An extraordinary lathe bargain?

This topic has 16 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 11 June 2026 at 09:55 by Adrian R2.

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9 June 2026 at 01:13 #851361
Robin Graham
Participant
@robingraham42208
I’m thinking of selling up, so was looking at prices for my lathe – nearest equivalent I could find was a Chester Crusader 150mm centre height, 810mm between centres. A bit depressed to find you can get the basic model for under £300 here – reduced from £4592.

It seems too good to be true, but strange things happen with pricing sometimes. So just a heads-up for anyone looking for a new lathe.

Robin.
Advert

9 June 2026 at 02:02 #851365
Bill Phinn
Participant
@billphinn90025
They’ve hardly even tried to make themselves look plausible, let alone trustworthy. The only sensible thing to do is to give them a wide body swerve.

EtA: Their notion of what a Stihl guide bar looks like says it all.
9 June 2026 at 06:05 #851369
John Haine
Participant
@johnhaine32865
https://www.sparktoolco.com/product/proxxon-23096-1-2-52-teeth-standard-ratchet5903/

Not to mention this!
9 June 2026 at 07:07 #851372
jimmy b
Participant
@jimmyb
Pure scam.

Not even sure why you eoukd post links to an obviously scam site.

Can the mods block these links please

Jimb
9 June 2026 at 07:31 #851378
Adrian R2
Participant
@adrianr2
I read of a scam that involves creating fake websites for fashion brands that are no longer trading but still have some consumer recognition, and then relying on bots being stupid enough to scrape them and offer up to AI chat users who just click “buy now” from the recommendation rather than doing any further due diligence on the merchant.

Possibly this is the machine tool equivalent – a company called Spark Tools is listed as dissolved on Companies House.
9 June 2026 at 08:10 #851384
Robert Atkinson 2
Participant
@robertatkinson2
It’s a scam.

You have to register just to find out what their address is! At best they are harvesting data.
I wonder what Chester tools think about them using their machines?
Returns at owners cost, probably to China, and only refunded if they think it is unused.

Robert.
9 June 2026 at 10:06 #851411
jaCK Hobson
Participant
@jackhobson50760
FREE shipping – only £40!
9 June 2026 at 12:30 #851441
Nicholas Farr
Participant
@nicholasfarr14254
Hi Jack, yes I noticed that, they don’t say which model, and some of their specs are wrong, says it all really.

Regards Nick.
9 June 2026 at 13:27 #851458
alecs
Participant
@alecs
1. On 9 June 2026 at 10:06 jaCK Hobson Said:
  
  FREE shipping – only £40!
  
  Cheap at half the price!
9 June 2026 at 13:38 #851461
JA
Participant
@ja
I like the idea of using Vitamin B6 tablets for SNMG inserts. It must bring a whole new meaning to something.

JA
11 June 2026 at 00:21 #851645
Robin Graham
Participant
@robingraham42208
Well, what can I say but apologies for posting this. My tongue was somewhat in my cheek but I didn’t make that clear. I certainly wouldn’t have bunged in an order without investigating if I’d been in the market for a lathe myself and I hope I haven’t misled anyone.

Mind you, they do have Proxxon QC tool holdersfor £8.39 but according to the illustration you actually get a commercial fan oven which is an even better bargain 😉 .

Mea culpa, Robin.
11 June 2026 at 05:41 #851646
John Haine
Participant
@johnhaine32865
What puzzles me is why they would bother to set up such a site which ostensibly appeals to such a limited market ? Unless they now are using AI models to automatically generate niche scam sites? The peculiar product substitutions have a smell of AI hallucinations to me.
11 June 2026 at 07:23 #851651
Adrian R2
Participant
@adrianr2
It’s bots vs bots. One set creating fake websites by the gazillion to be read by another lot. All gets fed through the munger and regurgitated to chat/search users, maybe for advertising revenue or maybe in the hope that some fool has given an “agentic” session their credit card and it might try and buy one of these non-existent products and compromise some user/payment details.
11 June 2026 at 07:29 #851654
Robert Atkinson 2
Participant
@robertatkinson2
On 11 June 2026 at 05:41 John Haine Said:

What puzzles me is why they would bother to set up such a site which ostensibly appeals to such a limited market ? Unless they now are using AI models to automatically generate niche scam sites? The peculiar product substitutions have a smell of AI hallucinations to me.

It’s enough of a market for people to make real lathes and websites to sell them…
11 June 2026 at 09:32 #851664
John Haine
Participant
@johnhaine32865
But quite a well-informed one that quickly spots a scam. Unless using a bot makes it so quick to generate a site that shoals of the them can be set up on the off chance someone will be fooled.
11 June 2026 at 09:43 #851668
howardb
Participant
@howardb
On 9 June 2026 at 08:10 Robert Atkinson 2 Said:

It’s a scam.

You have to register just to find out what their address is! At best they are harvesting data.
I wonder what Chester tools think about them using their machines?
Returns at owners cost, probably to China, and only refunded if they think it is unused.

Robert.

Spark Tools Ltd had a sole director who is chinese and his country of residence is China

according to companies house, and the company was dissolved in 2020.
11 June 2026 at 09:55 #851672
Adrian R2
Participant
@adrianr2
Possibly another regulations exploit. You register a company with Companies House, apply for VAT number, sell a bunch of stuff via online marketplaces as a legitimate “UK Company”, collect revenue incl. VAT for a year or so then wind up said company and disappear without paying anything to HMRC.

It has now got slightly stricter in that some proof of identity for Directors is required, previously was all self declared.
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