Hi,
Just thought I'd share my experience importing a cnc lathe from China. I'm feeling pretty good tonight, I've just got it running for the first time, and I'm quite happy with it so far.

A little bit about me and why I wanted a cnc lathe. I'm a couple years away from retiring from my current job, and I'm in the process of setting up a home workshop where I can make bits for the hotrod I want to build. I want my workshop set up before I retire, basically so I don't expire from the shock of not working. I'm an electrical fitter by trade, and I've studied and worked in electrical engineering, and I now work in IT. The most fun I've had so far was in the machine shop were I first started work, I quite often wish I was back there.

I've always enjoyed making and fixing things, and I've always been fascinated by cnc machines. I did a TAFE course about 20 years back on programming them, and made a few things, I never thought I'd be able to own my own machines.

So, I decided I wanted a cnc lathe, cnc milling machine, and a cnc plasma cutter, a pullmax, and a few other bits and pieces.

I found a pullmax locally for a good price, but it has no tooling, I'm hoping I can make my own.

Then I ordered a skyfire cnc machine, you can read about that in another thread here on cnc zone.

And now the lathe. The size of machine I am after is as big as you can go on a residential power supply.

I looked at some second hand machines, and some new machines available locally, they were either too big or too small, or way out of my price range. So I started looking at new Chinese flat bed lathes, and I settled on a CK6136A-1 from Taian Crystal http://www.alibaba.com/product-detai...084443200.html

I know I'm buying at the bottom end of the price range, but the way I look at it I'll have a basic cnc lathe, and I'm happy to fix and maintain it without local support.

My first attempt at importing something myself did not work out well, but in this case, dealing with the factory direct was a very pleasant experience, good communication, things happened when they said they would. I used an Australian import company, ICAL to ship it from the port in China to Australia, and handle all the customs clearance etc, and I found them to be very helpful as well.

There was a problem with the crate getting broken and some damage to the lathe when it was unloaded, but nothing serious. The factory has replaced a part that was damaged free of change, even though I don't believe they were at fault. They have supplied me with wiring diagrams when I asked, so I'm very happy with how they have looked after me.

Now I have to get it into it's final position and get it wired in properly, then start making stuff !!

John