Subject: Re: Grisley 12" x 37" G1003 Lathe

From: [email-masked] (James Kirkpatrick)
Date: 26 Jul 95 08:44:41 MDT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Richard Hyde) writes:
|>I am considering buying a 12" x 37" lathe, (Model G1003) from the Grisley 
|>Company in Williamsport, PA.  Has anyone had experience, or kow of 
|>someone who hase this machine that can give me advice on the quality of 
|>this machine.  Also, I would appreciate any comments of persons who have  
|>dealt with Grisley.

First, I think it's Grizzly, not Grisley.  They generally seem to be
in the middle quality-wise (better than Enco, not quite as good as Jet).
I bought their small lathe (8 or 9 inch, can't remember) and dealing
with the company was no problem.  My brother-in-law (BIL) has the 12x37 and
is fairly pleased (so am I).  However, I purchased a Jet 13x40 because:

  1.  It came with a camlock spindle.  I watched my BIL struggle several
      times to unscrew a chuck and decided that camlock would be nice.
      It is.
  2.  The Grizzly uses belts to change speeds, which was a minor pain.
      The Jet uses gears.
  3.  The Jet was on sale at the time, for a price roughly equal to
      the Grizzly.  (I used Alley Supply).
  4.  Jet in general has a reputation of being better than many importers
      by having higher standards.  According to the dealer, as an example,
      Jet will harden and polish their gears, while Grizzly doesn't.

I certainly didn't need the extra size; 12x37 would have been fine in that
regard.  My impression of the Grizzly lathe is that it is well built and
a good price.  I just wanted a bit more.

Jim

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From: [email-masked] (Jim Janecek)
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 17:49:55 -0600

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
(Richard Hyde) wrote:

> I am considering buying a 12" x 37" lathe, (Model G1003) from the Grisley 
> Company in Williamsport, PA.  Has anyone had experience, or kow of 
> someone who hase this machine that can give me advice on the quality of 
> this machine.  Also, I would appreciate any comments of persons who have  
> dealt with Grisley.

As an owner (notice I didn't say proud owner) of a few pieces of GRIZZLEY
equipment, I would have to say that some of my experience has been quite
Grisely. ;->

One thing you should know (in addition to knowing how to spell GRIZZLEY),
is that should you decide you don't like your lathe or whatever, they will
do everything in their power to prevent you from returning it and getting
a refund.
(if you deal with them by mail-order, I don't know about will-call customers)

If there's something not right on it, (not unusual) they'll send you the
parts, or a whole new tool if neccessary.  They do not want you to return
a large tool.

Be prepared to keep it, repair it, put up a fight, or just put up with it. 

Also- you can call Grizzley and ask for references of people in your area
(or not) who have bought the lathe.  They will give you names and numbers
to call.

I occassionally get calls about the cabinet saw I bought and I was pissed
at them, so either, I'm the only guy in the country who bought one, or
they don't have access to customers complaint files when they give out
names.

You should get some honest feedback that way too.

-- 
Jim Janecek
Personal Effects inc.

---

From: [email-masked] (Bob Powell)
Date: 28 Jul 1995 07:30:29 GMT

I've bought three stationary Grizzly tools (12x36 camlock spindle lathe,
small mill/drill and a wood jointer) and the more I learn about "how
things ought to be" the less satisfied I am with the purchases.  The
fact that after 2 years Grizzly has still not written the manuals for
either the lathe or mill/drill that the catalog touts for all their
machines, almost makes me want to feed them to the state attorney
general's office.  

I was pretty green buying these first pieces of metalworking equipment
and only after a year did I know enough to take apart the lathe carriage
for example and grind and shim to that it actually rides on the ways
without slop that caused +-.010" errors when changing the carriage feed
direction.  The lathe is a fine machine now, but it sure wasn't out of
the crate.

As it were I've also bought two Jet stationary tools (4x6 horiz bandsaw,
2 HP dust collector) and based on those purchases rank Jet no better
than Grizzly or Enco in terms of the quality of the equipment.

Jet likely is the best choice of the three based on customer service
assuming you buy the Jet from a local dealer that you like.  My
experience with Grizzly CS has been limited to receiving polite faxes
explaining that everything I complained about was a feature not a bug,
and that they had no intention of doing anything about it.  Examples
are rust on machined surfaces, poor tolerances, flakey motor
starting switches and sticky (poor tolerances) quick-change gearbox
operation.  Grizzly did however happily take back all the small things I
chose to return in disgust.

Bottom line is everything I bought (and kept) was acceptable value for the
money, but I have no intention of routing any more $$ to Grizzly or
Enco.  Grizzly can frankly stuff their hyped attitude, that's more what
I disagree with than the price/value of the equipment.

The Taiwan and Chinese lathes and mill/drills are still a good bet
for those who lack the space or mobility required for a 2000 lb used
older machine and who need more cutting capability than a Sherline type
machine can provide.  That's just my current opinion of course.

---

From: [email-masked] (Chris Helt)
Date: 28 Jul 1995 19:35:15 GMT

Richard Hyde ([email-masked]) wrote:
:  [snip] Has anyone had experience, or kow of someone who hase this
:  machine that can give me advice on the quality of this machine. [snip]
:
: Dick Hyde  ( Prodigy XRKF89A )

Call Grizzly.  They have a referral (sp?)  service and will give you the
name(s) of people (in your area if possible) that have the specific
model of Grizzly equipment you are interested in.  I have used it a
couple of times and have been contacted once through this.  Grizzly
askes if they can use you as a referral before they give out your name
and phone number (they will not give out your address) and will only
give your name out 3 times then they take your name off of the list (I
think this is per piece of equipment).  The people I have talked to have
been (appeared to be) very open about the equipment.  You milage depends
on the person your are talking to.

Good luck