Subject: Junk Machinery

From: jack yates <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 15:20:35 -0700

<Soap box mode ON>

...Lemme start with a clean sheet of paper...

If I were to buy a new piece of machinery, I would go straight up and 
turn right if I had to repair it before I could use it, burn up the phone 
lines to the supplier, manufacturer, whomever, starting with "Please" and 
progressing as far as neccessary to "come and get this thing out of my 
shop while I cancel the check/file suit, etc.,"  "Exercising my 
warranty"...the warranty being the primary reason for buying new. But, 
Scott makes the remark "If Logan built a lathe like that, we would have 
beeen run out of the business"...Right, Scott, because if Logan built a 
lathe today, the purchaser would expect American (the continent, not the 
nation for the benefit of our Canadian readers) perfection and quality.  
The Asian manufacturers are capitalizing on the fact that there are few 
machinery manufacturers in the US today that can produce a machine for 
the home workshop at a price that can be justified in the family budget; 
there are home machinists who have children to raise and see through 
their education, mortgages, car payments, etc.....After reading Scott 
Logan's post this morning, I called Blue Ridge Machinery; a South Bend 
10" engine lathe with a thread indicator, faceplate and toolpost carries 
a price tag of $12,575, this without a motor or a switch to turn it on 
and off.  How many aspiring home machinists can submit a line item like 
that to the spouse and expect to get it approved?  Conversely, for 
$2800-5000, give or take a few, an Asian machine can be had with 
faceplate, 3 and 4 jaw chuck, turret tool post, dead centers, thread 
indicator, a bunch of stuff, plug and play.  I/you/anyone can go to 
Lowe's or Home Quarters and buy a Taiwan bandsaw with wobbly legs for 
$200, I can also go to the mill supply and drool over the bandsaw they 
have on display for $4800..which one is going to find a home in the hobby 
shop?

...Thought so....

...Now that I have identified the problem, I feel obligated to offer a 
solution:  The Big Three are having OEM automobile parts manufactured in 
Mexico, using US quality material and US quality..ummmm...quality.  They 
take advantage of the low labor rate, the lack of OSHA restrictions, etc. 
to lower their costs of production.  The vehicles are assembled, however 
in the US, insuring that the final product upholds that standard.  A 
major railroad material dealer is shipping rail that is not suitable for 
re-use to Mexico where it is re-rolled and sent back as rebar, same 
advantage.  Could this approach be applied to the manufacture of home-use 
metalworking machinery, using quality iron and steel and assembled, 
tested and tuned by US craftsmen at affordable cost?....Dunno, I'm not a 
bean counter, but there appears to be a definite market for a *good* 
lathe for less than $13,000 a *good* cutoff saw for less than $5000, a 
*good* drill press for less than $1800....I liken today's new machinery 
market to this:  We have two choices of automobiles, a Model T or a 
Packard, with nothing in between.....

<soapbox mode OFF>.....NEXT!

				Jack

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From: [email-masked] (Bart Smaalders)
Date: 27 Sep 1996 17:23:21 GMT

Off-topic, but oh well.... 

Well, with all the Ford bashing going on, I have to say I really
like my 96 F250HD 4x4 Crew Cab PowerStroke.  It does everything I want,
and gets close to 20 mpg, not bad for a 6000lb 4x4 that'll pull 10K lbs.

- Bart

---
Bart Smaalders			Solaris Clustering	SunSoft
[email-masked]		(415) 786-5335		MS UMPK17-301
http://playground.sun.com/~barts			2550 Garcia Ave
							Mt View, CA 94043-1100