The Chinese Made Engravers...

[Ryan O'Shea]

I've been seeing a lot of these Chinese made Engravers on Amazon, Ebay and other outlets recently. Has ANYONE tried one of these out? I am curious if these might actually make a good engraver for the entry level graver wanting to try an impact graver for less that 400$.

Your thoughts?

 

[Sam]

Ryan: The Chinese knockoffs I've seen and tested are total garbage and you would be well advised to avoid them. Put that money toward good equipment. When the knockoff breaks and gives you trouble (and it will) you'll have no one who can support it, repair it, etc., and when you're ready to buy good equipment later it will have little or no resale value.

Pneumatic tools for doing the incredibly precise work that engravers do must be made with a high degree of precision and accuracy, and you just won't get that with reverse engineered cheap Chinese knockoffs.

I don't allow listings of those tools in the Classifieds for the same reasons.

 

[Brian Marshall]

The machine units (at this point in time) are crap. I've had a couple student bring theirs to class.

They DO have the ability to make some useable stuff - they just aren't doing it with Leonards favorite - the "Graver Helper".


However, if you are using Chinese 3/32" square graver blanks sold under a US company name/label... then that makes it OK.

I know for a fact that the M42s I use come from China. As do HSS and the exotic carbide "alloys" in square 3/32".


Brian