The EMCO that I was referring to is actually an EMCO MAIER and are made in
Austria. They also were the makers of the now out of production Unimat line of
hobby lathes. The Unimat really never stood up to their standards in my opinion,
even though I do own one.
I have used two EMCO lathes in the past, and know of several shops that really
think a lot of them. Their range of products go from the hobby size lathe
(Sherline and Taig size) to turning centers (CNC lathe) and most sizes in
between. The EMCO that we have at work is our smallest lathe (13" swing) and is
used for EDM electrodes now but was used for a few years to make punches from
tool steel. In both areas it performs very nicely, although a little bit light
for the tool steel work. Both type jobs require precision and the EMCO handles it
well.
The ENCO (close spelling to be from such two different genre) brand is the same
one that sells the lower quality import equipment from Tawain and China. They are
probably manufactured by one of the mass producers of the lower quality equipment
sold by so many of the clearing house type distributers. Not intended as a "slam"
to anyone's machine or anyone who owns one, just my very experienced opinion.
Now, if anyone out there in "steam land" wants something a little larger, the
company that I work for is considering selling a 64" swing (84" over the gap) by
120" sliding gap bed lathe to purchase a larger one. Anyone interested?
Later,
Trent
P.S.- Salty, if you want more input about the EMCO just contact me offline.
