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The new SB made is China is a Jet/Grizzly/GMC/Harrison/Clausing/Precision Matthews/Sharp/Birmingham/Enco/Harbor Freight/Smithy/MSC/Bernardo/Rong Fu/ etc clone.
The new South Bend lathe is no more an American design than it is the man in the moon.
My 2009 Precision Matthews 12x36 has 80% interchangeable small parts with my brother's 1999 Jet 13x40.
The really expensive aircraft or medical electronic boxes I design or the really expensive electronic test instruments my wife designs may be American designs, but are being built in China by Jabil. The cheap crap car electronics my son is designing are built in China.
The new Chinese lathe I bought in 2009 with DRO and a foot brake, delivered to my door, did not cost that much more than is costs to SHIP an old lathe bought on EBAY.
What does it all mean?
1) There are a billion Chinese with higher IQs than American workers that would love to move from the sustenance agricultural jobs to the manufacturing sector. That cheap, intelligent, and motivated work force is going to make our manual lathes for us from cast iron for the foreseeable future.
2) Chinese are hell to negotiate with. You must have an American importer quality control department and warranty between you and dealing with Chinese businessmen.
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