Jet 1340 vs 1340A differences

[taem]

I have been watching Craigslist and Facebook plus numerous resellers of used lathes to replace our current small clapped out Logan with something more robust. I found one that sounded promising and close to my price range, but am having doubts: It is a Taiwan built "Jet 1340" but I can find absolutely nothing about this model specifically--all my inquiries come back to the 1340A gear head lathe with the familiar red and black lettering. Does anyone have any knowledge of what the differences are? I have encountered so many "sound alike" Asian tools that I don't know what exactly I would be dealing with. It's a good distance away, so before taking a long journey, I am hoping to do enough homework so as not to drive 500 miles roundtrip for nothing.

 

[Ulma Doctor]

Some of the early 1340 Taiwanese lathes had belt driven spindles

 

[NCjeeper]

It looks like the typical green color Jet used on their machines back in the 80's. Jet is still in business. Just email them with some pictures and see what they say.

 

[pdentrem]

The picture shown is for a gear head lathe.

 

[Nesse1]

Google suggests the Jet 1340 is a very nice machine. If the condition is good, I think you found a winner.

 

[markba633csi]

I don't think Jet has much support for those early ones- no parts or manuals last I heard
I could be wrong tho

 

[NCjeeper]

I don't think Jet has much support for those early ones- no parts or manuals last I heard
I could be wrong tho

I emailed them and they were able to provide me with a manual for my 1981 24x120 lathe. So they do have some stuff.

 

[markba633csi]

Parts might be a different story tho

 

[Flyinfool]

I bought my Jet GHB-1340 (no "A") new about 30 years ago. What is in that pic is newer, and looks a lot more like the "A" version, but not quite.
The no "A" version was only for one or 2 years at the beginning, and there is no parts or even accessories support for them. The "A" version does have some parts and accessory support.

If the model no starts with GBH it is a geared head, if it starts with BDB then it is a belt drive head. The pic is a geared head as @pdentrem said.

I wonder if that might be a Jet Clone? I do not see the Jet logo anywhere and the Jet logo that is there is not the logo on all other Jet machines. Jet colors are red and black this is blue and red. It is painted green, Jets machine color has been beige until recently. Jet is in Tennessee and the name plate in this pic says it is from Washington state. The address on the machine is now an art gallery.

 

[Provincial]

Jet was located in Tacoma, Washington in the 1980's. Here are a couple of shots from a 1985 catalog.