.....an interesting read. A lot of well-thought out responses, and some great examples.
I can sure understand Coomba's frustration and disappointment. To me $2,350 (Coolidge's figure) is a big cost. I would expect a decent quality, fully functional machine for that money. Something that comes out of the box, and with
minor cleaning and lube could be put to work nearly immediately making quality parts.
I also see lots of people willing to compromise; some of those things
are minor, and Coomba calls them such! Personally, I (hopefully!) would not have cranked that level hard enough to scratch the faceplate, I'd have noticed the interference, *****ed about it and readjusted it.
However that x-feed noise? Could be minor(feed handle), could be bigger(bearing or nut), we won't know until it's investigated.
That lever shake and spindle noise........wow. Not likely going to make quality parts like that.....
And coolidge's statement:
Then I finally got around to checking the ways and the Y axis ways were tapered .005 over 10 inches, that was one of the deal breakers I had discussed with them before ordering.
Holy crap, that's waaay off!
A "deal breaker" is putting it mildly!
That was on his initial list of issue due to previous experience.
To me, a customer having to specify that the ways should not be tapered is far outside of all reasonable expectations!
If I'm buying a milling machine, it should out-of-the box operate as a milling machine...and being accurate is inherent in that!
And the more money I pay the more accurate it should be. At this price I would want/expect less than 1 thou. over the working range.
But how does a newbie set expectations properly? Their own and the suppliers.
Should a newbie not even consider a machine at this price-point, but be forced to pay double to have someone actually test/inspect it knowing that a newbie owner won't know how to evaluate or adjust/tweak it properly? What suppliers offer that "extra" service?
Should the supplier not sell to an inexperienced buyer?
The whole discussion makes me shudder about buying anything new.
Even if issues do eventually get fixed who has the time for months of back-and-forth? What's that cost?
At least if I do get burned on a "used" purchase: 1) I'm not out the price of a new machine, and 2) I know that I am to blame due to lack of inspection/test. It almost seems the only way to set expectations properly...but that opinion has come from experience too.....
Thanks for all the discussions!
Coomba, I sincerely hope you can get to an acceptable resolution.
-brino