Optimum lathes and mills

[Moper361]

The possabilities of me relocating from Thailand back To perth Australia are starting to be a reality. I have a12 36 lathe and a zf45 mill at the momment in Thailand however if i move i dont think they will be riding along with me unfortunatly. If i move i will be limited to the room i have now .I I have a lot of tooling etc i am looking at taking with me and will sell my lathe and mill and look for new if we shift.I have been looking at optimum BF 20 LV mill and optimum TU 2506 and TU 3008 lathes as these are available around Perth also various other makes of chinese stuff. Is there any fellow members running these machines or have experienced them ? They seem to look reasonable as far as chines lathes and mills go .Im lead to believe they are of german background and made in china .

[whateg0]

While I've no experience with their machines, I have heard they are decent machines. I do have an Optimum tool post and I'd call it above average, but it's not cream of the crop, at least in appearance. (I've not yet put it to use because I don't have enough tool holders yet for it to be effective.)

Dave

[jcfx]

I have a RF-45 clone, probably similar to your ZF-45, I haven't put it under power yet, and as Dave said they're generally
OK machines based on other forum postings.
Mine is on the home stretch ( on a stand, trying to remember how to reassemble the mill, replacing factory buggered bearings, etc )
I wouldn't put much value on the name, and mythology of it's lineage.

[Jim Dobson]

They are as German as chopsticks.

[armscor 1]

Hi fellow Sandgroper, also from Perth WA, been living in the Philippines for the last 15 years, could be facing the same dilemma, no idea for shipping costs for my machines and tooling.