First things first with a new lathe?

Ebay processed the FULL refund, but I still don't see it in my credit card account. I presume it is just a matter of time. Funny how companies can take your money immediately, but giving it back seems to be a struggle.

I need to check with Precision Matthews to see what sort of quality control steps they put their Chinese made lathes through. This recent issue really left a bad taste in my mouth concerning Chinese "quality". You would think that with the cheap labor they have at their disposal they could do a LOT better than this.
 
Tired&Retired,
I am glad you were able to get the process to work out well for you.
Some people do well with the eBay lottery, others end up getting stuck with the losing tickets.
Your approach of getting it through PM or LMS is more likely to be a winning move.
You pay a bit more, but who needs the stress of the lottery, that is a young-man's game.

A word of warning, both LMS and PM have supply chain challenges right now due to Covid.
Buy soon, or you may find that your top choice is sold out.
 
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No worries. I would just take it as a sign that I am just not destined to buy a new lathe. When I turned 70 back in July, I came to the realization that there are some things that I have missed the boat on in life. This would just be another one on that list.

My wife asked me today what I was going to make with the new lathe. I told her truthfully that I had no plans. Honestly, it might sit there for months or years before something would come up that I might "need" it for. That Chinesium lathe I tried to buy off of Ebay just seemed like a real bargain and would be pretty handy to have around without a lot of expense involved. So now I am looking at another lathe that will cost 3 times as much. I must be out of my friggin' mind.
 
I've been talking with the folks (actually via email) at Precision Matthews about getting a lathe from them, and I think Matt was getting concerned that I was having overly high expectations of the Chinese made lathe I would get from him after all my questions about quality control and such. I told him about this Ebay Chinesium lathe I had gotten and returned, and I think he thought that what I was describing was being wildly exaggerated and I was just being hyper-critical about it. Until I sent him links to the YouTube videos I took of many of the problems I found on the lathe. I believe that pretty much alleviated all his concerns about me being just SUPER overly critical about Chinese "quality". And I didn't even include all the other stuff I found after making those videos. BTW, the seller apparently pulled up stakes on Ebay, and I guess it is fortunate that I did all the necessary steps I did in order to get them involved to get my money back.

So I guess the good that will come out of this is that I will hopefully end up with a lathe magnitudes better. Yeah, a LOT more money, but if this Chinesium lathe I got dumped on me isn't a perfect example of "you get what you pay for", I would be hard pressed to come up with a better one.

Honestly towards the end my fear was that I would get stuck with that Ebay lathe, and like an idiot try to fix all the problems I could myself. Which, of course, would have made if very difficult to justify buying a PM lathe, and would likely waste a bunch of time and money just to wind up with something I would never really be happy about. So hopefully all will end well. Matt told me not to worry and he would take care of me if for some reason I wasn't happy with what he sends me. Honestly, he would probably be very hard pressed to find something even half as bad as that one I sent back.
 
I believe they folks at PM will treat you well, and this morning I put my money where my mouth is. I ordered a new mill from them while they were snoozing in the early hours of the morning.

Right now, sellers based in the United States are dealing with Covid related delays on getting in lathes and mills. My suggestion is simple, examine your options and make a fairly rapid choice. I had about 5 mills (two used, and three new) get sold out because I agonized on my choices too long.
 
addertooth said:
I believe they folks at PM will treat you well, and this morning I put my money where my mouth is. I ordered a new mill from them while they were snoozing in the early hours of the morning.

Right now, sellers based in the United States are dealing with Covid related delays on getting in lathes and mills. My suggestion is simple, examine your options and make a fairly rapid choice. I had about 5 mills (two used, and three new) get sold out because I agonized on my choices too long.
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I don't think it will be an issue with me waiting a few more days. Matter of fact, I heard that PM just got in a full container of machines to fill backorders. So obviously things aren't all that bad with the supply and availability.

I needed to get the Ebay lathe fiasco thing wrapped up first, and now I am just waiting for my credit card cycle to end for this month so I can put the new charge on a new cycle. I pay off the credit card bill in full every month, so I try not to have it get too large in any given cycle. I have never had to pay credit card interest fees, and not interested in starting now.

If for some chance PM does run out of the model I want, then oh well. It wasn't meant to be, then.

Hope they have the mill you want and it will be on it's way to you quickly. Which model did you order?
 
I selected the PM-728-VT. They had already sold out of the ones with a factory DRO, and then they additionally ran out of the pedestal base.
So, I will be engineering brackets, and self installing a DRO, and welding up a table to set it on. A bit more work than ideal. I was perfectly happy to pay a bit more and get the factory DRO and the factory pedestal, but that was not an option. I see that according to paypal the money was moved for it, but it looks like they don't send a confirmation E-Mail. Looks like I need to go to their website and enter my account and query it that way.
 
addertooth said:
I selected the PM-728-VT. They had already sold out of the ones with a factory DRO, and then they additionally ran out of the pedestal base.
So, I will be engineering brackets, and self installing a DRO, and welding up a table to set it on. A bit more work than ideal. I was perfectly happy to pay a bit more and get the factory DRO and the factory pedestal, but that was not an option. I see that according to paypal the money was moved for it, but it looks like they don't send a confirmation E-Mail. Looks like I need to go to their website and enter my account and query it that way.
Click to expand...

Man, that looks like a real nice machine. Looks like a lot of the DROs are on backorder. The stand for the 1228 lathe is on backorder, and honestly, I didn't even look at it closely at first for that reason. I've been looking into getting the a lathe with DRO, but I don't think I would use it all that much. If anything I would like to get the DROs like Little Machine Shop has with the display right at the adjustment wheel. Now THAT would be handy for me.

I bought a very raw Chinese mill 15 or so years ago specifically to modify PVC endcaps into little water dishes for animals I was working with at the time. Kind of overkill, but I needed a TON of them and it sure made the job easier, and I wound up selling enough of the water dishes to pay for the mill. I can see where a DRO on it would make it a lot easier to figure out what I am doing, though. It is a very raw and klunky machine, but it did what I needed it to do for me. The lathes available now just looks so much more refined looking. And I know I paid a LOT more for it than what it is actually worth.
 
Tired&Retired said:
Man, that looks like a real nice machine. Looks like a lot of the DROs are on backorder. The stand for the 1228 lathe is on backorder, and honestly, I didn't even look at it closely at first for that reason. I've been looking into getting the a lathe with DRO, but I don't think I would use it all that much. If anything I would like to get the DROs like Little Machine Shop has with the display right at the adjustment wheel. Now THAT would be handy for me.

I bought a very raw Chinese mill 15 or so years ago specifically to modify PVC endcaps into little water dishes for animals I was working with at the time. Kind of overkill, but I needed a TON of them and it sure made the job easier, and I wound up selling enough of the water dishes to pay for the mill. I can see where a DRO on it would make it a lot easier to figure out what I am doing, though. It is a very raw and klunky machine, but it did what I needed it to do for me. The lathes available now just looks so much more refined looking. And I know I paid a LOT more for it than what it is actually worth.
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Yes, I have an LMS lathe with the digital readout on the hand wheels. The a much better than reading the dials and counting revolutions.
 
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