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Hapfo Lathe

J

Jared

Joined
May 26, 2006
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Just wondering if anyone had any knowledge of these or has used them in the past. The 5000M is the specific one.
 
Tell them you are interested in purchasing one and ask them for a list of customers that has purchased one. Make sure you tell them you are interested in speaking with these people.

http://tinyurl.com/2ty2qm
 
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I've got a quote from the company, but they said they have contacted other customers, but it is up to them to contact me. Privacy issues that they can't give out their info. I am going to contact them tomorrow and let them know that I haven't heard from anyone, and might not purchase if I don't hear back from a couple. I don't want to drop 35K without seeing if there are other happy people with the same machine.
 
Jared said:
I've got a quote from the company, but they said they have contacted other customers, but it is up to them to contact me. Privacy issues that they can't give out their info.
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How many days have you allowed for anyone to reply to you? If it has been less than a week, then I would wait a bit longer. Also, did you give an email address or a toll free phone number? I doubt that anyone would be very anxious to spend their own dime to call you.

Jared said:
I am going to contact them tomorrow and let them know that I haven't heard from anyone, and might not purchase if I don't hear back from a couple. I don't want to drop 35K without seeing if there are other happy people with the same machine.
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I doubt that this approach will impress anyone. In fact, it gives the impression that you are not really a serious customer. They certainly can't badger their customers to contact you.

Other thoughts:

What are you going to ask a customer that you can't ask the company and get a better answer? About all that a customer can give you is a warm fuzzy and what you really need are technical details. I would ask for manuals (you may need to pay for them), engineering drawings, and specifications (they may require you to sign an NDA if they are even willing to allow you access to some of those documents). For a machine in that price category, it would be wise to make a personal visit to their facility to discuss the lathe and to give it a close examination. Approach them with engineering drawings of your products to determine whether their machine is capable of meeting your requirements.

Bill
 
Jared,
I have a Hapfo copy lathe that I use for my main lathe. I am not sure what model it is but it has a 20" swing, manual copy attachment(large handwheel, 2 cutters, traveling spindle steady rest, ect..), m33.5 spindle. I got it at a real good deal, having said that I have never used the copy attachment, it comes off and has a standard tool rest for hand turning. As far as quality I believe it is a great lathe however I don't do production runs everyday. The man I purchased it from has nothing but good things to say about it and he used it for production runs day in - day out for many years. Someday I would like to change the motor over to variable speed. Let me know if you have any questions maybe I can help. Finding information on this German made lathe can be hard.
Robin
 
I don't doubt that it is a good lathe, but information on it is scarce. I have found two distributors (in MA and VT). I would like to see if before I buy it, just like a car take it for a test drive.

Basically I am looking for ease of set up, changing out templates, any mods if necessary to already made templates and the machine.
 
Jared said:
I've got a quote from the company, but they said they have contacted other customers, but it is up to them to contact me. Privacy issues that they can't give out their info. I am going to contact them tomorrow and let them know that I haven't heard from anyone, and might not purchase if I don't hear back from a couple. I don't want to drop 35K without seeing if there are other happy people with the same machine.
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I don't believe it,

When ever I buy big ticket equipment that the first thing I ask and I always get a list.

Tell them the sale hinges on that list
 
boehme said:
Do the US distributors have machines that are set up for demonstration or do they just place orders to the manufacturer?
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No they just place the order to the plant in Germany.
 
Ron Sardo said:
When ever I buy big ticket equipment that the first thing I ask and I always get a list.
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It depends ... some companies such as the makers of the portable band saw mills ask their customers whether they would like to be included on a list that would allow others to contact them. In that case, it might mean business oportunities for the mill owner. And ... the mill owner must specifically authorize the manufacturer to do this.

I wouldn't be particularly happy if my name, address, and phone number were indiscriminantly sent out to anybody who asked for it for anything that I own so that burglars could customize their shopping list.

Also, I believe that if you want the best scrutiny of a product, contact the owner of a competitor's product. Everybody likes to justify why the product that they own is better that the competitor's product and they are more likely to point out some shortcomings. The best list would be names of people who backed out and bought the competitor's machine instead. They probably don't want to share that list with anybody.
 
They are now contacting people to see if I can fly out to wherever a machine is and see it in action.

I personally wouldn't want them giving out my info either, but I would at least send an e-mail to that person giving them my feedback. Especially if I got good service from the company I was buying from.
 
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Jared said:
They are now contacting people to see if I can fly out to wherever a machine is and see it in action.
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Now, that sounds like the best solution! Seeing a machine in production is a very good way to go. The actual person operating the machine will likely tell you what he thinks about it while the plant owner may give a more glowing review. Something in between the two is probably the real story.
 
boehme said:
It depends ... some companies such as the makers of the portable band saw mills ask their customers whether they would like to be included on a list that would allow others to contact them. In that case, it might mean business oportunities for the mill owner. And ... the mill owner must specifically authorize the manufacturer to do this.

I wouldn't be particularly happy if my name, address, and phone number were indiscriminantly sent out to anybody who asked for it for anything that I own so that burglars could customize their shopping list.

