Since the patent expired, some years back, the inventor of it had made the plans for it publicly available. I considered trying to DIY it, and obtained all the details, but it’s not my wheel house and I figured I’d spend more trying to make it than just buying it. Speaking of which…
As far as I can tell, all the American companies you might want to buy one from (Baileigh, Eastwood, etc) are all importing from a Chinese company, and slapping on a healthy profit margin for doing so. Since I’d be getting the Chinese made one anyway, I cut out the middle man and imported my own (from the same company that makes it for the American brands).
The cost savings was considerable, and the only downside is the time delay for the freight transport of it. It took a total of 2 months and 3 weeks for me to get it.
Having my own company (LLC filed with my state) was a bit of a help in getting it imported.
I just got it in. I have not yet had time to even get to assembling it. Here’s a pic:
PS: this is the same machine (but with a different paint job) that James of Clough42.com recently got and showed off on his YouTube channel. He paid for the Baileigh namebrand, which means higher price but faster delivery, and presumably support that is more local. However, I gotta say, the manufacturer in China has been super super helpful, conversing with me in English, and answering all my questions both before and after the sale, and replying very quickly even with multiple videos to explain things.
PPS: I got every last thing shown in the image, which is a full compliment of all the extras that some of the American companies make you pay extra for.
