# !!! ShopFox M1112 not as described, seller is VM-Express, Beware!!!



## Maplehead (Apr 17, 2021)

Hi All
A week ago last Wednesday I purchased the M1112 lathe from eBay via the seller VM-Express. It looked like a great deal as the lathe was in stock as opposed to the long wait Grizzly has for the lathe. Plus, it included all the accessories and the cast iron stand for about $700 cheaper as it also included free shipping. Total was $4450.00. The lathe arrived this past Thursday, two days later than expected, which was a bummer because it was sunny and dry on Tuesday and Wednesday. Now it's been raining since it arrived. Anyways, all I got was the lathe and the accessories, no stand bases. I contacted the seller and after their research they were sorry that the stand bases are no longer in their warehouse. They offered me a $200 partial reimbursement. Yeah, nice try. The two cast iron bases together cost $1665.20 and that's not including shipping. They weigh about 200 pounds together. To me this is a real crappy bate and switch move. Now I have to begin the long hassle of somehow rectifying the situation. The packaging for the lathe came pretty damaged yet I do not believe the lathe itself suffered any damage. I took lots of pics but I did remove the packaging/crating. It would be a real PITA for me to have to re-crate this thing properly, which I do not believe I should have to do as now I would be liabel for any damage upon return. So now I'm trying to figure what path to take. Keep it and try to get re-imbursed for the stands and just make a temporary stand for now or return? Any suggestions? Also, anybody have this lathe? If so, what are the base heights? The manual is confusing as it lists both stand cartons as 15 x 15 x 15. No way these bases are 15" or less in height.
Any and all help is greatly appreciated.


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## DavidR8 (Apr 17, 2021)

I had a similar situation and I fought the seller hard, threatened to go to eBay, write a scathing review etc. 
I’d file a claim no matter what. My experience has been that sellers don’t want their reputation sullied so will try hard to please.


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## Maplehead (Apr 17, 2021)

It must be a small company as I just got a reply back from my email to them earlier this morning. Anyways, they offered a max partial re-imbursement of $900. So that would leave me with having to pay an extra $765 plus shipping. Nope


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## DavidR8 (Apr 17, 2021)

Definitely file a claim!


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## markba633csi (Apr 17, 2021)

I would contact your credit card company and tell them about it, ask them what you should do first.  They want you to be a happy customer and keep using their card so they are usually very helpful.
Precision Mathews, Jet, and Grizzly are the better vendors for import machines, I'd buy from one of them
-Mark
ps Don't worry about crating it at the moment. If the credit card company gets your money back the vendor will have to come and get their lathe back crated or not, I think


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## 7milesup (Apr 17, 2021)

Yep.  File a claim.  You did not get what you wanted and now they are trying to play games.
I am not sure how this works anymore with ebay not utilizing PayPal, but if you used PayPal or a credit card (I'm sure you did) you have protections through that route.  As David pointed out, get a claim going right away. 

Also, as you are finding out, dealing with a reputable company has value.


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## mksj (Apr 17, 2021)

Seems like a common problem, my guess id that the sellers keep on copying the same specs. and the company switched to a sheet metal base as stock quite a while ago. I can't see the cast iron base being so much, on the PM-1236 it was a $200 upgrade over the stock base. If they cannot get you the cast iron base I would return the lathe via eBay. I would be more inclined to get a PM-1236 or PM-1236GT, sometimes it not about all the trinkets that come with the machine but more the post sale service and parts if needed.








						Shop Fox M1112 not as described, should I send this back?
					

My Shop Fox M1112 delivered last week. Now that I have found the time to look all my parts over it turns out that they shipped me the lathe with a lighter weight fabricated steel stand rather than the cast iron version that is listed in thier owners manual, and shown in their website pictures...




					www.hobby-machinist.com
				






			https://www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/pm-1236/
		



			https://www.precisionmatthews.com/shop/pm-1236t/


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## 7milesup (Apr 17, 2021)

Also Eisen Machinery.  Their website says sold out but I find that surprising since they were supposed to have a shipment come in about a month ago.

EDIT:  As Mark just pointed out in his post above me, the PM1236T would actually be a better value in the long run.  The Shop Fox you purchased is a Chinese lathe.  The PM1236T is a Taiwan.  Having had both Chinese and now an Eisen Taiwanese lathe, I would never buy another Chinese lathe (or probably anything else for that matter.)