Also, I believe that if you want the best scrutiny of a product, contact the owner of a competitor's product. Everybody likes to justify why the product that they own is better that the competitor's product and they are more likely to point out some shortcomings. The best list would be names of people who backed out and bought the competitor's machine instead. They probably don't want to share that list with anybody.
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Portable bandsaw mills are about $3,000-$10,000. Jared is talking about $35,000 lathe. Different class of buyers. Different class of product.

Believe me, it is quite common to hand out this type of list. Of course Haflo should make sure any perspective buyer is qualified before handing out a list. I'm sure there is not a big market for this type of equipment in the states and it wouldn't be hard to figure out who are the real players in business. Remember, we are not talking about a jet mini lathe here. I don't imagine to many burglars have a Haflo on their shopping list.

What do you gain by contacting a owner of a competitor's product? Do you really think a Ford Truck owner is really going to say anything good about a Chevy Truck?
 
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Jared said:
They are now contacting people to see if I can fly out to wherever a machine is and see it in action.

I personally wouldn't want them giving out my info either, but I would at least send an e-mail to that person giving them my feedback. Especially if I got good service from the company I was buying from.
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I'm assuming you are in business. If so, I'm sure you advertise is some way. If you do anybody can find out that you have woodworking equipment.

Good luck on flying out to inspect the equipment. I'd be interested in hearing how you made out.
 
Nothing as of yet. I did order two videos of it, and have a PDF which gives some close up pictures and some literature in a few different languages.
 
I booked at flight to San Antonio next week to check out a Centauro T7. Similar machine, little more expensive, but at least I am able to see it, and the person is letting me bring some stuff to teach me how to use it.

Looking forward to the trip.
 
boehme said:
I doubt that this approach will impress anyone. In fact, it gives the impression that you are not really a serious customer. They certainly can't badger their customers to contact you.

Other thoughts:

What are you going to ask a customer that you can't ask the company and get a better answer?

Bill
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It MAY be just me, but if I'm trying to decide how to spend my money, the guy on commission isn't the only one I want to hear from... I didn't get the sense that he was trying to "impress" anyone, he seems to be trying to satisfy concerns about a product, and about how he is going to spend his money.
AND, a GOOD salesman assumes EVERYONE is a serious customer.
If there is a problem with a product, an unhappy customer will tell you, a salesman won't. If they are REALLY happy with the product, they will be eager to tell you that, and in much more sincere way. Everything is a used car, and everyone selling has the potential to be "just another used car salesman" (not that there is anything wrong with that).
I sell stuff, it's easy to talk about what makes the product right for THIS (any) customer. If you work on commission (want to get paid), it's not so easy to tell them why they might want to consider someone elses product for their particular application, and not everyone does.
 
Ron Sardo said:
What do you gain by contacting a owner of a competitor's product? Do you really think a Ford Truck owner is really going to say anything good about a Chevy Truck?
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I don't know about anyone else, but when I got my Delta Midi, I was pretty happy... I added a bed extension and bolted on a half inch steel underplate. REALLY steady! I came into a windfall and bought a Powermatic "Mustard Monster" 3520A. I have to say, that I tell people who even THINK they are serious about turning to save the "Delta money" for bigger better tools. "BUY THE BIG LATHE," so I guess some of us buy the Ford, are happy with it and then find out about the Mack truck, and understand what they are missing.
They guy with the competition's product might tell you he is sorry he bought it, or he MIGHT be able to tell you why you might like what he has better... For a while, my "dream machine" was a OneWay... My club has one, after watching a few demos, then doing one on it, I can tell you I am ECSTATIC that I didn't have the big money sooner, or I would have been stuck with (in my mind) a lesser product, pound for pound, dollar for dollar.

Bottom line: People who tell the truth, people who want others to benefit from their experience, spread the word, whatever it is. Besides, in what ways can additional information hurt?
 
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Got back from San Antonio earlier this week. Got to check out the T7E (which is the electronic version of the T7).

The owner of the machine basically spent a full work day with me answering questions, walking me through set up, giving me info on sharpening, template set up, and giving me the good and bad points of the machine. He has had it for just about a year and has been extremely pleased with it. There were a few things that were missing upon delivery, but were shipped to him quickly.

The whole trip was worth it. I was able to see it in action, learn how to use it to a certain extent and get a overall grasp for it.

I am going to Salt Lake City in a few weeks to see a Centauro T5. It is used, and the differences between that and the T7 are minimal.

I still have not heard anything about seeing a Hapfo from that other company. I told them that I had already seen a lathe from one company and have booked another flight to see another (you would think this would indicate to them that I am serious about buying it). Looks like they might miss out on a 35K purchase if they don't come through. And if they don't then this tells me something about other customers and their satisfaction.
 
Hi: I'm new to the forum and enjoy all the info. I'm replying to the question about the hapfo lathe. I had the opertunity to buy one (the manual one)and passed it up. I then encouraged my boss to buy it so he did. And wouldn't you know it,he has me doing turnings on it. when I saw how easy it was to set up and how fast you could produce a good quality turning I was really angry with myself for not buying it.I think they payed 1200 bucks for it.If I get a chance to buy another one I won't pass it up! Does anyone Have one they'd like to get rid of?
 
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