# precision matthews 1236 lathe or the grizzly 4003g?



## jvander68 (Mar 21, 2011)

Im am looking to buy a 12 by 36 lathe very soon .I need help please between 2 lathes . Either the precision matthews 1236 or the grizzly 4003g. The pm has a foot break coolant system , and a fully enclosed gear box that you can change on the fly!!
                                        Jim


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## kenh (Mar 21, 2011)

Cannot shift on the fly, there is a warning label to shut off before changing speeds/feeds. (on my 14X40 ).
Matt will deal with you, really beat the Grizzs' price.

The top speed in 1800 vs grizzs' 1400. 
Downside is it does not cut as many threads and the lousy manual.( I downloaded the Grizz manual). I was vexed mightily when I discovered I could not cut 48 TPI

Get the installed DRO if within the budget, it is a nice unit. (Sino)


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## Starlight Tools (Mar 21, 2011)

I like the foot brake on my 1440V, sorry not a PM.

I use the foot brake when I want to use a tap or a die on the lathe, it allows me to lock the spindle by just applying a bit of foot pressure on the brake. Havn't ever used it to stop the lathe as it spins down as mine is VFD control and the VFD brake works quick enough.

The only thing that I can shift on the fly on my lathe is the speed dial to control the VFD. Gear shifting on the fly leaves a pile of metal shards in the bottom of the gear box.

Most of the guys on the Bluemachine group talk well about their PM lathes, but there have been a few that have had definite problems. Overall the machines seem typical of Chinese kits.

Walter


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## jvander68 (Mar 22, 2011)

Thanks Ed i sure will post alot of picks as soon as they get here .Im a tinkerer ,I love making things no matter what it is .Could you check out the website instructables .com typein coolbeansbaby68 and those are all my projects... thanks 
                             Jim


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## jvander68 (Mar 23, 2011)

Thanks for the compliment ed .It sure was fun to build. The second one the red one is mine . I had 2 build another one i had so much fun with the first one.... The funny thing is they have about 120 miles on them and havent broke once yet !! A few drunkin late night romps on the back roads on thos hot summer nights were quite memorable... If anyone else would like to check out my site go to   instructables.com    look up coolbeansbaby68.  Those are all my projects i have accomplished so far.  Now as far as the lathe issue so far as of making a decision on which 1 to get .This is what i have so far   The one thing i have noticed is i talked to the guy who sells lathemaster and the thing is i think they r all the same . As a consumer you rely alot on the internet sites. If you look at precision matthews site and and read about the 1236 lathe and then look at grizzlys 
 website on the 4003g and you would be like ok its the grizzly 4003g hands down thats the one im getting . Not that its a better machine but The website is so much better !! Yet i think that the 2 machines are pretty much the same . So you have to look at availability and what options go with it ..... In that case its the mp1236 . It comes with a coolant system , wedge type qcth, and a foot brake...  Just my opinion so far after alot of research....


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