gunboatbay
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- Jan 31, 2008
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FYI...In Grizzly's 2010 catalog, in addition to the South Bend line of stuff, they list an addition to their small mill/drills, the G0704. This is not a newly manufactured mill/drill design, just new to Grizzly. It's been marketed for a number of years by various vendors, including Grizzly's counterpart in Canada, Busy-Bee Tools. It boasts a bigger table than the X3/SX3 and comes with a stand. I think the spokesperson for one of the larger small machine vendors in Europe summed up this machine in an excellent fashion:
"Its one of those machines which sits in between an X2 and an X3. It was an attempt by some manufacturers and distributors to present it as a challange to the established X3/SX3....regardless of the marketing BS presented. Key marketing BS first concentrated on table size - saying it is "bigger" than X3/SX3, which it is, but at the beginning, the spindle was only an MT2. Once these shortcomings were seen, or the customer requested an MT3, the MT3 spindle was added to that range. Once this was introduced, each of the three manufacturers involved in making that machine, re-concentrated on who has the longest table!. Basically, a dick slapping contest. In some cases, if you look at the table size compared with the cast base footprint, it looks totally dis-proportioned.
Initially, the build quality of that machine - namely from the Optimum camp, was said to be good. However, now, with three factories involved (NOT SIEG), one does not really know which of the three made it so one has to then depend on "reputable" distributors for their requirements for the said machines. There are some ebay dealers - who are saying that "this is the same thing as Optimums machines" but at a cheaper price. If the buyer end user chooses to accept this, then it is up to them. It is truely difficult to confirm if the quality is good or bad.
Some manufacturers, their dealers and their end users are still commenting that these are equivalent to the X3/SX3. They are entitled to their opinions as we all are, but the fact is that these machines are not equivalent to X3/SX3. They are in between and X2 and an X3, but they are definitely not an X3/SX3. First there is an issue of weight, and secondly there is an issue of Z axis movement, before you consider anything else.
The subject of this machine keeps coming up every three to six months and nothing changes in between times!"
"Its one of those machines which sits in between an X2 and an X3. It was an attempt by some manufacturers and distributors to present it as a challange to the established X3/SX3....regardless of the marketing BS presented. Key marketing BS first concentrated on table size - saying it is "bigger" than X3/SX3, which it is, but at the beginning, the spindle was only an MT2. Once these shortcomings were seen, or the customer requested an MT3, the MT3 spindle was added to that range. Once this was introduced, each of the three manufacturers involved in making that machine, re-concentrated on who has the longest table!. Basically, a dick slapping contest. In some cases, if you look at the table size compared with the cast base footprint, it looks totally dis-proportioned.
Initially, the build quality of that machine - namely from the Optimum camp, was said to be good. However, now, with three factories involved (NOT SIEG), one does not really know which of the three made it so one has to then depend on "reputable" distributors for their requirements for the said machines. There are some ebay dealers - who are saying that "this is the same thing as Optimums machines" but at a cheaper price. If the buyer end user chooses to accept this, then it is up to them. It is truely difficult to confirm if the quality is good or bad.
Some manufacturers, their dealers and their end users are still commenting that these are equivalent to the X3/SX3. They are entitled to their opinions as we all are, but the fact is that these machines are not equivalent to X3/SX3. They are in between and X2 and an X3, but they are definitely not an X3/SX3. First there is an issue of weight, and secondly there is an issue of Z axis movement, before you consider anything else.
The subject of this machine keeps coming up every three to six months and nothing changes in between times!"
