Lathe Manufacturers

But not fortune cookies!

-- "PLUMBER'S BUTT! Get over it, everybody has one"

Interesting in the extreme Jim, I wonder if all powermatic tools are made by them… If so, it migh be a real moneysaver to find them under another less expensive brand.

-- There are good ships and there are wood ships, the ships that sail the sea, but the best ships are friendships and may they always be. http://www.geraldlhunsucker.com/

Hmmm…. mine was made in Tennessee ;)

But it does make sense that the new ones are built off-shore. After being sold off in 1986 and re-sold a few times – In 2002, Powermatic was bought by the WMH tool group, which is who owns and imports Jet tools (among others). Probably made in the same factory now and imported into the country with the rest of them.

Cheers,
Brad

-- Brad in FL - In Dog I trust... everything else is questionable

It’s easier to name lathes not made in China today. If go to Chiniese web sites will see many lathes sold in North America & Europe markets.

Manufacturers have become just vendors, customer service depends upon whether they stock parts & components for their products. Again if go to those Chinese web sits will see how many fit into a shipping container, but seldom mention spare parts or compoents!

-- Bill

I wasn’t saying this is a bad thing, as Powermatic lathes are practically indestructible, so Harvey Industries must be doing something right. The newer Laguna lathes are in the same ballpark, not sure if they are in the same league as Powermatic but, by watching some interweb youtube videos it looks like they are coming close. Then there is the Harvey lathes, which are very interesting, of which I saw demonstrated at the Kansas City AAW Symposium.

I have a Nova DVR XP, which has been down with a spindle assembly problem, after burning out the bearings twice. And, to find out from Nova, the XP has been discontinued, so I have been searching the world for a replacement lathe. I was trying to decide between a PM, Jet, Grizzly, Rikon, and the Laguna when I discovered Harvey Industries. Then Nova in Jacksonville, FL “found” a new spindle assembly, and they are sending it to me under warranty. That’s also when I found out that not all Laguna Dealers are honoring the 10% sale, as in a previous thread.

Go to the Harvey Industries Co, LTD web site, very interesting machines with their names on them – looks just like numerous name brand machines.

Jack, I’m not sure if fortune cookies come with Harvey Industries Macines or not – maybe ?

-- When I was a kid I wanted to be older . . . . . this CRAP is not what I expected !

Looks like Acme is honoring the 10% off Laguna.

-- "You know, I'm such a great driver, it's incomprehensible that they took my license away." --Vince Ricardo

Powermatic lathes have, in recent years, been manufactured in Taiwan. Appears to still be the case … here’s the label from the lathe turner Carl Ford recently purchased:

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

Ripper 70 – yes, Acme is honoring the 10% sale. There are some others also, which I cannot remember. The sale is through 31 Mar. Woodcraft, Rockler, Craft supplies, Amazon, are not.

Gerry – all I know is what I found on the Harvey web site. True or false, I have no idea.

-- When I was a kid I wanted to be older . . . . . this CRAP is not what I expected !

HaHa
Besides Laguna and Powermatic, If you spin through this site awhile, you can find Steel City table saw CSA certifications, and “hidden” SawStop partner reference in web code. Which will dissappear as soon as they realize it has been left behind.

Certifications are hidden source of information.
When the selling brand relies on the mfg to gain CSA/TUV certification, it can not be hidden. They might leave marketing names missing from the document, but PN reference has to be same or it is not valid certification. If someone wanted to search certification records hard enough, you could figure out exactly which products are produced by Harvey for others.

FWIW – Need to be careful with making generalizations regarding which Chinese mfg is making tools for whom:

Sourcing tools off shore is a big business (which I have been involved for 20+ years in Electronics mfg tools). There are many wood working tool mfg in China. USA/EU companies contract with all of them, and use each for different things. It is how business works with off shore sourcing . Companies can/will contract mfg to more than 1 source for same tool to ensure they get volume needed for market. They can/will move mfg contract every couple years between mfg based on price/quality. Big companies will also use one mfg for planers, another for different design planer, different one for shaper, and another for band saws. This is called not putting all your eggs in one basket; as when demand is high for all products you become revenue limited by your contractors capacity. With several suppliers specializing in certain tools, production rates are easier to ramp up and you hopefully have fewer of inevitable quality mistakes. This incessant drive to have “low cost & high quality & instant ship” creates a lot of turn over where machines are produced.

