No, he does not know and he has not been given a definite ETA and he has informed (by phone and email) all three impacted customers. Matt only knows when a batch of machines will arrive from China when he receives a tracking number from their shipping department. He has called to complain. It does no good. Their response is "you can cancel your order". These are coming from the factory that makes the "real McCoy" version of this style of lathe. The others are copies -or copies of copies. This factory has the market bagged-up and most of the units sold are metric units being sold in Europe. This is a very popular model in Europe...
Yes, to place an order directly with an Asian factory, you need to place large orders and commit to receive partial shipments throughout the year. For the really big lathes like 16-22" units, you need to order 25 to 50. 12 to 14" lathes are usually only sold in lots of 250. For the large and medium lathes and mills, it's possible to purchase certain options and customizations. Little lathes like the 1127 etc are sold in quantities 300-500 and these cannot be purchased with varying factory options.
Small lathes that only require inspection take about 1 hour to uncrate, test, re-crate and send for shipping. Bigger lathes and mills that require DRO installation can take 4-6 hours each.
As for being a spokesperson: Since the engineering company I was working for was bought-out and liquidated, I went into my own business of consulting, product development analysis and prototype development. Under that cover, I am now supporting lathes and mills for Matt since, in an unofficial capacity, I was doing that by default for a long time -even many years before I came to this forum. I support free of charge, dozens of people on this list and others too.
As for this model of lathe... The good news, they sell like hotcakes when they're available. The bad news, this is the second (possibly third) time this model has been delayed like this -and it's a liability that Matt recognizes. At the very least, going forward he will not take orders for this machine any more. When they arrive, he will sell them -but not take orders for the next batch.
Ray
Found this site looking for reviews on this one.
It looks like what I want to replace a old craftsman/atlas 12x36
I called to check lead times,since last reply was 2-22
Matt gone till next Monday
talked to a Nichole,she says they did did ship info,It could be 6-8 weeks
I'll call back next week to see & order up if I can get some kind of date