In article , Scotty
wrote:

"Peter Wiley" wrote in message
news:010320060011210810% Bingo. We've been running this
argument over on rec.crafts.metalworking
for years now. There are basically no US manufacturers of
small
precision tools like lathes, mills etc left. South Bend
didn't update
its lathe design in 50 years and that wasn't because it
was perfect.

I have a mix of US and British machinery and I like it.
But it's all
old. When I go to buy a new lathe or milling machine for
my people at
work, I buy one made in Taiwan or China. They aren't as
elegant or as
well finished, but they cut metal just fine and the
accuracy is
satisfactory.


Rockwell, a local plant made small printing presses
($500,000 a piece ) . The Japs copied them and offered them
for half price. Customers told me that the USA press was
made better, more precise, & lasted longer but for half
price, if you didn't run them as hard, the Jap copy did the
job okay.

People on r.c.m keep on about how old American iron is so superior to
new Asian stuff. They're dreaming. There are exceptions - Hardinge,
Monarch etc - but the price of a new Monarch 10EE would pay for a
house.

As for South Bend - they were trying to sell a flat belt lathe bare of
tools for 3X the cost of a bigger, more powerful, geared head Asian
machine with chucks, faceplate, camlock spindle etc etc. Unless you
have more money than sense, you'd never buy one. They never modernised,
they never changed the design and they went under. So sad, too bad.

I think my US made Grob Bros 18" bandsaw is a wonderful bit of gear. I
use it all the time. But I bought it used for 1/3 the price of a new
Asian unit. If I'd had to try to find a modern one, I would have been
buying Asian.

PDW