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opinions on birmingham lathes?

WTA

Plastic
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Location
texas
I'm still searching for a good lathe capable of high precision for barrel contouring and chambering. I was looking at the Grizzly gunsmith lathe untill today when a very well respected barrel maker out there recommended I look into the Birminghams. I did look around at some prices and while they don't have all the bells and whistles of the grizzly they do seem a lot cheaper.
Is they just another you get what you pay for thing or are they good enough?

THis is just one model I was looking at. CPTYCL-1440GH I found that one at southern tool. Right off I noticed I'll need a quick change tool post and a taper attachment but what do you think?
 
Thats like saying "what do you think about Ford cars?"

Well, I didnt like my Escort that much, but I think GT-40's are just swell.

Birmingham makes an entire line of lathes, at multiple weights and price points.
Their 9x20 looks like every other 9x20, and I wouldnt touch it with a ten foot pole.

Their 10hp DL series are probably a lot better than the Grizzly lathes- and cost 12 grand or so.


Again and again, we get questions that are basically "who makes a $10,000 lathe and sells it for $4000?"
And the answer is, nobody.
The better taiwanese lathes are decent machines, and sell for 10K to 15K. They are NOT equivalent to Mori Seiki's, or their Korean clones, which generally sell for 20K to 30K.
And they are certainly not as good as old Monarchs, American Pacemakers, Axelsons, or LeBlonde's, which, if available new today, would run 100k to 200k.

You gets exactly what you pay for, and every chinese $2500 lathe is basically the same as every other chinese $2500 lathe.

If you are going to buy a Grizzly, or a Jet, or a Birmingham, get the very best one you can possibly justify- their top of the line products- at least 5hp to 7 1/2Hp, with a weight of 4000 to 7000lbs, and, if you treat it well, and dont expect it to replace a $50,000 Monarch EE, it will probably be just fine.

Me, I am not terribly impressed by the Grizz lineup- I duck in the world headquarters from time to time to buy things without moving parts, and they all seem to be from different factories, and I would hesitate to buy any but their absolute best, most expensive machine. The few times I have bought Grizzly machines that use that newfangled electricity stuff, the smoke seems to wanna get out real bad.
I have had better experience with Jet, but only with their "best" products- their cheap stuff is just that.
The better Birminghams look OK. The low end ones look generic.
You should consider talking to Matt, who posts here, and sells chinese lathes. He has been to most of the factories, in Taiwan and China, and is, as far as I can tell, a straight shooter. I have not bought anything from him, so I cant speak to that.
He posts as QualityMachineTools, and his website is http://www.machinetoolonline.com/
Pick his brain a bit, he sells Birmingham and other brands.
 
I bought a Birmingham 1236 last year and have been happy. It is what I expected the dealer was easy to work with. My reason was I live 10 miles from the disturber and saved freight by picking it up. The lathe was $600 dollars cheaper and with the freight savings I was able to by a DRO.

If you look close at the Birmingham and the Grizzly you will find they look the same. The Grizzly does have the next size bigger chuck but both are over 1.5” through the spindle.

Grizzly does a much better job on the operator manual and repair parts manual. If you look at the Grizzly web site you can down load a copy. I have bought another piece from Grizzly and must say their customer service is second to none.

Over all I think it is a good machine and I would buy it again.
 
My Birmingham works well.

I have a Birmingham YCL1440GH that I bought for that reason and it works just fine.
The only thing i might want to change is to convert it over to ball screws. Really the backlash isnt that bad though. The repeatability is pretty much dead nuts. Contour away.





I'm still searching for a good lathe capable of high precision for barrel contouring and chambering. I was looking at the Grizzly gunsmith lathe untill today when a very well respected barrel maker out there recommended I look into the Birminghams. I did look around at some prices and while they don't have all the bells and whistles of the grizzly they do seem a lot cheaper.
Is they just another you get what you pay for thing or are they good enough?

THis is just one model I was looking at. CPTYCL-1440GH I found that one at southern tool. Right off I noticed I'll need a quick change tool post and a taper attachment but what do you think?
 








 
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