[flatheadford49]

it is a full 17 X 30 CNC lathe plus a 10 X 25 CNC mill.

If it is then try this and report back the results.

For the mill:
I have a 3/4 inch thick aluminum plate that is 10 inches wide and 25 inches long that I cut on the table saw. I tried to get it as square as possible. Drilled holes are ok on this piece to use t-nuts and studs to clamp it, I only need it squared and with a milled finish all around the outside edge. With the workpiece centered on your mill table and using a 3/4 inch endmill, can you machine it to 9.250 x 24.250 plus or minus .020 in one set up.

For the lathe:
I have a piece of aluminum 3 inches in diameter and 30 inches in length. I'll make it easy on you, one end has a center in it. I want you to hold one end in the chuck and the other end with a live center in the tailstock. Now I want you to take a roughing cut from the tailstock end towards the chuck jaws in one setup. What would be the length of the cut. Can you cut all the way to the chuck jaws in one setup.

[matt_g_shaver]

As far as I know, the gentleman who bought this lathe and originally posted the message that started this thread has never called back or otherwise contacted Smithy. If he had, I'm pretty sure he would have been directed to me. In case he reads this, he is welcome to call me anytime (although 9am-9pm EST would find me most awake). I can be reached at (443)789-4628. I promise to do whatever I can to help resolve any problems with his machine, provided he is willing to work with me.

Thanks,
Matt Shaver

[jdclark]

Mr. Shaver,
Another poster has revived an old thread about whether Smithy sells used or rebuilt machines.

here's the link
ARE SMITHY MACHINES USED / REBUILT?"

This was in response to someone on this thread who said his machine appeared to have a lot of hours on it. I have been on your mailing list for quite some time, and don't recall ever seeing any offers for used equipment.
There were some documents posted on the thread showing used equipment being imported, can you clear this up?

[flatheadford49]

Mr. Shaver,
Another poster has revived an old thread about whether Smithy sells used or rebuilt machines.



This was in response to someone on this thread who said his machine appeared to have a lot of hours on it. I have been on your mailing list for quite some time, and don't recall ever seeing any offers for used equipment.
There were some documents posted on the thread showing used equipment being imported, can you clear this up?

JD,
Don't lie to the man. You revived that old thread when you posted a link to it here in this very thread, look at post #36, on 10/28/11. I just wanted to know why you keep bringing it up. How does any of this help you with your patriot machine.

[jdclark]

JD,
Don't lie to the man.

Flathead, you should heed your own advice. Anyone who reads this thread can see that it was dead for more than a year and fell completely off the charts before you revived it with your post. If you want to help Smithy, why not just let it die and rest in peace.

[Legion99999]

Its my machine. I contacted smithy many times and came to the conclusion that i was on my own. i asked for a refund, they said that wasn't possible. The software is a joke, smithy really should be embarressed about it.
I use it for one single part as it cannot understand even basic cad/cam programming, i hand write it. My syil cnc lathe is far superior.
I will never buy a smithy machine again ever.

[Legion99999]

Sorry for my short replay that was from my cellphone.
The delayed responses is due tot he face that i have been working on a engineering degree, raising kids, and running my business.
In answer to the many questions.
I ended up purchasing to other cnc lathes, one from Syil america, and one from microkinetics. The smithy has be demoted to single operation.

As for not contacting Smithy, i called several times, worked with a tech, and still got no where, after i asked for a refund (and was turned down) I have the feeling that i have been scammed and saw no more reason to try to work with Smithy. i got more help fromt he people here than a company i spent 10,000.00 with.

As you can see they no longer carry the lathe i bought and i likely have one of the few POS ever sold. My plan has been to use the machine in its limited format (it wont even cut arcs) until i have the spare time to do a large, expensive mach retrofit.

I was truly disapointed in every way by this machine. I have many machines, both cnc and manual, and of all of them this is the only one i truly regret buying.

In summary. Leaks, No wizards, software is buggy and limited, it is truly a piece a junk. i wont resell it because i wont do that to some one else.

I would love a refund but i wont hold my breath, the machine has less than 100 hours on it.

[jdclark]

Too bad they wouldn't give you a refund- from what I see on Yahoo and Google , I'm guessing they are spending 5K per month or better on pay per click ads.

[matt_g_shaver]

I am still willing to help with whatever problems you are having with this lathe. Feel free to call me anytime from 9:00am-9:00pm Eastern Time. My cell phone number is (443)789-4628 (probably the most direct way to reach me), my home number is (410)795-2699 and my direct e-mail address is [email protected].

Whatever difficulties you are having can be remedied, and I would like the opportunity to help you.

Thanks,
Matt Shaver

[matt_g_shaver]

Oops, sorry - duplicate post. I got a "500 Internal Server Error" on the first submission and thought it didn't go through.

[digitalmdi]

Id post pixs if it were running. Currently i am not very happy with the machine. Here is why..

1.The casing leaks badly, turn the coolant on and you have a shower out the back of the machine.

