- Joined
- Mar 14, 2016
- Messages
- 6
Mike, this probably outside your original choices but I'll chime in anyway. I been gunsmithing over 30 years, and making my living at it for over 20. I do a lot of barrel work, and most of it is repetitive setups. A good choice in a machine will save you lots of time and money in the long run. That's why I wouldn't consider either machine you are looking at. As one professional to another, I would recommend a Jet 1340BDB. Belt drive makes the difference in 2 ways: There are no problems with harmonics and bad vibes to affect finishes, let alone there are less gears in the train to wear. The headstock is shorter, meaning you can get shorter barrels all the way through it. Believe me, I'd had my share of lathes, and the only ones I kept were belt drive. I'm sure the other lathes are fine for hobbyists, but for making a living at gunsmithing, the Jet is the best suited for that purpose.
That's absolutely a valid point. We had considered Jet after running one of their machines at a trade show in Nashville last year, specifically the GHB-1340A. Enco offers this model for $4114.49 (plus the stand and shipping) when they run their 25% off coupon, and its capabilities are within range. What ultimately turns me off of Jet every time I look back into them is the lack of certain features that are included in other brands at or near the same price (no QCTP, no coolant, no DRO, no spider, no stand, 2 year warranty, D1-4 spindle, etc). To be fair, my opinion of them has been negatively biased since I was a defense contractor some years ago. There was a fair amount of Jet tooling in our facility. The lathe was down more than it was up and the shop had substantial issues with parts and support as I recall. Granted, this could have been an isolated incident. Import machine-wise, I simply know of more gun shops that have Grizzly, Turn-Pro or Enco mills/lathes than Jet. I've looked at several used belt drive models, but just get into more of the issues that brought me to sell the old Lux-Matter to begin with. New, used, import, domestic -- lots to consider on the market today for smithing.