Yes, the seller's based in Zhejiang province, China.

If there was a serious fault with it on arrival and you needed to return it, you'd probably be asked to return it to China and pay the return postage on the promise of it being refunded if the seller agrees after inspection that the item is in fact faulty.

Things that come out of China that seem GVFM are usually not………

Looks very much like the Warco WM180….

Still has the dc motor with probably a Chinese version of the KB controller….

Although I dont have any direct experience of the machine, for the sort of money your paying I'd avoid it and spend a bit more on the Sieg SC3 offered by the likes of Arceurotrade…reason….reliabilty of the electrics. I have one and it does serve its purpose….reliably…

Edited By John Rudd on 21/08/2018 19:58:06

But surely what you are asking is opinion based on experience?

I buy a pair of shoes, I wear them, they wear out very quickly….I've experienced the durability of said item, my opinion is they wear out quickly….ergo dont buy them….

As I said in my previous post, I've had/owned/used a mini lathe with a dc drive….They are ( insert own adjective!) compared to their brushless counterparts….which is why I now own an SC3 brushless version….

**LINK**

If you want to save a tenner Amazon list them.

Mike

The lathe bears a strong family resemblance to some lathes sold by Chester and Warco.

The fact is that many lathes manufactured in China are made with a wide range of specifications and options, including levels of quality control. Apparently identical lathes can even come from different factories as they are just variations on a standard design.

Some cheap online sources get their stock from buying up machines rejected for export. I have also seen credible reports of examples built up using spares/overstock/reject items from different manufacturers, although to be fair these are usually really basic, crude machines.

My advice would be to consider what value you put on after sales support, ready access to dedicated spares and accessories, a year's warranty and the protection of UK consumer law. Plus if you buy a UK version, you can be sure that other people's experiences of the machine are of the same machine (although don't bear in mind that continuing improvement often means that review of older examples often highlight issues that have since been addressed – the early batches of my two lathes both had some issues that were corrected in later batches).

Obviously if you visit a UK distributor you can see a machine first hand, but don't assume an eBay version is going to be the same, it might be but experience suggests there will probably be detail differences at the very least.

After that, it's your choice – balance the 'known unkowns' against the 'unknown unknowns'.

Neil

This appears to be a facsimile of Warco WM180 which is sold aound the world with different names…….however, although apparently cheaper by £250 it lacks the other kit that comes with WM180, namely four jaw, two steadies and some change wheels….. to me this makes the warco better/equal value for money with much lower risk level.

……My WM180 which I have been using for a year is a nice little lathe and I have no real complaints.

Edited By Bob Stevenson on 21/08/2018 23:31:17