An Aussie With Questions About Pm Lathes And Machinery

[Ozwelder]

Hi,
I see this brand Precision Mathhews, mentioned from time to time on metal working forums. The brand is not one encountered in my country, Australia.

I have been to the PM site and had a look and the their 12 x 36 looked about the same physically as a lathe I own that's several years old.Mine's a generic Chinese pattern and is good in some respects and lousy in others.particularly in cross slide and compound slide mountings.

Can anyone explain to me what would make a Prescision Matthews better than a comparable brand new generic lathe of the same size.

Are the castings heavier,thicker or of better quality materials? Is the machining of the PM lathes held to better tolerances.Is there an obvious quality system overseeing the manufacture of PM lathes?

An inquiring mind would like to know.
thanks in advance

Ozwelder

 

[RIMSPOKE]

SIMPLE ENOUGH .

THE PRECISION MATHEWS MACHINES ARE OF CHINESE ORIGIN AND HAVE SIMILAR FEATURES
WITH A NUMBER OF OTHER "AMERICAN BRANDED" LINES OF MACHINES LIKE GRIZZLY
AND SHOP FOX .

I THINK A LOT OF THIS STUFF IS MADE IN THE SAME FACTORY WHERE THEY GO OUT THE DOOR
WITH DIFFERENT COLOR PAINT JOBS AND MINOR DETAILS LIKE THE CONTROLS .

I GOT A PM-727M MILL BECAUSE IT HAD THE RIGHT COMBINATION OF FEATURES AND
THE PRECISION MATTHEWS COMPANY HERE GAVE ME A GOOD DEAL WHEN I BOUGHT DIRECT .

 

[juiceclone]

Quite a lot of that stuff is made by "Sumore tools" in Shanghai. They have a lot of variations on their models which get sold in the west under common brand names. I have noted that the ones for export under those brands seem to be lacking in some features that exist on Sumores own models? You can get them to ship one to you, but you become the importer and I can testify to that being a pain in the ***!

 

[wrmiller]

Ozwelder,

I think you would get a better answer by emailing Matt at PM and getting an answer 'straight from the horse's mouth' so to speak, instead of relying on opinions from a forum. I've known Matt for a number of years now and have never known him to BS anyone about his products, or what he as done to them at the manufacturer.

Oh, and all of the manufacturers over there will build to any price point/quality level you want. Most (importers and end users) don't want to pay for the good stuff however.

 

[qualitymachinetools]

Bill pretty much has it as usual,
And it all depends on the specific model, there is no blanket statement that covers everything. Or anything really.

There is a lot more to it than the paint color. Most of the time, if a factory makes a machine for a large company, (One who has them build a large enough amount of machines to keep them busy, Like us, and a few of the other larger names out there like the green one, etc) they have an exclusive deal and will not build them for anyone else in the same country. BUT, another factory might make the same identical LOOKING machine. So you see a lot of the same kinds of machines, many people assume are the same. Sometimes they are, that happens for sure. But many times anymore, they are not the same factory.

For example, our PM-1236. No one else in the USA carries this model from this same factory. Basically, a Chinese 1236 lathe is the same. Of course. But there are a lot of small differences in them that can add up. Not much that is going to make it a night and day difference, but there are some differences.

Another example, our PM-932M. Everyone assumes its from the same factory as another machine that comes with the same accessories, looks identical other than a different color. (And there are many variations of this model all over the place) But in fact, it is a completely different factory who builds them.

There can be differences in the iron castings. HT200 cast iron is cheaper than HT250. Will never know the difference on the outside or looking at a picture. Just one example of the many things that can change from one to another.

Way too much to get in to, and it is different for each different model. One main difference, is that I will pay for quality, where 95% of places just go for price. I tell the people at the factory, if they can make it a little better for a little more money, that is OK. and they tell me the same thing. "Hey this is the price, but we can cheapen it up to save a bit, or make it better for a little more"

We do not ship machines to Austrailia though, too expensive, and too much hassle. If you are looking for a machine there though, I can get you in contact with some people I know there.

