Buying A Genuine RF-45 eMachineTool.com?

[NortonDommi]

Norton, I think he was only talking about that model, which isn't even a good clone of the RF-45. You can tell the poor quality from just that grainy photo. It's that bad.

I noticed that. I'm not sure that it is an RF-45 clone as I get the feeling it is smaller.
I stand by my comments about Americanitice though as is comes through very strongly in many forms of media. The English have it with Britainitice and the Germans are infected as well.
I have seen utter crap produced by just about every nation and also some stuff that sets a standard so high it is hard to surpass. These days with globalisation and global corporates manufacture is routinely shifted to wherever is the cheapest and as the decision makers often don't even know what the product is quality can be variable.
At the end of the day quality costs money but a streamlined manufacturing process can lower cost relative to other manufacturers.
Japan got its boost after WWII by adopting the work practises devised by a couple of Americans who were laughed at in America. I don't think anyone making anything wants to produce rubbish and every manufacturer starts off small. Some have reasonable standards and stick to them and hopefully succeed. Some just dive in without care and fail.
My main point was that giving a blanket condemnation of a product just because of where it was made is a subjective, blinkered opinion that has no basis in fact. I know that the 'Made in China' tools I have are not top end toolroom standard and for what I paid I don't expect them to be but they are certainly not rubbish, do what I want them too and I am happy. If I had spent more I would have gotten 100% handscraped to 0.00001" ways and tolerances so fine I couldn't measure them.
Making a statement that a machine can't do something based on a hearsay subjective opinion by someone who may have a distinct bias against the machine does not sit well with me. Just saying.
On 'chinesium' I saw an interesting video on the You Tube:

It has English subtitles for us uneducated monolinguistic low lifes and I think is a very good indication of real life.
Me? I'm going to continue to buy the best that I can afford regardless of where it was made, after all engineers are engineers.

 

[Downwindtracker2]

My son and I went together a few years back and bought a discounted CQ6125 lathe, it was stripped down version , imported by a buyer who had been a welder.. So I looked them up to find out about them and a dealer for the missing options. I found there were two factories making them XIMA and SEIG . The SEIG ones were assembled , the XIMA, from the test results, were fitted. Even at Chinese labour rates, fitting cost money. Ours was a XIMA . You know where most 10x22s come from. Oddly enough, heresy alert, it was a better lathe the Maximat 8 it was a copied from. It didn't have plastic gears.

Thou I'm fond of Canadian made machinery, since most of our stuff is imported, so if it's German, American, Japanese or even Chinese, it's still just imported. The truth is , if I listen to the Chief Financial Officer , I can't even afford cheap Chinese. chuckle

 

[Cadillac STS]

Americanitis

 

[AndySomogyi]

Here’s what I ended up buying, a Grizzly G0678. It’s a Taiwanese made 8x30 knee mill.

Initial impressions are the quality is superb. All the mating surfaces are precisely ground, and the column is like 3/8” thick cast iron in the thinnest part. Very solid and rigid feeling.

This really feels like a small version of a “real” mill as opposed to a toy joke like my old round column mill.

The knee is also so very nice to use, because of the weight, there’s zero backlash and you can do some very precise positioning in the Z.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Downwindtracker2]

What would we do without our engine hoists? It sure looks sweet.

 

[AndySomogyi]

What would we do without our engine hoists? It sure looks sweet.

I tell you, it was a nightmare getting this thing in with that hoist. I've got the smallest, ****tiest hoist, a 1-ton Horrible-Freight model, with a short boom. I couldn't get the trailer all the way into the garage, and because the boom is so short, had to winch the mill to the end of the trailer. Then, the boom with hit my garage door, so had to drag and move the mill in like 1/2" steps.

Finally, and about 5:00 AM, got it unloaded, and got a couple hours of sleep before returning the trailer the next day before a late-return fine.

I'm currently making a cradle for the mill, with retractable casters, so I can move it around, and retract the casters and let the mill rest on the leveling pads when in use.

I really need to get rid of this hoist and buy the 2 ton model with a longer boom.

 

[pdentrem]

I used one like this one. Well worth it.
Pierre

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Big-Red-2-Ton-Foldable-Engine-Crane-T32002X/100595175

 

[Downwindtracker2]

For my mill, I made machine a cradle , the name escapes me now, like those ones you buy. Only I used 4"x 1/4 angle iron. And rigged the 4" iron casters with that same angle iron upside down, out rigger style. To level and secure I used machinery leveling pads, only I made my own out of hockey pucks and 3/4" redirod. I dimpled the hockey pucks, a mill is handy, and rounded the redirod.

 

[NortonDommi]

I tell you, it was a nightmare getting this thing in with that hoist. I've got the smallest, ****tiest hoist, a 1-ton Horrible-Freight model, with a short boom. I couldn't get the trailer all the way into the garage, and because the boom is so short, had to winch the mill to the end of the trailer. Then, the boom with hit my garage door, so had to drag and move the mill in like 1/2" steps.

Never overlook the humble roller. I have a bin full of 1" and 1&1/2" sched 40 pipe cut mostly at 40" but some at smaller lengths also a dozen of so bits of 4" for use outside.
Rollers, a large prybar and a come-along are all that are needed to move large objects.
With any luck Santa is going to bring me a Skyhook for the Solstice.
P.S. Very nice looking mill.

 

[Cadillac STS]

Never overlook the humble roller. I have a bin full of 1" and 1&1/2" sched 40 pipe cut mostly at 40" but some at smaller lengths also a dozen of so bits of 4" for use outside.
Rollers, a large prybar and a come-along are all that are needed to move large objects.
With any luck Santa is going to bring me a Skyhook for the Solstice.
P.S. Very nice looking mill.

For moving the Bridgeport around it is easy to use 2-3 one inch steel pipes. Standing in front you can push the top back and it will tip the base up. Push in one pipe far back and leave another pipe closer to you. Tip the machine onto the pipes and you can roll to around the shop for cleaning the area or just moving to another place.

I have a building that a truck can drive into so a chain fall lift to the top of the shop can lift it out of a pickup or trailer.