What colors can you get this in?

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

ha ha ... du Stümper...hast gleich mal gezeigt wie man es nicht machen sollte. Danke.

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.

Stereo!

Thanks for sharing. Good tips

how do you tram that thing?

I love the Grizzly 17” x 31” like this one, 20+ years old and very accurate within .001”.

This is not a production machine for quickness.

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.

I have the Grizzly G9729 3 in 1, and love it, 20+ years. Mine is a 17” x 31”, longer bed than yours.

I should do that to mine too!

Very nice! This really makes me want to get started on mine. Thanks for posting!

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 ?....

“Unless it’s bread.” Almost had a spit take of my tea😂

Watch out, there's a Dalek hiding in your garage!

Kind of like the Amphicar. A not-very-good car and a not-very-good boat all in the same package.

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.

Pre Industrial Revolution hand crafted” motorcycle parts

5/8= .625 not .650

Thanks for the insights! I am leaning toward getting separate tools instead of the combo.

How much price and how the methods re ceived

thank You. Saved me 8-10 grand.

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.

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.

Thanks for the honesty! << Unless you cut bread >> lol

Watching metal get sliced off like butter always fascinates me!

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!

can i use a machine like this one to bore scooter cylinders?

The original cork would of been a single piece from the bark of the cork tree. Interesting video, fun to see how things used to be done.

I enjoyed the detailed strip down of the Enot. I know the name, haven't seen one up close yet. Cheers and stay cool!

:0 it’s happening!

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.

Well I do have a steam engine that I started about 20 years ago, so I know what you are going through.

Ah - you suffer from distractivitus also. Well keep at it, it's great fun. I enjoyed the engine vids and look forward to whatever else you get up to.

Very good 👍

This lost it for me....soft solder repair on a steam engine ... not good. Silver solder or braze would work, but there's no excuse for soft solder.

loose the tunes.........

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.

Ya shouldda bought a better brand !!

Good idea, carry on no matter what. I enjoy seeing content like this, it gives me ideas. The slot in the thread is jut there for oiling, right?

You’re spot on in your recommendation.

Just make a sleeve liner and the bore will be as good as new

And you didn't even need a bolt of lightning to start it. Nice

Now the fun part is almost upon you, screwing it all up together. Or is that screwing it together, I can never keep those straight.

Gluing oneself to a model in progress with super glue goes ever so much faster if you have applied baking soda to the joint. Trust me, I know.

So, let's see. Ra ra sis boom ba and all that. Getting closer, keep on pushing.

What!!! Chinese making bad tooling, say it isn't so Becky. OMG what is wrong with those people. Oh, wait, Chinese and the junk, well the sail them so why not make is as well. A very nice packing nut. CNC is really helpful, cutting that by hand would be hard. It can be done because there are three holes that match the 3 arcs, but a lot of setup and care.

You don't really need a V Block. What you do need is something that will give 2 points of contact at the same height. But the V Block is useful in other ways so why not. As to some of the errors on the iron cylinder head, well if you are going to paint this engine, there is always auto body filler. In thinking about the hole misalignment issue, just put studs in the stand, open up the holes slightly in the head and cylinder on that end and then some little nuts.