Thread: Best price for an MC-900 clone

Great Job Andrew must be the weather for gloats. This morning I just paid $800 for a whole shed that includes a lathe with 1m bed and bandsaw and all the tools. Great day hope it continues for others... Now enjoy your $74 lathe ..pics soon I hope please

Toni

Gloat away folks. Well done.

(I'm now at the stage of shed gridlock ... nothing can come in 'til something's evicted. Sigh.)

Gloat away folks. Well done.

absolutely!

(I'm now at the stage of shed gridlock ... nothing can come in 'til something's evicted.

I know this one, it is my current state of affairs and unfortunately it will continue for a time yet no good

Build upwards hughie

Originally Posted by hughie

I know this one, it is my current state of affairs and unfortunately it will continue for a time yet no good

Next step for me is to make better use of wall space with shelves and cabinets. And put every machine on wheels (apart from the lathe). It's starting to look like one of those letter puzzles where to work with T (table saw) means B (bandsaw) has to move sideways and along and X (boxes of stuff that will come in handy one day) have to be stacked somewhere else for the moment

I've had the delicate negotiations over disposing of her stored collection of bentwood chairs to free up wallspace but that has of course given her the right to suggest that maybe the Cedar drawers restoration should be finished (hmph, it's only been 20 years).

Great price but a word of warning. That is the same brand as mine and I also got mine from supercheap. Here is the bad part the reeves vairible speed pulleys on mine have fallen apart, badly cast aluminium, the agent for Dynalink has informed me they can not suply me with parts as the manufacturer has stoped production. So at the moment I am in the process of finding the specs for the mc-900 to see if I can get the parts I need to fix mine. Having said all that though, when it was working I was more than happy with it and I'm sure you will be to.

Cheers George G

hmm, just phoned Supercheap in Launceston. The lathes started at over $400 then came down to $50. They have run out.

Gloat,
Just for the hell of it I hung by Super Cheap at Penrith and there was 1 left at $74 so--- Hell I am Scottish.

Regards
John.

here laddie, hae a bannock.

(Good thing the Scots got their own parliament).

Originally Posted by tashammer

here laddie, hae a bannock.

Hmmm... how many pens could you get out of one?

HI folks,
Well the $74 lathe is a lemon. I wrestled it out of the ute and spent a few hours putting it together. The finish did look a bit rough but at the price I was willing to let that go. The points lined up ok and I hit the button and the motor ran ,all good so called it a day. This morning I put a green bowl blank on the faceplate and gave it a go. The speed control did not wotk so I took off the cover and When I saw the pulley I was surprised that anyone would install the likes of it in a machine. It was like crazed china, all little cracks all over. My thinking was get new pulleys and you still have a lathe. Hare and Forbes had them at $55 so I intended getting some. The two pulley hlves needed some lube to slide together so I tried to run the machine again to check the speed. I got the speed control going so I intended a few seconds with the gouge to see how it feels. The rest locking handle broke in my hand. Mmmmm. H& F should have one of these too. Speed control,not working again, Cover off and two sides meshed together so try to move apart and pulley crumbles in my fingers like biscuit. Not happy now. Another problem was bed extension threaded holes out of line so mounting banjo for outboard turning a bit of a problem. At least 5* out of line with bed. So to quote Popeye "I takes all I can takes I cant stands no more". Then more time stripping it down to take back to the shop. Pass the blood pressure pills!
No problem with the refund when I explained to the store manager then I helped him heave it into the skip in the loading bay out back. Sigh!
What really surprised me is that any buisiness would try to sell anything so
crappy in the first place. Poor quality does not begin to describe it. I can see why it was boxed up and not on the floor. How would you feel if you had got it at $400 when they first hit the store.
OK sock me with the "I told you so". Big boy I can take it.

Regards
John

John, I'm afraid you get what you pay for, and it is a shame that some stores just dont care. I guess if they sell 5 and only one person demands a refund, then they've done well!
I just couldn't sell crap, if I ran a store. All that rooting around you did when you could / shouldhave been enjoying your first turning experience! It is enough to put someone off turning, and that is a shame.
Good luck with the next lathe. There is plenty of advice on this forum for the next one.