Craftex CX701 Lathe

Drifter1885 said:
So far all they have agreed to is supplying parts; which they should anyway, as the warranty is good until July 2014. My plan is to install their new parts, then take it to a "local" dealer (about an hour and a half from home) and trade it in. Had I known that dealer was there to start with, I would have bought from them in the first place. They sell "King" brand tools; anyone on here familiar with them?

Drifter
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I have a King 10x22 and am happy with it, Has a couple of shortcomings that I can work around! The majority of the line from King are carbon coppies of both the Grizzly and Busy Bee stuff. I originaly was looking @ B-B myself then they pulled the plug on the local branch here in town, Then when the time actually came to buy a machine. I contacted Busy bee in Edmonton and was informed of their Warranty / return policy. When you bought it as long as you never opened the crate to look at it they would take it back for a re stocking fee. I sugested they keep it and I spent my money elsewhere. As to the king, I have had a couple of small problems all of whitch have been taken care of directly from the head office in Quebec.
 
Took me some time to try and see what failed first. Looks like the casting did. Then the gears went then the shaft bent. This is definitely a factory defect as far as I can see. You should get a new lathe as this was not your fault. A fac6tory rep needs to see this.

"Billy G"
 
I agree to needing a new lathe out of this, but unfortunately they don't. Going to call them on Monday and try to wear 'em down a bit. I also had to pull the cross-slide apart; there was a roll pin that was too long, was dug in to the base enough to leave a deep mark. Touched it with a grinder, it worked right. Tailstock screw keeps hanging up; needs tear-down too. And on and on. But, if they won't replace it, I will have to be patient, wait for the parts, rebuild the gearbox, and trade it in for a King. At least the dealer is within driving distance.

Thanks to all you pro's out there for your advice; nice to know there is all that knowledge out there; too bad I can't be working on my tractor right now. Need the lathe for a lot of what I am doing, and have to do it the hard way. Oh well.

Regards,
Drifter
 
Driffter,I would ask them who is installing the new parts, If they say it is you then ask them where you are to send the invoice for your time at a good rate of pay. I do not know about you but my time is worth money. this my make them rethink the issue. I did this with grizzly because of shipping damage and they agree to a gift card for my time.Mark
 
They have a 2 year warranty, but only do days on labor. Had I known that, I would not have bought their product. It was advertised as "2 year warranty". But, I will be trying to get a new machine from them. :))

Regards,
Drifter
 
Drifter1885 said:
They have a 2 year warranty, but only do days on labor. Had I known that, I would not have bought their product. It was advertised as "2 year warranty". But, I will be trying to get a new machine from them. :))

Regards,
Drifter
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Hello DRIFTER
Sympathise with U, BUT and that is a BIG BUT..............
We reckon U Guys definitely ought to have more "after-sales back-up" there than on this side of the pond.
Like the others said, U seem to have taken this very lightly, if not more aggressively.
Tell them to come and take back their piece of ~!@#$%^&*()
And replace U with another better brand-spanking new machine.
What the hell ..........can't understand why U taking this lying down ????
U paid hard-earned bucks for it !!!
Come tomorrow, U give them a piece of Your mind.
We think U too passive about this whole affair
U should be fuming ............ blowing fire !!! ~!@#$%^&*()
aRM
 
My new CT043N was making a racket in the headstock so I removed the top cover and looked inside. There is a keyway that runs almost the full width of the lay shaft. There are two screws that are supposed to hold the key in that keyway but they were very loose. The keyway itself was very 'generous' so the key was flopping around when the gears were in motion. The screws are exposed when in a certain gear so it is conceivable that one could fall out completely. I am sure that it was a disaster waiting to happen. I peened one side of the keyway to tighten it up on the key and tightened the screws. It will be inspected again after a few more hours to see how things are holding up.
How tight are the keyways in your CX 701? Could a key have slipped out of position and into the path of a gear? With a cracked case like we see in the picture I would insist on the replacement of the whole assembly. Tell Busy Bee that they can either send someone to install a new headstock within a month or you will return the whole lathe for a full refund. If it was me I would load the lathe in a pick up tomorrow and return it to the nearest BB store for a full refund. If they didn't accept it or help you unload it I would dump it in their front parking lot anyway. You have consumer rights on your side no matter what BB tells you. You have more options than what BB seems to have offered and those include small claims court. Take good pictures before returning the lathe so that you can show the judge. Take a good picture of the lathe sitting on their property in the parking lot.
 
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I hear ya. Called them today and said that, all things considered, I should be getting a new lathe instead of a box of parts. Less than a half hour later I get a call saying that the supplier that Busy Bee gets their equipment (junk) from thinks there is now way this could have happened, and they want more pics. Sounds like they are trying to weasel out of it. To me this is a declaration of "war". I WILL fight them in any legal venue I have access to, to get either my money refunded, or a new lathe....which I would then trade off. Personally, I would like to see a credit to my c-card, and a crate show up to put their pos in and send back to them. I am about 15 hours drive from them or I WOULD take it there and unload it right in their doorway, then tell all who would listen, that they do not stand behind their customers, nor do they support their customers. GAME ON!!!

And that, my friends and learned colleagues, was my "Christmas" present from them. Talk about take your money and run. Nice bunch.

And in my emailed response, I also outlined the other issues I have been having with this lathe; tailstock not retracting without almost ten minutes of coaxing, cross-slide totally bound up because of a rollpin being tool long and embedding itself into the base of the cross-slide. This for starters.

Anyway, enough of that.

A merry Christmas to all of you, and to those who have to travel, be safe. Watch out for your fellow drivers, and wildlife.

Drifter
 
Update on my lathe issues: December 24th got am email stating that my lathe breakdown was not considered to be a "warranty item". After several emails, always managing to keep my temper in check, the advised me that I would have to return it to the outlet where I bought it, at my expense, which is about $200.00 one way, and they would look it over to decide if it was or wasn't warranty. I said no; I was NOT paying for warranty, especially since the warranty does not expire until July of this year. This was all from Busy Bee head office. Got an email from the manager of our "local" Busy Bee (800 mile or so away) and he said he had spent a good bit of time on the phone with the upper management in Ontario head office, and they agreed to pay for all parts. Funny thing is, all this started on December 24th, about 20 minutes AFTER I phoned them and said I wanted a new lathe, not new parts. I think it goes without saying that once I get my parts they will have seen the last of me.

Thanks again for all your input. I will post updates on this "saga" and pics of the machine I will own within a week of completing repairs on this one; I will be trading it in as soon as it is repaired. Once burned, twice shy, as the saying goes.

Regards,
Drifter
 
You really are taking this too lightly. Crappy service like that can also be handled by your credit card co. Contact the cc outfit and file a complaint, in most cases they have a lot more push than an individual customer.
 
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