Subject: Re: Smithy????

From: [email-masked] (Bill Laird)
Date: 28 Jun 1996 18:39:19 GMT

Carl Johnson ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Can anyone offer any opinions on the Smithy 3-in-1 tool. It looks like a good 
: tool for small projects but I dont know of anyone who has one.  

<remainder of post deleted>

I too am looking for opinions on the Smithy.  I recently wrote for their
sales literature and they responded promptly.  They sent several pieces of
literature including some good color pictures of the overall machine and
close ups of mill, drill, and turn operations.  From the photos the machine
looks to be of higher quality than the Harbor Freight variety, although
they state Smithy is made in China.  Their literature indicates a strong
customer service department.

Anyone with any experiences with Smithy, I would be very interested in
comments regarding both the machine and the company.

TIA

Bill Laird
Houston, Texas

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From: Ed Smega <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 29 Jun 1996 22:24:08 -0700

> : Can anyone offer any opinions on the Smithy 3-in-1 tool. 

I bought a Smithy last fall and have mixed emotions about it.  Firstly, I 
must acknowledge they have an excellent customer service department.  
They have a hotline and can handle machining type questions from novices. 
 I have ordered spare parts and received them in a matter of days.  They 
seem to be an excellent outfit to do business with.

I am a novice at machining.  I do not want to fall into the trap of 
blaming the tool for my shortcomings.  I took a machining class at the 
local vocational high school and after having my hands on a bridgeport, 
even old beat up ones, it is hard to face the Smithy.  However you must 
keep the cost in mind.  Overall, I suppose it is a good value.  It is 
substantially less expensive than some lathes that are smaller and do not 
have a milling capability. 

My specific complaints would be that it is basically a metric machine so 
the index markings on the dials are not accurate to thousandths.  The 
milling head has very course down feed that is very clumsy to adjust and 
the table movements can not be locked in one axis if you are only moving 
it on the other axis.  The dial seems to be in milimeters.  I suppose to 
net it out, the lathe is ok, but if I had it to do over I would buy a 
mill separate from the lathe. 

I am certain that with time, one could learn to compensate and probably 
turn out fine work with this machine.

Ed Smega