And that Sumore is not a factory, just a trading company. That is what almost every "factory" web site that you see out there is, just a trading company. The problem with them is that you do not know what you are getting, it will probably be an OK Machine, but if you ever need a part, you don't even know what you have, and chances are that trading company is gone by then. Or if they are still around, they won't really know what they sold you.

Most of the factories over there dont even have web sites. Those trading companies will lie and tell you that they make it, but it is very, very rare that you can import a machine directly from the place who actually makes it. Really, it is extremely rare that anyone can even find the factory, including myself, so we have people over there who are experts with that, and I let them handle it. Sieg and a couple others are the rare ones, they actually make machines and have a web site. But it is very, very rare other than a few.

 

[Cavallino]

Ozwelder - quite a few of the models of Precision Mathews are rebranded as Hafco in Australia and are 99% the same machine.

 

[PCT]

I am happy with the Precision Mathews PM-25 MV mill that I purchased in February 2016. I especially like the super quiet belt drive. I don't mean to provide a free advertisement for Quality Machine Tools, but, after lots of searching and reading reviews on similar import mills, I can say that I'm happy with my choice. The mill does everything that I have expected it to do so far in my garage "hobby" shop.

Paul

 

[savarin]

A friend of mine imported two lathes from the supposed manufacturer in China.
They could only be landed in Brisbane.
The reason he did it was price, landed and shipping came in at less than half the price of buying local.
BUT, the phenomenal amount of paper work required and the cost of each bit of paper to move from one office to another, the unloading, moving, storage, release and transport up to townsville ended up costing not much less than buying local that included a years warranty.
The hassle of dealing with the docks as an individual was a total pita.

 

[fatchris]

Bill pretty much has it as usual,
And it all depends on the specific model, there is no blanket statement that covers everything. Or anything really.

There is a lot more to it than the paint color. Most of the time, if a factory makes a machine for a large company, (One who has them build a large enough amount of machines to keep them busy, Like us, and a few of the other larger names out there like the green one, etc) they have an exclusive deal and will not build them for anyone else in the same country. BUT, another factory might make the same identical LOOKING machine. So you see a lot of the same kinds of machines, many people assume are the same. Sometimes they are, that happens for sure. But many times anymore, they are not the same factory.

For example, our PM-1236. No one else in the USA carries this model from this same factory. Basically, a Chinese 1236 lathe is the same. Of course. But there are a lot of small differences in them that can add up. Not much that is going to make it a night and day difference, but there are some differences.

Another example, our PM-932M. Everyone assumes its from the same factory as another machine that comes with the same accessories, looks identical other than a different color. (And there are many variations of this model all over the place) But in fact, it is a completely different factory who builds them.

There can be differences in the iron castings. HT200 cast iron is cheaper than HT250. Will never know the difference on the outside or looking at a picture. Just one example of the many things that can change from one to another.

Way too much to get in to, and it is different for each different model. One main difference, is that I will pay for quality, where 95% of places just go for price. I tell the people at the factory, if they can make it a little better for a little more money, that is OK. and they tell me the same thing. "Hey this is the price, but we can cheapen it up to save a bit, or make it better for a little more"

We do not ship machines to Austrailia though, too expensive, and too much hassle. If you are looking for a machine there though, I can get you in contact with some people I know there.

And that Sumore is not a factory, just a trading company. That is what almost every "factory" web site that you see out there is, just a trading company. The problem with them is that you do not know what you are getting, it will probably be an OK Machine, but if you ever need a part, you don't even know what you have, and chances are that trading company is gone by then. Or if they are still around, they won't really know what they sold you.

Most of the factories over there dont even have web sites. Those trading companies will lie and tell you that they make it, but it is very, very rare that you can import a machine directly from the place who actually makes it. Really, it is extremely rare that anyone can even find the factory, including myself, so we have people over there who are experts with that, and I let them handle it. Sieg and a couple others are the rare ones, they actually make machines and have a web site. But it is very, very rare other than a few.

 

[fatchris]

Please point me in the direction of dealers in Australia that sell products of equivalent quality to Precisionmatthews. I am confused by all the smoke and mirrors online about lathe quality. I would definitely buy from you if I could.