Importing "Gunsmith's" lathe?

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Pepperpopper

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Grizzly Tools, the big brother of Busy Bee, has introduced two specialty gunsmithing lathes with features that will appeal to gunsmiths. We are not talking a barrel making machine. None of the features are specific gun parts they are just feature-sets like two coolant sprayers, or a spider for barrel support, or the right chuck sizes or speeds. They have attachments like a torque wrench adapter for the tail stock that help line up the ends. That is supposed to tbe something a gunsmith might want, and makes these machines the ideal lathe for gunsmiths according to the promotional literature.

Does this kind of thing trigger gun related export laws? I'm interested in the lathe, but it's more a question for interest than anything else.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G4003G
 
Machine tools are machine tools as fat as import is concerned. You better check what the final price is going to be - original cost, transporting it, taxes, etc will drive up the total. There are outfits in Canada already selling import lathes. You mentionned Busy Bee. There is also KBC Tools, which is a large company with a very large product line.
 
I'd like a larger diameter on the spindle bore, that way you don't have to remove an action to recrown, thread for muzzle breaks, ect......

Otherwise seems like a nice little lathe...
 
There is a Grizzly in Bellingham. If you live near Van ou can just drive over and pick it up.

Have you checked with KBC for a similar unit?
 
Thanks for all the good answers. I don't know why they moved this form legalese. I don't really see the difference between this and the importing a reloading die, or a barrel making tool.

Busy Bee actually has a somewhat similar lathe, and I have one about five minutes from my house. I was thinking of Buying the BB lathe that they identify as a gunsmithing lathe, but it's only 24" which I think I would quickly regret.

Apparently there is a guy in London who does a lot of second hand tools and has a website? Overall I haven't found any quality second hand tools in about 20 years of looking. I'm just not gifted that way. Anyone know some good local machine suppliers in Toronto area. They are sure closing down enough factories around here...
 
Look for aircraft maintenance facilities closing. When MTU closed we passed on a Colchester master lathe with tons of tooling for $2000. Used and maintained by some very fastidious machinists. I still regret it.
 
The BB 24" lathe would be useful, except it does not have a quick change box, or a threading dial. These are major shortcomings. The 24" centres are not necessarily a problem, given the diameter of the spindle bore. I went to the Barrie store to see one of these machines. It just would not be a good choice. KBC has a variety of lathes - they LOOK better than the BB machines. Get their catalogue. If I had not bought the Standard-Modern 1340, I likely would have bought the KBC that is about the same size.
 
Grizz will not ship to Canada. Pick up only.

Apparently the owner is related to the owner of Busy Bee and will not step on his toes, so to speak.

As per a conversation a friend of mine had with a Grizz order clerk.

If you want Grizz stuff, it's a pick up only proposition.

Cheers
Trev
 
I go down to that area of PA quite a bit, so that isn't a problem assuming my F150 can haul it up and over the mountains. Mostly I was wondering what happens if one gets an exit check, hopefully the bill might not need to say "Gunsmith's".

Great tips.
 
IIRC gunsmithing tools and supplies are exempt from paying duties under NAFTA. You will still pay tax but should have no problem transporting it across the border.

CanAm is right though. Look for an older machine you can get a deal on. They are usually built like tanks and are superior to most modern machines for the money.
 
When it comes across the border it's just a metal lathe. The customs guys don't care what the sellers attched to it in the way of a descriptive name.

Prolly gonna have to pay applicable taxes on the purchase price, check with the customs folks for duties, as it can vary by country of origin, though I don't think machine tools are dutied.

Cheers
Trev
 
trevj said:
When it comes across the border it's just a metal lathe. The customs guys don't care what the sellers attched to it in the way of a descriptive name.

Prolly gonna have to pay applicable taxes on the purchase price, check with the customs folks for duties, as it can vary by country of origin, though I don't think machine tools are dutied.

Cheers
Trev
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You will have to pay GST/PST and Duty. You will likely have to pay the MFN tariff rate rather than the GPT rate as it was not directly imported from China.

Nope, just checked it. you pay 0% duty either way. Tariff class 8458.11.90
 
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Pepperpopper said:
I go down to that area of PA quite a bit, so that isn't a problem assuming my F150 can haul it up and over the mountains. Mostly I was wondering what happens if one gets an exit check, hopefully the bill might not need to say "Gunsmith's".

Great tips.
Click to expand...
I tried to import from them and is a no go, I had a truck
like that, now drive dodge.
Matshall
 
If you are going to haul it with a half ton, better check the crated weight, and what your truck can handle. Shouldn't be any trouble getting it loaded, but have you considered how you would handle it at your end? At w ww.practicalmachinist.com there is a current thread about dropped machine tools.
 
Neighbour has a forlift for his metal fab shop, and I have an engine crane, not that that piece of crap should probably be trusted. The whole buying tools thing is a "can't get there from here" kind of deal. Part of the reason to not buy old iron is because it wieghs too damn much more. If you want to buy new stuff people usually dis the quality, and if you want to buy old it's too heavy to move.

Here is the Grizzly real gunsmith lathe, it weighs a lot:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0509G

By the way, you can order the US stuff through BB, though the prices are rpetty discouraging. But if you have a big buget, it's no problem.

What are these: "quick change box, or a threading dial." are these quick change boxes so you don't have to manually handle the change gears? What is the threading dial (is that the part that looks like micrometer handles?. One thing about the BB 24" threading is that it won't handle a lot of sizes, at least from their description, sometimes you can move around the gears and get non-specified sizes. 4 to an inch is important to me since that is the size of the nose on my other lathe.

This BB model seems to have similar specs to some of the smaller gunsmith's lathe's.

http://busybeetools.ca/cgi-bin/picture10?&NETID=1319010416071420812&NTITEM=CT041
 
Quick change gearbox - yes, not having to set up the gear train manually for each different thread or feed rate. Threading dial is usually on the right side of the apron, revolves driven by the leadscrew, has a scale so that you know when to close the half nuts when cutting threads. Makes thread cutting a lot easier.
Be careful with a forklift, lathes have high centres of gravity. The manual for the S-M recommends using slings under the bed, lifting from above, rather than below.
Often a large machine can be cheaper than a small one because moving it is intimidating. If the proper equipment isn't available, pay a professional. Had to move a 16" SB with an 8' bed down a flight of stairs once. Disassembled it, had professionals do it. It was still scary. Fortunately there was an I beam in the room and I used a chainfall to reassemble the lathe.
 
Even QC equipped lathes usually have a quadrant with a gear train on it that you can swap in gears to change the threads available. It starts to become a requirement to do some heavy fractional math when you want to cut stuff like, say, 27 tpi threads, or metrics on an english lathe.

The threading dial is most useful when cutting threads not evenly divisible by the pitch of the leadscrew. If the pitch (TPI) of the leadscrew divides evenly into the number of threads per inch you are cutting, you can close the half nuts anywhere and get a good result. Most lathes have a chart, these days, that shows which markings on the indicator work with which pitches.

Not sure how that works out on a machine with a metric leadscrew.

Cheers
Trev
 
high centres of gravity

We had a lathe brought in through the door of the machine shop on base,
Halfway in it SLIPPED! fortunately only a busted handwheel. A good thing, since it was made in 1942! Parts could have been a problem. ;)
 
cost of grizzly tools

A good buddy of mine stocked his woodwork shop with tools from Grizzly, and he said that if you take their price and multiply by about 1.4 you get the price landed in canada. He lives in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, he drives to Bellingham to pick them up.

Al
 
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