Yesterday I drove about 5 hours round trip in order to be able to lay
eyes and hands directly on the Birmingham CT-1440G lathe, which is one
of their Made in Taiwan models as opposed to being Made in China like
most of the off-brand 14x40 lathes.

I must say that from what I could tell in looking at the machine that it
appears to be a very well made piece of equipment. Little if any
backlash in the various feeds, hefty castings, nice finish work, clear
easy to read dial and markings. Even the handwheels felt very nice to
the touch.

For the around $4000 price of a new machine with 3 and 4 jaw chucks, two
steady rests, etc. this seems like quite a good deal in modern
equipment. The quality looks to be a significant step above the ~$3000
Chinese 14x40 machines I've seen at Harbor Freight and Grizzly.

Is anyone here running this machine?

John

Certainly nothing wrong with B'ham lathes. I have a friend who has a
machine shop that runs nothing but B'ham lathes and
mills...........good bang for the buck and they can hold what
tolerances he needs and they have been very reliable.

On Fri, 17 Jun 2005 18:57:50 GMT, John Horner
wrote:

===Yesterday I drove about 5 hours round trip in order to be able to lay
===eyes and hands directly on the Birmingham CT-1440G lathe, which is one
===of their Made in Taiwan models as opposed to being Made in China like
===most of the off-brand 14x40 lathes.
===
===I must say that from what I could tell in looking at the machine that it
===appears to be a very well made piece of equipment. Little if any
===backlash in the various feeds, hefty castings, nice finish work, clear
===easy to read dial and markings. Even the handwheels felt very nice to
===the touch.
===
===For the around $4000 price of a new machine with 3 and 4 jaw chucks, two
===steady rests, etc. this seems like quite a good deal in modern
===equipment. The quality looks to be a significant step above the ~$3000
===Chinese 14x40 machines I've seen at Harbor Freight and Grizzly.
===
===Is anyone here running this machine?
===
===John


==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

Been using one for almost 10 years now....great machine; I would buy
another. I am getting ready to put a DRO on it. I was reading in this group
about one yesterday but haven't had time to look at it. I can hold less than
1/2 thou easily.

Mike

"John Horner" wrote in message
news:O2Fse.19566$2K4.8131@trnddc08...
Yesterday I drove about 5 hours round trip in order to be able to lay eyes
and hands directly on the Birmingham CT-1440G lathe, which is one of their
Made in Taiwan models as opposed to being Made in China like most of the
off-brand 14x40 lathes.

I must say that from what I could tell in looking at the machine that it
appears to be a very well made piece of equipment. Little if any backlash
in the various feeds, hefty castings, nice finish work, clear easy to read
dial and markings. Even the handwheels felt very nice to the touch.

For the around $4000 price of a new machine with 3 and 4 jaw chucks, two
steady rests, etc. this seems like quite a good deal in modern equipment.
The quality looks to be a significant step above the ~$3000 Chinese 14x40
machines I've seen at Harbor Freight and Grizzly.

Is anyone here running this machine?

John