Shars and Grizzly, Grrr...

[jarhead]

These

John,

Damn Yankee
Coul I get the Amazon link to the 250-202 please. I’d like to order a couple for my G0750G

Thanks. Joe

are the dimensions I’m working with

 

[dkemppai]

I sometimes wonder if the difference is not so much one of cost but the desire for instant gratification.
...
Onsies, twosies. Auctions, Craigslist, Facebook, horse trades, etc
I will bet I don't have much more in my set than a guy might have in a new equivalent China set.
But that route took time and some dedication.

Slowly catching up on this thread. But your post brings a point to mind. Don't forget the value of time. The old saying, "Time is Money".
If you paid yourself a reasonable 'wage' while searching for these tools, do you really have only what you paid for them into collecting them?
In general, I think we all have to balance what we can afford in both time and money. Some of us have more time than money, others the reverse is true. Some of us don't have either!

That said, I did buy some shars tool holders a while back. They DO NOT work well with my plunger style tool post. They're just crap for that post. They will lock tight but do not repeat. Between tool changes they can be .030" off! (It hasn't been worth the time to measure them.) But, they were cheap, so I use them accordingly.

To the OP, you end up balancing buying cheap import stuff with higher quality stuff. Sometimes the cheap stuff will be just fine, or can be made to work. There are times where you really should't buy cheap stuff (measurement tools, for example!). Depending on your situation that's the game you end up playing. Honestly, for the $17 to send something back that didn't work it was a pretty cheap round of playing that game.

 

[Mitch Alsup]

I happen to have a G4003G with the std Grizzly tool post.
I had to modify the pistons in order to get the handle in a better position than it originally was in.
I bought a number of BXA holders from Shars and they all fit.

But, realistically, anything that did not fit would simply get "worked on" by me until it did.
Oh and by the way, at the time I fixed my tool post I had had the lathe for 3 whole days.
Most of this stuff is "just get in there" "figure out what is wrong" and "fix it"

There is a reason its $20 instead of $60.

 

[pstemari]

These

are the dimensions I’m working with

One thing to watch out for that has bit me in the past big time is that you can't measure those dovetails directly. The edges are never at the theoretical intersection, and the difference is significant. You really have to use dowel pins to measure the dovetail and then do the math.

Sent from my Pixel 7 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[Harry Knutz]

For the record, it is Not about buying only USA made stuff.
I own tools and machinery that were built in the US. Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Poland, Japan, Israel and other countries.
I would gladly buy from France, the Low Countries, all of Scandinavia, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, Latin America, India and other countries.
But there is another element to it too you know.
None of those places above consider us to be their avowed enemy.
There is however one country that does consider us their enemy.
That country is using the profits we send them to increase their hegemony around the world. That country oppresses their people like few other countrys do. That country steals our technology. They are dramatically building up their military.
They have flouted international law and custom. They are engaging in espionage.
They have subsidized their manufacturing in a purposful attempt to flood our country with cheap, ill fitting goods and tools - to the detriment of our own manufacturing base.
That country doesn't care about human rights or environmental issues or fair trade.
That country is simply in it to win and will grind whatever grist it takes to get there.
That country is China.
Where you buy your tools from may not matter to you but it does matter a lot where you buy from.
And I would simply ask that people think about this before they buy a tool solely on the price tag.
Because the true cost of a thing may be much higher than they realize...

If you took everything on your property that was made in China, And threw it away, You would be sitting on the floor reading a book and walking to work.

 

[Inferno]

If you took everything on your property that was made in China, And threw it away, You would be sitting on the floor reading a book and walking to work.

Guess where printing paper comes from these days...?

 

[pontiac428]

Guess where printing paper comes from these days...?

Karl Marx called it, then wrote 2,000 pages explaining it. His insights into the social economy are in line with the contributions of Einstein, Planck, and Newton, yet in American schools we've tarred him with the communist brush. He didn't even come up with communism until late in his life when he was asked how he proposed to fix the problems caused by capital. I've read Kapital vol. 1 (actually twice) and it's mind blowing how he understood 170 years ago what the consequences would be today.

 

[Just for fun]

I will say this and they'll likely throw stones at me also; but I have purchased Accusize tool holders off amazon and found them to work okay.

Well, I gotta say I have bought some Shars stuff through Amazon and they have free returns. I'm not sure how Amazon does it but I'm glad they do.

 

[WobblyHand]

Well, I gotta say I have bought some Shars stuff through Amazon and they have free returns. I'm not sure how Amazon does it but I'm glad they do.

Have to say that Shars via Amazon, eBay or direct is relatively easy to work with. They have weird shipping, but if there's a problem, they have treated me ok. Had an ER40 set tru chuck that had improper machining and they exchanged it for a decent one. I showed them pictures and they immediately agreed with me that it was deficient. Also bought a height gauge whose picture showed a carbide scribe. As received, there was no carbide scribe. The product had changed, but they failed to update their listing. Got a full refund. Have some tool holders, they are ok and fit my import wedge tool holder just fine.

With practically all of these suppliers you have inspect what you get and make sure they are ok. Just what we need to do these days, and what we have had to do for at least 2000 years, buyer beware. We may have had it too good for a short while, but caveat emptor generally has been the rule for the last two millenia.

 

[Janderso]

Your tool post is the "wedge type".
Your friends is the "piston type".

In my experience the high-quality (more expensive) suppliers use the wedge-type.
That's why I have the piston type......

Brian

Brian, your wit always brings a smile to my face