Guys/Gals I need some serious advice

Sorry guys for not responding earlier. So many of you have chimed in and I feel better about calling grizzly up. I’ve had so much down time it’s unreal,bc of all the problems I’ve had.

not long after having it I removed the cross life bc it didn’t seem right and I could easily rock even with gin tight so I removed and cut it in with some lapping compound. Anyways when I removed the slide I noticed that a corner was mushroomed like it had been dropped during assembly and they basically just oh well, it’s not mine and let go. But I Mostly got it lined out.
Honestly I read so much about people saying that you have to have a frame of mind when buying a Chinese lathe that you know your getting Something is going to have to be tweaked for it to be a good machine,that I just thought there was a lot of tweaking that had to be done when I started finding all the bad.

I absolutely wouldn’t mind store credit at all. I just wouldn’t buy this model again but instead get something better. Oh and there’s no need to put an indicator on it if you can see it with your own eyes and can feel it at all. Precision is suppose to be precision not half ass.

It took a couple months before I got a 3 jaw chuck that I could use. The original jaws we’re ground with a taper,front to back. The replacement was for a d1-3 I believe spindle and finally on the 3rd I had a working chuck. The first replacement compound gib was cut short by them and it took forever to get bc it came from China well the 2nd replacement was oversized so that’s good, but took about 5 months to get. It was long enough that when the box came in with grizzly on it I wondered what they were sending me. The feed rod was bent on machine so they sent me another one for a Much smaller machine and the 3rdI installed and it’s good. Also the Mill spindle collet screw came loose while it was spinning at 2400 rpm and just slammed on of the breaks stopping scaring the shot out of me and when I tell them, they send me a spindle out of a another machine that I can’t use bc the taper is .010 out of round or off center,who knows but I was done with the mill then.

but hey they did screw up and send me 3 hand wheel knobs and a cross slide gib that I never asked for. I will be on the phone with them tomorrow. Thanks for all the replies.

Y’all stay safe and don’t let this coronavirus ruin your Easter. keep yourself busy in your home and it will be over before we know it. Take care
 
I would also like to add that I added an I beam column from mill base to concrete secured with anchors and was done after I got machine level. The two columns the lathe sits on from grizzly did not sit flat and rocked so getting it level was a pain but once level I added the middle column and a brace between columns to help with harmonics and shaking/vibration I was getting and it did help.
I have to keep one of the spider bolts with a nut screwed all the way to the head screwed Into one of the spider holes or at any speed above 360 shakes like a mother.

I’ve never really sat and thought about all every single problem I’ve had but this thread after reading what I wrote and what y’all had said,I believe I did get an unlucky lemon.
 
When I hear the name Grizzly and purchased in the same sentence I get ill. I know there brochures look good, but you should never buy them in my humble opinion. In my opinion they are lousy as other cheap machines. You get what you pay for. They may get it right 3 out of 6 times. It seems your one of the 3 who got a lemon. Think about it. It is lousy when new, just think about it after you decide to keep it and it begins to wear and out of warranty. If I were you I would send it back freight collect and demand your money back from Pay Pal. You spent $7000.00 and never saw it in person, never took it for a test drive....try that next time when you buy a car.

A good friend of mine bought a wood planer from them and when he unpacked it last week and saw the poor workmanship he called them for help and said their customer service sucked and told him to stop complaining and use it. He is a precision machinist and said it was junk. I suspect the average customer of Grizzly is not a machinist and doesn't know quality and uses it and figures lousy is good.. sighhhhhhhhhh
 
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I'm going to go against the grain and say that I like my Smithy Combo.
I bought it new and it's done a pretty good job with the upgrade of a DRO.

I never expected it to be as good as the machines I learned on (removed from aircraft carriers) but it's done a good job. With the DRO I can get within .001" repeatability. Machine deflections prevent it from being more precise. My DRO will read .01mm differences but I'd never expect that from a lower end Chinese machine.
 
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