Optimum Brand

[visenfile]

Old subject to many, I'm sure. New to this noob...Craigslist "optimum" brand lathe ad took me to their site which gives off a "German" or European flavor , but shows a factory in Taiwan. The familiar system where a design and quality package is sent from Germany? to asia for build with "higher" material and assembly standards. The lathes look about twice the price of other mainland and Taiwan equipment.


The cragslist reason for selling was to get a more common brand: JET. Comments are welcome.

 

[mksj]

Not sure what the nature of the question that you are asking. I have an Optimum BF-30 mill. Maybe a small step up from other Chinese mass produced bench-top type mills, but lots of quality and poor design issues. The German designer must have been asleep on this one. My comments on the mill are here: http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=92152

The Optimum lathes are no different from what I have read, almost all the machinery originates from China, not Taiwan, and look very similar to other re badged models. They do some degree of specialization and features, so not exactly the same. In my opinion, cost of the new machines are not competitive with other available machines of similar specifications and quality. The US distributor has bounced around, and getting any replacement parts is extremely problematic. I waited 6 months and multiple emails to get a replacement quill DRO that was defective. When I took it apart the quality was quite poor. The lead screws on the mill were metric with English dials, so some serious accuracy issues. The companies fix was to send metric dials. Without a DRO, the unit would have been worthless, other than as a fancy drill press. If I had to do it again, I would have gotten a smaller knee type mill (which cost about the same as their current pricing of the BF-30). On the lathe end, I did end up with a Taiwanese brand PM-1340GT, which in my opinion is leaps and bounds more refined then my Optimum. A few other individuals that have had Optimum mills have had some significant reliability issues, most have gone on to sell them, so this follows with the reasoning for the sale of the lathe you mention. Just my 2 cents on the subject.

 

[frostheave]

I am one of those that sold my BF-30 and agree with everything mksj wrote. They simply don't have the quality to justify the extra expense. Actually, I think mine was subpar to other Chinese made mills that cost less. After selling the BF-30, I bought a Taiwan made Acer e-mill. I'll never go back!

Bob

 

[visenfile]

OK, thanks, how do such companies stay in business? They take great pains on their website to show european-looking personnel working on the machines (as in German).