Grizzly vs Presision Mathews

Buddy,
I'm stoked for ya brother. The next week or so is gonna be the longest period of time in your life. I know how it is to wait for a machine to arrive. You check the freight bill and forwarding co website everyday to see where your new baby is. You get concerned when it sits more than a few hours in any place along the way and wanna call em every day and ask them to hurry please. But it will get there soon. Dont forget to thoroughly clean and lube everything once it arrives and do not cut the corner on the break in run either. I have foumd that following the break in run procedure really does go a long way to maintaining the tightest tolerances and reduce the level of noise they make. The PM's are supposed to be pretty quiet so have fun and dont forget us when you start a project. We all want to see the pics of uncrating , mounting and some project work once you get her all set up like you want.

Bob
 
Hey great!

Matt is pretty busy these days with several cargo containers of equipment to deal with. Hope you all know that he opens every single item, and does his own QC check plus installs the optional equipment and customer mods. It's a lot of work.

And by the way, do indeed take pics (if safely possible) of the moving and lifting process so we can give tips & pointers to newcomers. There's lots of folks out there with little idea of how to tackle those things...

If you have questions, I can try to answer and help.

Good luck and be safe.


Ray

Boudreaux said:
I ordered a PM1440E with 2 axis DRO today, this seemed to me like the best deal for my needs or wants I guess I should say. Matt says he has it in stock, going to mount the DRO an probably ship it out Friday. I sold my Atlas 12x36 last week, I'm anxious to get set up.
Buddy
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I wasn't trying to throw water on your Asian lathe. Like I said,it hasn't happened to me,and I do have a 1986 Taiwan made Grizzly lathe as well as my Hardinge HLVH. I advise taking the top off the headstock and checking for stray chips with a magnetic retriever wand. They can mess up something if they get caught in gears or bearings. It is also wise to open up the apron and check for chips or sand. Flattened out soccer balls,fence fire,and all kinds of funny stuff have been found inside Chinese plywood. Semi melted ball bearings and other hard bits have ruined tools in machine shops using Chinese steel. Just be cautious.

I still think we are lucky to be able to buy affordable machines these days from Asia,though I hate the demise of American machine tools too. Back when I was young,the Atlas was the only affordable option,and it was way beyond what was affordable for me for many years.
 
Picked up my lathe today, I wound up buying the PM1440E with the installed DRO. I had it delivered to the local farmers supply store and I picked it up there. I was very pleased to find there was no damage in shipping, and every thing I expected was included plus a few things I was not expecting. The lathe was all assembled on the stand with DRO scales and wiring all installed and ready to go, just had to mount the display (holes were drilled and tapped already). Spent most of the day unpacking from pallet, getting in place and cleaning. I have it all hooked up cleaned up, leveled and ready to run. I am very happy with my decision so far!!!

Buddy
 
Very cool... I hope you've read some of the threads here about aligning lathes properly. It takes more than just leveling them with a bubble level. It's a good starting point though. Keep us apprised and good luck...


Ray


Boudreaux said:
Picked up my lathe today, I wound up buying the PM1440E with the installed DRO. I had it delivered to the local farmers supply store and I picked it up there. I was very pleased to find there was no damage in shipping, and every thing I expected was included plus a few things I was not expecting. The lathe was all assembled on the stand with DRO scales and wiring all installed and ready to go, just had to mount the display (holes were drilled and tapped already). Spent most of the day unpacking from pallet, getting in place and cleaning. I have it all hooked up cleaned up, leveled and ready to run. I am very happy with my decision so far!!!

Buddy
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Good for you! I bet you can't wait to get it dirty! Post some pics when you can!


Bernie
 
Boudreaux said:
I'm ready to buy a new lathe and have narrowed my chooses to a 14X40 Grizzly G0709 gunsmiths lathe or the Precision Mathews PM1440E, the specs and prices are very close to the same for both machines. The PM1440E is $4995 with a Easson dro installed including shipping, the Grizzly is $4750 with shipping and Dropro has the Easson dro for $500 but I would have to install which is not a deal breaker. Any input on which is the better machine, they are within $250 of each other I want to buy the better one.
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I do believe Grizzly is manufactured in China, and Precision Mathews is manufactured in Taiwan. A fair number of people feel that Taiwan makes a better product. That being said, Look at both machines, choose the one that is best for you.
 
C4963 said:
I do believe Grizzly is manufactured in China, and Precision Mathews is manufactured in Taiwan.
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Matt stocks machines from both Taiwan and from China. There will usually be a "T" suffix in the model number for Taiwanese machines.
 
I too have been looking at products and grizzly gets compared to the PM product line....
Every time the PM is a better product...built and assembled better for a longer lifespan and serviceability.
The paint job on the PM has a history of not being all that great...but the equipment appears to be just a bit better.

I really want to do a personal comparison before I plunk the money down. Make chips on both before making a choice.
 
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