2. The electronics on the lathe short out when splashed with coolant.

3. Support from smithy is non exisitant.

4. Ez Trol is a joke, no wizards, even though they advertise them and the program is basicly a rip off of sharewhare EMC. Its very primative and basic. Smithy really dropped the ball. In the process of trying to squeeze every dollar of profit out of this sub par machine they really screwed up by no going with MACH 3.

Right now I would just like my money back

Mr. Shaver is a classic case of " Better late than never" His offer comes just 3 years and 9 days after Legion first posted his unhappiness. Back in the 19th century you could have put the offer in a bottle and tossed it in the ocean with faster results.

[samco]

not quite.. His first post was 08-18-2010, 07:04 PM

Matt is a stand up guy. I have met him in person. He is one of the first guys to work with nist to take linuxcnc from a government project to a open source project. He really does know his stuff.

EMC History

I have only seen a smithy lathe at one of the cnc fests in Michigan. (of course that one worked great) I can only comment on 'linuxcnc' which works wonderful for me and does do arcs. (be interesting to know that arcs the smithy cannot do) Thinking out loud - I wonder if you don't have G18 selected (x-z plane)

I assume it is linuxcnc underneath..
Lathe User Information
LinuxCNC Documentation - HTML version

sam

[digitalmdi]

Id post pixs if it were running. Currently i am not very happy with the machine. Here is why..

1.The casing leaks badly, turn the coolant on and you have a shower out the back of the machine.

2. The electronics on the lathe short out when splashed with coolant.

3. Support from smithy is non exisitant.

4. Ez Trol is a joke, no wizards, even though they advertise them and the program is basicly a rip off of sharewhare EMC. Its very primative and basic. Smithy really dropped the ball. In the process of trying to squeeze every dollar of profit out of this sub par machine they really screwed up by no going with MACH 3.

Right now I would just like my money back

[QUOTE=samco;1119880]not quite.. His first post was 08-18-2010, 07:04 PM

Actually I was referring to the customer who first posted the above comments on 5-17-09

[Legion99999]

Thank you for your offer Mr. shaver. I am sure you have your heart in the right place.
However unless you have a refund, a drop in gasket, an updated operating system with
Wizards, or new coolant proof connections, I don't see what help you or your company can possibly be. Nothing personal, but after this I don't have any faith left in smithy. If this had been a car I'd have used the lemon law.

[flatheadford49]

Hi Digitalmdi,
Are you this member?

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/shopma...struction.html

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/shopma..._gear_box.html

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/shopma...r_quality.html

[flatheadford49]

Too bad they wouldn't give you a refund- from what I see on Yahoo and Google , I'm guessing they are spending 5K per month or better on pay per click ads.

If it costs 10 cents a click that would be 50,000 views a month, 600,000 a year. I wonder how many sales are generated from those ads. Smithy must be doing well in this economy.
JD, as much as you know what Smithy is doing, I bet they would hire you, if you would sell your Shoptask machine.

[Legion99999]

I am not sure why you keep going after him flathead?

[jdclark]

If it costs 10 cents a click that would be 50,000 views a month, 600,000 a year. I wonder how many sales are generated from those ads. Smithy must be doing well in this economy.
JD, as much as you know what Smithy is doing, I bet they would hire you, if you would sell your Shoptask machine.

I guess that's the point- if they are doing well and spending all that on advertising, why can't they give this guy his money back?
As far as pay per click goes, its like an auction- the more you pay, the higher up in the rankings you are. So if you want to be the first one people see when they do a search for lathe-mill, you have to up the ante. I'm guessing they are paying in the range of 1.00-1.50 per click.
As far as selling the Shoptask ( Shopmaster), I am thinking of trading it in. Mine was one of the last of the gear drive units, and I'm looking seriously at the new machine with all the new features. Shopmaster offered me 80% of my original purchase price toward a new unit, and I am close enough to drive up to Vegas and do the swap.

[flatheadford49]

jd, I don't have an answer, but customer service should be any companys top priority and usually is, but somehow a customer slips between the cracks. I found another example:

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/shopma...rs_beware.html

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/shopma...esolution.html

In the case of the op, it's too bad his first contact was not with Mr. Shaver, who seems willing to do whatever it takes to get the customer up and running and satisfied.
I guess the op could still give Mr. Shaver a chance.

Here is a Hardinge Superslant running on emc2.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7V57_7H9zw]EMC2 retrofitted to a Hardinge Superslant CNC lathe - YouTube[/ame]

Could eztrol be converted to emc2. But since the op knows mach, maybe that would be the way to go.

[jdclark]

jd, I don't have an answer, but customer service should be any companys top priority and usually is, but somehow a customer slips between the cracks. I found another example:

In the case of the op, it's too bad his first contact was not with Mr. Shaver, who seems willing to do whatever it takes to get the customer up and running and satisfied.
I guess the op could still give Mr. Shaver a chance.

You are right it happens in every company- I'm not sure if Mr. Shaver can help him, because, according to his early post, he just does part time consulting for Smithy. Maybe he is just another guy who thinks he is helping them out by bringing up these old issues.