I bought a Grizzly combo about 23 years ago and I regretted it, the mill sucked, it was actuslly just a more precise drill press, the lathe operated ok. I have since bought a separate lathe and small mill
This came up as suggested so I watched again. Can you see the daggy looking chamfer at the inboard end of the thread? That is the reason I almost always thread and then chamfer. I find it much cleaner. Nigel
Interesting video thanks. I don't really understand why people bother with these CI castings for small crankshafts. For small crankshafts they seem more trouble than using steel bar stock. I guess if you didn't have access to a mill as well as a lathe then the casting might offer some benefit.
@@thumperthoughts The reason are more about cost and marketing. Giving you a cast part feels like you have some added value when you buy the kit but is actually it is harder to machine and comes out way less strong than using steel bar. Sorry, not trying to be negative about the kit. For sure using steel bar would be added expense and more material to remove.
Thanks for asking! The current color range is black, white, red, orange or pink in either material and also green/brown "camo" in PLA only. I can easily add other colors on request.
To be honest I was completely surprised to see this video. I don't believe I have actually seen another shoptask video or somebody was using the machine and not just doing a review or a sales pitch. I have one of these machines, that I bought brand new 30 plus years ago. The reason why was long conversations with the owner of the company and designer of the machine, I believe his name was John Thomas. I liked the idea of that personal connection . This is before the sales moved to Las Vegas. Not normally a fan of Chinese products , it did seem he had direct overseeing of the manufacturer and quality control. The other reason was that I had a shop space about the size of a closet. Thirty years later the shop has grown and you are correct about owning dedicated machines. We have a Bridgeport, Hendey 14x40 lathe, Southbend 9", shaper, surface grinder, and numerous other machine tools... and while I have considered selling off the ShopTask , it is still here and still being used. Why? Well there are some tasks that does well. One can cut any thread imaginable I believe from 2 tpi to 256 tpi. I have turned a 17 inch disk and it was aluminum and not bread ;) The mill is a drill press, and not that good. We have three other drill presses so it does not see any use. I have often considered just removing the drill press head. The newer styles with the four posts or other mechanism that rises and lowers the head I think would be far more usable. As a lathe it is respectable. I replaced the motor with a 2hp 3ph and a VFD, never touched the belts again. Added a Baldor gear motor and controller to the X Axis. Added a compound and QC Aloris style tool post, a number of other mods have made the ShopTask a keeper. Maybe one day I might add ball screws and turn the machine into cnc. Asked about cons of the ShopTask.... you have addressed most of them. Build quality .... one fellow said import machines and tools were like unfinished kits. Everything is there, just needs a lot if tweaking to make it right. One item I would add is the lack of quill travel on the Tail Stock. Later renditions of the machine redesigned the tail stock. Back when I purchased mine there was a long bed version available. I wish i had gone for this option. Once you add tooling the 20 inches gets used up quickly. Thanks for the video.
Great process! I‘m new to (CNC) lathes and I still find it hard to wrap my head around the concept of the reference tool and its offset (from machine origin) and all other tools to it. Hope it clicks soon haha
Rotary tables are far more accurate as far as I’m concerned because you don’t have to keep taking the set up and moving it every time you want to remove material. Once it’s set up and everything is dialed in, you can do multiple parts without moving anything, but the part itself.That to me is a much more efficient and accurate way of doing it.
In theory you can shim the column. I have never checked the tram as if I knew how bad it was it would bug me until I fixed it and I'm not psychologically prepared for that rabbit hole at the moment.
They do generally get the job done, and they do fit in a small space. The main cost is in time due to changing setup and taking light cuts because of the lack of rigidity.
Never as good as 2 stand alone machines, but was made for the purpose of limited space. Need to compare to identical machines not two stand alone machines.
Hello!!. Only a question: to your point of view, the best trade combo Machine with prices about $ 2 500 USD is ?.... In Italy is a factory named Damatomacchine...of course, made in China with designs from italian ingeniers... do you know about the quality this ?....
Sorry I don't. I last researched buying one of these 26 years ago. Like all of the hobby grade machine tools they are going to be coming from various makers who are using similar or the same basic castings. Whether these actually vome from the same foundry is not clear, but what happens afterwards varies a lot. Different brands will have different quality components and different levels of quality control and finishing. To a large extent you will get what you pay for, and to a large extent a cheaper machine can be made to be as good as a more expensive one if you have the time, tools and ability to do that. The general advice is to use a supplier in your country who will stand by their product and ensure that their suppliers keep up to their standards. In the US that seems to be Smithy and Grizzly at the moment. Harbor Freight have never had a good rep on this stuff, and Vevor are new so don't have the track record yet. Check the current reviews and forums. Made in China stuff gets a bad press, but China are going to the moon. They can make equipment of the highest quality, but they are also willing to build down to the lowest price, if that's what the customer wants i.e. they will make and sell cheap crap if the customer is willing to buy cheap crap. So look at the western middle-man and their rep, and avoid the cheapest thing on aliexpress....
