Need a Lathe - NOW!

I bought a 17” 2hp Grizzly wood/metal vertical saw about 3 years ago. It is made in Taiwan and i am very happy owning it. I found 3 things i think should be fixed. 1 mitre slot in the table is not machined correctly (Grizzly replaced the table but while better it still isnt right). 2 lowest speed is 100 ft/min and 50 or 60 ft/min would be prefered. 3 speed readout is manual switching by pushing a button and defaults to wood rpm readout (speed from vfd/motor). I cut nearly exclusively metal so they got it wrong! ;-). Good service and great value otherwise. The Doall of my dreams wont fit in my garage…
I have the same saw, generally happy with it. I would add the little insert they provide for right around the blade is somewhat cheesey.
 
@NC Rick @rabler these things are fixable. I reprogrammed my VFD in my 18" 1.5 HP vertical saw and got my 60 SFPM. I made a better insert out of nylon that works better than the factory.
 
@NC Rick @rabler these things are fixable. I reprogrammed my VFD in my 18" 1.5 HP vertical saw and got my 60 SFPM. I made a better insert out of nylon that works better than the factory.
I know my Grizzly mill had a Delta VFD that did not come with the faceplate (no LEDs or pushbottons). When that VFD died, Grizzly wanted almost $1000 for a replacement. I found the matching VFD, and the part number for the VFD faceplate, cost about $470 delivered. Of course I had to reprogram it myself, and wait about three weeks for it to arrive. But for the $500+ bucks saved, well worth it.

And yes, making a new insert is on my to-do list. A very long to-do list that includes rebuilding the master bathroom now that it has been gutted, building a new shop, and getting the Monarch 612 and 10EE's functional. But, happy to say I cut my first chips with the K&T this morning!
 
It arrived yesterday! Overall, I'm pretty happy with the perceived quality - still in the process of unboxing and setting up. There was some minor cosmetic damage to the "stringer" that attaches to both legs of the machine, that has the model number stenciled on it. It was not attached to the lathe, and it was bouncing around during shipping (it's the part laying next to the orange foot brake). So far though, so good.

You should enjoy that thing immensely.
 
Congrats on the new machine You will love having the foot brake, especially if its single phase. Waiting for coast down stinks. I’d get those DRO cables laying in the chip pan tied up and out of the way. That would drive me bananas.


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Congrats on the new machine You will love having the foot brake, especially if its single phase. Waiting for coast down stinks. I’d get those DRO cables laying in the chip pan tied up and out of the way. That would drive me bananas.


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Copy that. I though it was a little Busch league too when I say that during the unboxing.
 
Copy that. I though it was a little Busch league too when I say that during the unboxing.
So when the lathe arrived, the "stringer" as Grizzly called it, was not attached and got scratched up. They sent me a new one, but it didn't have the model number vinyl sticker, so I did some 10' body work on it, and added some stripes. I put the new one on the backside for double support. I was surprised to see how much movement the is on the tailstock leg of the bench without the stringer in place.
 

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