Purchased a Vevor WM210V-L and the saga begins

[Aaron_W]

I'm going on what I've read on here and other forums (and after many years of being on various internet forums related to kit-based hobbies, I reckon I have a reasonable BS-radar), so take my advice with a grain of salt but, if I were in your position and I was looking for something in the way of 9x20 and it looked like buying new was necessary/sensible, I'd be considering the LMS Hi Torque 7500...

...except I wouldn't because it looks like they're not doing it any more and it's been superceded by the 7600 and that's another $300 and it's on backorder.

Maybe a Grizzly G4000? That's relatively inexpensive and it has a QCGB. Looks a bit like the old generic Taiwanese lathes but it won't be Taiwanese at the price and I don't know what kind of reputation it has.

I have an Enco 9x20, essentially the same thing as a Grizzly G4000. Compared to the Chinese 7x and 8x lathes, they have some drawbacks, but also many positive features.

I think #1 on the plus side is they are simple. Belt driven, so no electronic speed control to go bad, and no safety switch in the chuck cover to fiddle with (in fact no chuck cover). Quality control also seems to be better. Mine is from the early 1990s, so I don't know how that would compare to a new one, but I don't hear about people having to do a lot of finishing work. Improvements certainly, but unfinished castings, no.

They offer a significantly larger working area, 8.75" swing and a true 19" or 20" between centers (depends on if they come with a live or dead center). The foot print is bigger, but less than a foot longer in length. If you can fit a 7x16" you can probably fit a 9x20. More than double the weight, and 4-1/2" bed width vs 3-1/4" so more rigidity.

It does have a QC Gear Box, but that is for feed speeds, not so much for threading. You will still be playing with change gears.

They come with more tooling than most of the 7" lathes, although the included 4 jaw chuck is pretty useless.

Price is very similar to the better quality 7" lathes, and cheaper than some of the 8".


The downsides are, 6 speeds 130-2000 with belt changes vs variable speed. The belt is also very skinny and prone to breaking if not used with care. The belt on the 9x20 is at best 1/2 the width of the V belt on my 6x18" Craftsman (Atlas), maybe 3/16".
Threaded spindle, most with a proprietary M39-4.0 thread (Jet uses the more common 1-1/2"-8). The spindle does have a locking screw to hold the chuck on.
The compound is only held down with 2 bolts so from the factory not as solid as it could be. It is a common mod to drill and tap holes for 2 more bolts. It shares many of its issues with the Grizzly 10x22 lathes.

Like the 7x lathes there is a big community for the 9x20s, and people have shared many ways to improve the lathe. Part of that is because there are many areas to improve, but I think you could do a lot worse for a starter lathe. With a few mods and learning the quirks, they can be pretty decent little lathes.