And another one bites the dust *LINK*

Re: And another one bites the dust

Barry Irby

That's terrible. I don't own any General Equipment, but I was glad they were hanging on and making good stuff.

Just went to there web site and apparently they only make one 10" portable TS. Whatever it it is, it weighs 44 lbs and has an aluminum table. One of the features is a "Full color Carton". What? 70 years in the making my arse.

And I don't see a jointer or planer at all. Depressing.

Years ago the General 260 was a standard ....

jamiedonaldson

.....of excellence in the small world of available lathes. Rude Osolnik tried to talk them into making a short bed lathe, would have given them a serious player in the awakening interest in turning. They weren't interested in changing anything, so Rude had a bed cut short on one of his 260's and it was very useable with no support under the shortened bed, that headstock assembly is a beast! Sad to know that they are gone, as I still use my General 160V occasionally.

Re: And another one bites the dust

Dick Coers

Ellis and I were at the same meeting of magazine editors at Delta Corporate something like 20 years ago. At that time they knew that woodworking machine business was going to be in trouble in the near future. The wave of higher volumes for quality machinery was already predicted to fall away. And now it's getting even worse. Used machinery is taking the same dive.

The companies really do love using the logo and brand for marketing. Oliver Machinery used to have a picture of the Grand Rapids, Mi factory building in their history page on their website. On a site that only carried Chinese made machinery painted with their color of blue. Now that the old factory building burned to the ground, they only have a paragraph about tracing the company back to it's roots in 1890. I guess they are talking about the roots of the logo.

Re: And another one bites the dust

Keith T

I have a General 26020 VS, that is now 14 years old. It has had "0" issues, and the pot will turn the spindle to a dead stop. I have Jamie's old outboard extention on it! I spoke with some General execs. Several years ago about improvements and updates that would modernize this machine...some, such as 1.25" outboard spindle, and longer locking lever on the tailstock....no interest. Too bad.

Re: And another one bites the dust

Barry L Elder

Any company that can't spell SAFETY won't last long!

Re: And another one bites the dust

Tom Gall

I also have a 22 yr. old General 260 (early conversion with 4" riser blocks). No problems, no replacements, does everything I ask of it even though it only has a 1hp motor (I don't do coring). The only thing I did "add" was a link-belt because I thought the original belt was making a little noise. The original is still in the headstock but put aside to not touch anything in case I ever need it again....so I didn't have to pull the spindle for a belt replacement.

That's funney!