Customer Reviews

24" Midi Duplicator

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When the duplicator arrived, I opened the box to find all the components needed to assemble the item just loose and scattered. I know they "test" the item before shipping, but even so guys, put the nuts and bolts etc back in a bag. Took me a while to find all the pieces, but miraculously, they were all there. Assembly isn't too bad and doesn't take long, but like all things requiring assembly, better instructions and diagrams would be helpful. But then where's the challenge in that....right. The real challenge for me was fixing it to the lathe and getting it straight and true. This is more a function of my impatience than anything to do with the duplicator, so no marks lost here. But be aware that you need to spend some time getting this part of the equation right.
I put the duplicator to work right away doing some spindles for a drop leaf table. In theory, this product should have had no problems in doing this simple task, but it did. The cutter is obviously linked to the guide bar and to a manual control to determine depth of cut. My problem lay in the mechanics of this movement. The unit kept sticking, refusing to advance the blade until encouraged with more force. Once this resistance was overcome, the blade advanced too far and jammed into the workpiece, resulting in a horrible cut or worse binding into the spindle, stopping the rotation of the spindle and on one occasion, nearly pulling the duplicator off its mountings.
I am hoping that this issue can be fixed with some judicious cleaning and lubing of the internal mechanism. If I can fix this, then I'm sure I will have a decent duplicator. Until then its's just another expensive mistake collecting dust in my workshop. I am curious though, if they do test prior to dispatch, why did they send me this obviously faulty item? I will post again with my results.