Diving a little deeper:
There is also another challenge hidden with China outsourcing, relationships and licensing. In order to better control over quality and scheduling, most companies learn they must have a local office staff that oversees the foreign mfg operation. But not just any company can get a government license to have “on site” business managers and have a Chinese division. So many equipment mfg have Taiwanese partner(s) that help manage the Chinese sourcing. It is easily to co-locate a loyal company managers to help coordinate business in Taiwan (Been there, done that, got T-Shirt).
Additionally, 25+ years ago, these same Taiwan companies used to make the wood working tools, till Taiwan steel and labor become too expensive. Now they ASSEMBLE tools made from Chinese components, and speak local language to facilitate sourcing complete tools in China. These hidden licensing relationships are everywhere and makes it almost invisible for customers to know actual tool producers involved (unless you track public shipping manifests, but that is side bar for different time).
So next time you see a tool “made in Taiwan”, know that parts inside where likely sourced from China, and business is supervised by English speaking company representative that communicates with US headquarters.
I do not know if this is good thing, or bad. It is just, how it all works.
Ahh, Joys of international business, it keeps a lot of US people employed. Glad to be retired from it.

Thanks for reading this mad lunatics ranting….

-- I'm an engineer not a woodworker, but I can randomly find useful tools and furniture inside a pile of lumber!

My humble 18 month experience in China, I learned that you can build quality products in China, as long as you specify EXACTLY what you want. GM builds Buicks over there that are just great. They sell about 140,000 of them a year over there. At one point earlier a few years back, it represented about 35% of their profit for the year.

But if you let the Chinese management dictate some of the quality, or hand it off to them, quality will drop rather quickly. As long as you lay out exactly what you want, you can get great quality out of China. I do believe Apple is a good example of that. If they can build a great phone, why not a good woodworking tool? People judge too quickly.

Another good example is the Johnson Guitar Company. They are built mostly in Shanghai Instrument Company #1, one of the oldest stringed instrument companies on the planet. When I was living in Shanghai in 2006, they celebrated their 1000th year in business. So while most of our ancestors were trying to dig themselves out of the dark ages, a company in Shanghai was starting to build stringed instruments. I think they know how by now…

-- Tsunami Guitars and Custom Woodworking, Cleveland, TN

Thing people learned about Lumber Litigators, and quality from that 60 minutes special all about what a US company willing to pay! If want quality have to pay more.

Same goes for anything made over there in China. Of course Chinese have cloned different name brand products to sell here and around the world with new names. Look at Chinese tourist going on vacation in Japan and buying baby products made in China but better quality than what can buy at home. Ought to tell us something!

Majority of woodworking machines we buy are never checked by vendors here before shipping to customers! How many post have you read about damaged or missing components found after delivery? Most of the warranties are useless and totally up to the tool vendors to make it right! Some do without much trouble others will if put up a stink. Store vendors and shipping companies may or may not be very helpful.

Just pay attention to return or refund and any restocking fee policies before you buy also who pays for return shipping if necessary! Might not be a bad idea better to hold up the delivery driver so can open boxes or crates before signing any shipping documents.

-- Bill

Gerry – all I know is what I found on the Harvey web site. True or false, I have no idea.

Do you have a link to this info?

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

Quality comes from quality control, which is expensive. It doesn’t matter what rolls off the line, it matters what rolls out the door. When a company wants to skimp, QC is almost always the first cut.

-- Rick M, http://thewoodknack.blogspot.com/

Gerry – I’m looking for the link. Like a dummy, I forgot to put it my favorites file. Don’t give up, I’ll find it again.

-- When I was a kid I wanted to be older . . . . . this CRAP is not what I expected !

Jimbo4, just copy and paste this. Harvey Industries Co, LTD I did that, but I only saw 2 lathes they were offering….... Jerry (in Tucson)

-- Jerry (in Tucson) www.woodturnerstools.com