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## Maplehead (Apr 17, 2021)

mksj said:


> Seems like a common problem, my guess id that the sellers keep on copying the same specs. and the company switched to a sheet metal base as stock quite a while ago. I can't see the cast iron base being so much, on the PM-1236 it was a $200 upgrade over the stock base. If they cannot get you the cast iron base I would return the lathe via eBay. I would be more inclined to get a PM-1236 or PM-1236GT, sometimes it not about all the trinkets that come with the machine but more the post sale service and parts if needed.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I was eyeing both Grizzly and PM. They are both on long delays before the products arrive in the US. By chance I saw this on eBay and in stock for $700 less so I pulled the trigger. I need the lathe now. Of course now I'm f%$#ed.


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## Maplehead (Apr 17, 2021)

UPDATE: The seller offered the full amount for the two bases, $1,665.20. I'll eat the shipping costs. I don't even know what that is yet as the parts are on back order. I guess I'm building a temporary stand for now.


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## Packard V8 (Apr 17, 2021)

Way too often today when buying on the internet, you're not dealing with a real company with an actual store of product.  The "virtual" model is all advertising and marketing, then when a sale is made, depending on a third party supplier to drop-ship the product to the buyer.  The seller may never have seen it.

When this works sometimes, some folk think the lower prices are worth it.  Rock Auto is an example.  They don't have warehouses or actually handle what they sell, just a supercharged website which they pay the google-whore to put at the top of any search.

jack vines


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## matthewsx (Apr 17, 2021)

Take the money and build a proper base. David Best has a great one he built and documented here.









						Welded Stand For PM1340 Lathe
					

Designed and fabricated specifically for the Precision Matthews PM1340 metal lathe.  Descriptions in comments of each image - just click the image for explanation.




					flickr.com
				




If you can even get the stock cast iron ones there's no guarantee it'll put the lathe at the height you want it.

John


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## 7milesup (Apr 17, 2021)

No way would I spend that kind of money on a factory stand.  They usually have no storage in them and I find them almost always too short.


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## kb58 (Apr 17, 2021)

The OP asked about stand height. You own a lathe now that _you're_ going to use, so make the stand exactly the height that you want. In fact, it's quite possible had you received the stands, you'd be complaining that they weren't tall enough!


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## Maplehead (Apr 17, 2021)

kb58 said:


> The OP asked about stand height. You own a lathe now that _you're_ going to use, so make the stand exactly the height that you want. In fact, it's quite possible had you received the stands, you'd be complaining that they weren't tall enough!


In the mamual they say the stands are 15 x 15 x 15. That doesn't make any sense as the pic shows them as rectangles and the total height being 54.5". So who knows. I'm going to consider building my own stand.


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## mmcmdl (Apr 17, 2021)

https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/sold-woodstock-international-shop-fox-m1112-lathe.51573/
		


Sold this one fully tooled for $2100 . And it was un-used . Can't believe the stand was $1600 alone .


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## Dabbler (Apr 17, 2021)

We have a lot of structural steel companies here in Alberta - you can find, by phoning around some  shortish pieces of 6X6X1/2 angle iron used to stiffen structures.  Two of those in the back, with 1/2" side walls and a 1/2" sheet top will cost you about 700$ or 800$ and give you a far sturdier base than a factory one - all you need is a little welding.  Bonus -  all the room underneath can be storage...

If you have any large fabricators out there yo8u might give that a try.  For $1600 they'd probably build and weld it for you!


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## Superburban (Apr 17, 2021)

matthewsx said:


> Take the money and build a proper base. David Best has a great one he built and documented here.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I agree, build one. 

I will try to get down to my shop tomorrow, and measure the bases.


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## Maplehead (Apr 17, 2021)

You all are making think about the building route.


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## DavidR8 (Apr 17, 2021)

Definitely build your own base. 
That will let you build in storage that makes sense for your needs.


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## Shootymacshootface (Apr 18, 2021)

+1 on building your own. Also, I am always seeing lathe cabinet/stands on Craigslist.


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## Ischgl99 (Apr 19, 2021)

I bought a PM1236T and built a stand out of plywood that is working even better than I thought it would.  The stand by David Best would be ideal, and I may do that some day, but if you have any woodworking skills, you can make a spanning beam stand out of laminated plywood that will work well for that size lathe.  You can search my user name to find my thread on getting my lathe in the basement to see the stand I built.


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