I'm considering a used Gildemeister lathe to replace a Daewoo MSA 200 PUMA which has been serving me quite well. I've got a job which requires a larger spindle pass than my Daewoo. I don't particularly need the Y axis offered on the Gildemeister I'm looking at, but it'll help with some troublesome long boring bar setups we wrestle with with our VDI toolchanger (hard to tweak height just right).

So far I've been quite happy with my '97 built Daewoo. I've only had to replace the worn out chuck and actuator. I've fixed several minor things here and there, but this thing has been a pretty reliable workhorse.

Germany makes nice stuff, but I don't have any reference on this particular brand of machine. Upsizing to a maintenance hungry prima donna lathe would kill my company. What are your experiences with Gildemeister?


Thanks!