trouble-shot the circuitry, and found the problem (two swapped wires in
the spindle control).

There were major things -- the gap block had been removed and replaced
with one that was not matched to the bed. The foot brake was disabled by
a missing washer. And, of course, it wouldn't run.

The thing was also MAJORLY dirty -- fingerprints and goop all over every
surface, missing paint, paint chad and metal shavings all among the
parts, evidence of disassembly after painting; even a "stray" bearing
ball floating around in the chip tray that contained about two or three
ounces of machine oil and dirt, shavings, and paint chad. (lots).

Hmmm... we identified and fixed the wiring problem, but it meant that the
lathe had NEVER been powered up. Thus, all the TIR information and other
specs in the "certification document" had been falsified. (no, duh!)

So, I contacted Shopfox.biz. Told them the tale. Waited for a three-
week response time.


WoW! They responded within two hours! Wow! They wanted to know what I
needed to make it right! Wow!

That was yesterday. Today, we had also determined that the apron gearbox
was leaking and empty of oil, so I emailed them again.

Within ONE HOUR, they called me directly, and offered to replace and
_personally_inspect_ the next machine they sent me.

Now, I know what I'm getting into with a Chinese machine, and it will
require some adjustments and time to get it working true, but this was a
real surprise! They said (basically), "We don't sell junk, and we won't
let a customer deal with this quality -- we'll ship you new at our
expense, and return the old one at our expense, and the factory can suck
it up." And they even offered a discount against the original purchase
(?).


Wow! I never expected that.

It's not a "done deal" yet, but I'll let you know how it goes.

So far, I'm pretty impressed with the importer (Woodstock tools), if not
the factory.

Keep us posted!

Folks like that need to be rewarded -- they're certainly not going to
stay in business on price alone if that's their attitude, but it's a
_very good_ attitude to have.

--

Tim Wescott
Wescott Design Services
http://www.wescottdesign.com

Do you need to implement control loops in software?
"Applied Control Theory for Embedded Systems" was written for you.
See details at http://www.wescottdesign.com/actfes/actfes.html