- Joined
- Aug 29, 2016
- Messages
- 15
I've used lathes but this is my first purchase. Too long of a turnaround time to shop it out or to go to the makerspace where half the time is spent dialing in the abused equipment.
Looking at the Optimum D280x700 (11x27) vario lathe. I would actually prefer something smaller but for better or worse, right or wrong, I've convinced myself I want the higher speed (4000rpm) and easy speed adjustment of the vario. Also the smaller lathes all tend to have too small a spindle bore. (Some PM machines are the exception but they all turn very low rpm.)
The main other contender I have shopped is wabeco D6000Ehs. The US distributor wants $10k but I can import it myself for about $8k. I'm not happy about that price but I could do it if there were enough justification.
These are the only 2 lathes I can find that operate at the higher rpms and are small in size. So for example if I had not even found the Optimum I would be ok with the Wabeco.
There's very very little forum talk (here or elsewhere) about the Wabeco and even less about the Optimum, in fact I can't find a single first-hand user comment about the Optimum lathe. There does seem to be some (very little) German commentary on this machine but I do not speak German. The Wabeco commentary is universally positive except the mention of proprietary bolt patterns, etc, necessitating use of Wabeco parts.
The Optimum is made in China but it seems decent quality. It does seem better than Chinese Grizzly or even PM machines. One of the best things going for it is that it's retailed by Grainger/Zoro. So I can get a huge discount, which feels like a bargain. $3000 shipped, not bad for what I'd be getting and it does have meaningful improvements over a $2000 Grizzly/PM/et al.
Any first hand experience with this or other Optimum lathes?
Looking at the Optimum D280x700 (11x27) vario lathe. I would actually prefer something smaller but for better or worse, right or wrong, I've convinced myself I want the higher speed (4000rpm) and easy speed adjustment of the vario. Also the smaller lathes all tend to have too small a spindle bore. (Some PM machines are the exception but they all turn very low rpm.)
The main other contender I have shopped is wabeco D6000Ehs. The US distributor wants $10k but I can import it myself for about $8k. I'm not happy about that price but I could do it if there were enough justification.
These are the only 2 lathes I can find that operate at the higher rpms and are small in size. So for example if I had not even found the Optimum I would be ok with the Wabeco.
There's very very little forum talk (here or elsewhere) about the Wabeco and even less about the Optimum, in fact I can't find a single first-hand user comment about the Optimum lathe. There does seem to be some (very little) German commentary on this machine but I do not speak German. The Wabeco commentary is universally positive except the mention of proprietary bolt patterns, etc, necessitating use of Wabeco parts.
The Optimum is made in China but it seems decent quality. It does seem better than Chinese Grizzly or even PM machines. One of the best things going for it is that it's retailed by Grainger/Zoro. So I can get a huge discount, which feels like a bargain. $3000 shipped, not bad for what I'd be getting and it does have meaningful improvements over a $2000 Grizzly/PM/et al.
Any first hand experience with this or other Optimum lathes?