Conundrum On A Lathe

[65BAJA]

Hypothetical question. Lets say you ordered a lathe from a company and you ordered it with a DRO installed. But when you received the lathe it had no DRO would you;

A. Have the company pick up the lathe and send you one with the DRO installed.

B. Have the company send you the DRO and refund you the price of the install.

C. Ask for in in store credit of the cost of the DRO and install and put it toward a mill that you want to have and live without a DRO at all.

 

[brino]

My OCD side says option A) as everyone should get what they agreed on in the order.

However, I am also impatient, and would be too excited about using it now, so I'd probably go with option B).

Just be warned that some DRO installs are a little tense....having to drill and tap into a beautiful pristine machine...would doing it yourself affect the warranty?
If the mounting holes are already there then B) is easy!

Good luck with whatever you choose!

-brino

 

[Grumpy Gator]

Did this really happen ? If so did you sign and accept it ?
If it was me I would not accept it till I talked to the company it was ordered from. And find out if someone else got your lathe and you got theirs.
**********Just Saying*********************Gator***************************

 

[JimDawson]

I would go with B or C. Installing the DRO is not too much work. I have never had a DRO on a lathe, thought about installing one, but it's not high on my list. On the other hand, a credit towards a mill is a good thing. Now a DRO on a mill is almost a must, you can run one without it, but it sucks to do that.

 

[Holescreek]

I would contact the company that sold it and ask what they plan on doing about it before I made up my mind about what's acceptable. Maybe if you suggest they send someone out to install it they'll get a lot more generous with their solution.

 

[Navy Chief]

I would contact the company that sold it and ask what they plan on doing about it before I made up my mind about what's acceptable. Maybe if you suggest they send someone out to install it they'll get a lot more generous with their solution.

I would also contact the company and discuss the issue prior to making any decisions on what acceptable courses of action are, the company may surprise you with what they offer that you had not considered.

 

[mike837go]

Being an incurable tinkerer, I would have ordered it NOT installed in the first place. Then gone through the process (fun&aggravation) of doing the install myself.

That way, when something malfunctions, I already have the skills, knowledge and courage to rip it apart and test the sub-assemblies until the offender is found and replaced.

 

[Bill Gruby]

I would be on the phone to the service rep. asking that someone come out and install one. ABC -- none of the above.

"Billy G"

 

[4GSR]

I know these guys that install DR's at the dealer are pretty good at what they do. They probably install several in a months time. Several things that stop me from buying one installed is, 1) the sloppiness of the work performed. You have to ask yourself, can you install it and make it a nicer install than what the dealer can do? 2) Most of these DR kits come with what I call "universal mounting brackets". For all of my installs, the are pretty much worthless or almost worthless. I've had to make my own brackets for a uniform mount and accommodate the machine they were put on. I've also taken the stocked mounts and modified them to fit in certain applications.
3) Once in a while, I see a factory or dealer mounted DR that the scales are mounted in a position I do not agree with. I prefer to mount the scales my way, and not necessarily the way it comes from the dealer. Again, the universal mounting brackets come in place.

 

[mksj]

Once you start using a DRO (on a mill and/or a lathe), it is hard to imagine life without it, especially for a newbie. If your a seasoned veteran, then the installing a DRO would be a trivial job. I would expect the vendor to make it right, but also the buyer to be reasonable about coming to a satisfactory solution. Installing a DRO is a learning experience, and not an impossible task if your planning on making things and machining. It also affords you the opportunity to install it the way you want relative to the scale locations and the display position. Shipping a machine back, then dealing with the wait and then reshipping would be costly. It would be a real hassle for both the seller and buyer. In my opinion you should either be refunded all costs for the DRO (unit cost, installation and shipping charge as if it was sent separately), have one sent to you at no additional cost (and refund your installation charge), or get a full refund and go to DROPros and buy one of their units. QED.