They are great value for the money. All the extras you say you will get from buying two different machines will cost a lot more money and space. These machines are for serious hobbyist and well worth the money for the level of quality. You will have to spend many thousands to achieve near perfection.
I was considering the combo style but accuracy is important to me. 3-4k of an inch out of tolerance is horrible specs if that is really the case. I like the idea, but being cheap is not going to be important if it's not very true imo. I prefer a true lathe within maybe 1k of in inch at the very most for what I want to use it for. Thanks for the info.
@@thumperthoughtsIt all depends how much effort you put in to get the result you want. You clearly make the effort. People are achieving brilliant results on some of the cheapest mini Lathes with a bit of tinkering first.
A couple things about these machines, from an actual machinist: 1. You won't find a bigger lathe for the same price. You won't find a lathe of the same size for the same price. 2. All machines have their limits. 3. You get what you pay for. With that said, there are work arounds. The mill can be used for smaller work with spacer blocks under the vice. Use the vise that came with it only for lathe work as a compound table. Yes, it will chatter when taking more than .020. It's a 110 machine and not designed to hog steel. You can upgrade the motors on this machine so they have the power to take more than .020. So long as you stay within the motor's limits, it cuts just fine without chatter. Remember, you will spend 3-4000 on a mill that has a similar work envelope. Add that with 10,000 for a lathe with a similar swing. For the price you paid, you have a capable machine. It's limits are you, not the machine. Have patience. A good machinist takes his time to make sure the part it exactly to specification. You are not running a production plant trying to make as many as possible in an 8 hour shift. Take the time to make custom fixtures for your parts. You would be shocked to see that machine can and will turn a small block V8 crankshaft, as well as deck the heads. With a little ingenuity, you can even bore the block. It's a horizontal mill incase you haven't noticed.
There is another consideration beside space, cost! Two machines will invariably cost more than just one of these. I’ve been looking at the Chicago lathe Bridgemill, which would seem to address any rigidity issues, and seems to have a lot of nice features, including, default, CNC. Would be interested in anybody that has one of the newest ones and hear their opinions. Thanks!
Exactly. Machines are very expensive. The similar machine cost 3500 euros in my country and it is great for my needs. Also, it replaces 3 machines. Drill, lathe and mill. I am ok with that, it is a hobby machine.
The CLB is a direct descendant of my machine. I do not have experience with it. Most of your cost is going to end up being tooling anyway, not the machines themselves, which offsets the price somewhat. You get what you pay for.
Yes, that's how they make winne corks, but there are different grades and the wine corks tend to have cracks and flaws and voids in them. I thought I'd try the Drambuie cork this time as it seems to be bound granules. Leaving it to steep for a bit in a jar of fuel will hopefully tell if the binder is fuel resistant.
Ah, Ariel, an innovated and fun company. Well suited to have the bumper sticker added that says "Nothing compels me to be rational on all points.". I first met the company when a friend of mine bought one in the 1970s. They are rare here in the US. But still, fun even if it did tend to fry it's rear cylinders. I wish you good luck in your preserving such a wonderful machine. Features such as the volute rebound springs are so interesting. I like to see all sorts of historical machines preserved. Much as I was pleased to see Union Pacific restore the Big Boy 4014 4884 engine here in the US. So many fun moving parts. I also so love the differences in the English language around the world. I was struck with the difference in talking about the insert bearings, you are calling them bushes, here in the states we generally call them bushings. The reason that this hit my rather warped mind is when you first said "replace the bush" and the thought popped into my head, that thought being, with what, a shrubbery of perhaps a nice hedge. Anyway, keep on keeping on, I am enjoying very much.
The wife was also highly amused when I explained how the bush moves up and down on the shaft. Most Ariels do not have those 3 extra cylinders. This one, as I think I mentioned, has the same layout as a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine, just bigger.
NEVER TRUST A DALEK! I went and looked at a Smithy Granite 1324 Max and it was pretty impressive despite my aversion to Chinesium. If I can talk him down on the cost it may be good for use while I build a PrintNC mill.
The Granite does look like it has addressed the primary drawba cks of the mill setup on the earlier generation machines like mine - more metal in the mill head implies greater rigidity and a bunch more quill travel.
Back in 98 I thought the Shoptask was superior to the Smithy at that time, especially as I was interested in CNC. The Granite did not exist. My point is not about the brand, but that separate machines are a better path if you have the space.
Not quite. The similar one cost 3500 euros in my country. I am a hobbyist. I work on programming hurco mills at work and I don't have enough money for buying one. When you are buying hurco, trust me, you want to buy the new unit. They have crazily good features, but they are breaking a lot after 10 years of constant work 24 hours a day. For example, Haas with their micron versions, old machines that are 20+ years old are undestructable. They are slow, but what vibrations and torture are they going through, not single new unit could. They just work and work and work. Zero problems, it is amazing. Hurco after 10 years... A lot of problems. Also, finishing on hurco, I don't know why, probably because of pure mass of the machine, is superb. Haas, with same tools, same parameters, is worse. But vfx2s is a lot smaller and probably lighter than hurco vmx30t so there is that.
