I went ahead and ordered a T60-s about 8 months ago. It was on sale for 4,999 (since then has dropped a couple times) I got free shipping by taking to someone at the California location. It arrived well crated and with not a scratch. The lathe is very well made and I was pleasantly surprised at the fit and finish. This is the same as the Grizzly go800 with a different motor and electronics.
The motor is very strong and I had zero trouble coring with the easy core.
The head and tail-stock lined up perfectly. The live center was a double ball bearing heavy duty cone type.
I did find the shoulder on the spindle is a bit short for using the set screws on my Nova Titans and Supernova2 chucks. I used a spacer to push them out onto the part of the spindle where they were supposed to line up. I have used the secondary stop/start control many times with live edge bowls with that wicked edge. It is magnetized and holds very well.
The lathe runs super smooth with a very quiet motor.
Problems:
1. The banjo has a miss machined bottom that drags on one side. Rather than wait; I just sanded the high spot with some ceramic discs and it works well now.
2.The tail-stock feed mechanism needed to be taken apart and smoothed out with some emery cloth to keep it from being sticky, took a couple hours.
3. The index lock is not visible from the front and I have on a couple occasions started the motor with the thing locked. I was quick to shut it off; but it needs some sort of visible indication that it is locked.
4. No videos on the lathe anywhere! A couple G0800 videos on YouTube that Don't give you much information.
I am over all very happy with this lathe. I use the sliding head-stock quite often and the variable speed works very well, even at low speeds.
They go on sale at even less than the 4,999 that I paid; but it is very sporadic and they don't announce it.
The mark up on these imports must be huge to make sudden large cuts in the price?
Anyway: if your up in the northwest part of the US and want to check one out; you'll have to come to my shop, because as far as I know, there is not another one in the western side of Washington State. Not to mention that Woodcraft,who is a distributor, does not have one in any of their stores here.
If I had more $$$, I would have went with the Robust; but I
am very satisfied with this lathe and have no regrets about buying one.
The motor is very strong and I had zero trouble coring with the easy core.
The head and tail-stock lined up perfectly. The live center was a double ball bearing heavy duty cone type.
I did find the shoulder on the spindle is a bit short for using the set screws on my Nova Titans and Supernova2 chucks. I used a spacer to push them out onto the part of the spindle where they were supposed to line up. I have used the secondary stop/start control many times with live edge bowls with that wicked edge. It is magnetized and holds very well.
The lathe runs super smooth with a very quiet motor.
Problems:
1. The banjo has a miss machined bottom that drags on one side. Rather than wait; I just sanded the high spot with some ceramic discs and it works well now.
2.The tail-stock feed mechanism needed to be taken apart and smoothed out with some emery cloth to keep it from being sticky, took a couple hours.
3. The index lock is not visible from the front and I have on a couple occasions started the motor with the thing locked. I was quick to shut it off; but it needs some sort of visible indication that it is locked.
4. No videos on the lathe anywhere! A couple G0800 videos on YouTube that Don't give you much information.
I am over all very happy with this lathe. I use the sliding head-stock quite often and the variable speed works very well, even at low speeds.
They go on sale at even less than the 4,999 that I paid; but it is very sporadic and they don't announce it.
The mark up on these imports must be huge to make sudden large cuts in the price?
Anyway: if your up in the northwest part of the US and want to check one out; you'll have to come to my shop, because as far as I know, there is not another one in the western side of Washington State. Not to mention that Woodcraft,who is a distributor, does not have one in any of their stores here.
If I had more $$$, I would have went with the Robust; but I
am very satisfied with this lathe and have no regrets about buying one.
