Thailand Based Suppliers Of Tools For The Model Engineer In Thailand
This section of the website displays Review Pages of suppliers in Thailand of machine tools, equipment and other workshop tools that are likely to be of interest to Model Engineers and home metal-working hobbyists in Thailand.
| Please Note: I have no commercial connection with any of the companies mentioned and do not earn any kind of commission. I am merely providing a service to visitors to the website. |
Buying A Small Lathe And Milling Machine In Thailand
There is a mass of information including recommended suppliers of lathes and milling machines both large and small on the Wanted Small Lathe and Milling Machine page right here on this website.
The page has many comments from other readers that include recommendation and advice, suppliers websites and contact details and readers actual experience with dealing with these companies.
Other Pages In This Section
Yes I had seen Cromwell, but on every page if their catalog it says they are wholesaler and only distribute to distributors. That one cannot buy direct from them.
If this is wrong, please do let me know! I will be in BKK around the 15th of January I am thinking about would like to start sourcing goods and materials! Thank you!
Matt
Hi Matt,
On the page “Review of Cromwell Tools Bangkok, Thailand” there is a short quote from the Manager Shaun Burke:-
So there we are. It’s dead easy.
By the way the invoices I get are from a company on Bangkok called Kranes Tools and they have a website at http://www.kranes-tools.com/
You could probably buy directly from them.
[Note: I just checked their website and it’s been hacked by “Kosova Anonymous Hackers”. I have advised Kranes by email.
Hope this helps.
Alan
Subject: Welding Equipment
Message Body:
Hello! I am an expat living in Cambodia that frequents Bangkok for work. That being said, I am trying to gather tig welding supplies, disposables, and tooling for personal projects. I am struggling to find information on good quality companies that can provide high quality goods. Hoods, gloves, wire, cups, etc. etc. Any idea where to find them?
The struggle it real!
Hi Matt,
There must be dozens of shops in Bangkok selling welding equipment but like you I don’t know where they are.
Except one and this is called Cromwell. There is a write-up on them here:-
http://modelengineeringinthailand.com/resources/tools/tools-suppliers/cromwell-tools-thailand/
You can download their catalogue and order from it. I suggest you contact the manager Shaun (British) and I am sure he will help you.
By the way, Cromwell sell not only welding supplies but all manner of engineering tools. All their stuff is good quality and they have supplied myself and other ModelEngineeringInThailand.com community members also.
Please let me know how you get on.
Alan
Yes I had seen Cromwell, but on every page if their catalog it says they are wholesaler and only distribute to distributors. That one cannot buy direct from them. If this is wrong, please do let me know! I will be in BKK around the 15th of January I am thinking about would like to start sourcing goods and materials! Thank you!
Gents,
Just a couple of links. I have bought some good quality second hand tooling, but unfortunately the companies do not have web sites.
So the question is can I post google maps of the location of the machinery shops?
http://www.sunrisegr.com/?setlanguage=en
http://www.vertex-th.com/Tooling-system-1.html
Phil.
Hi Philip and thanks for you information.
I have bought equipment from Sunrise. Their service is excellent as are the products.
Vertex equipment I love. Accurate and works well.
As to posing Google Maps if you send me the shortlink I will embed it into this website.
Thanks again for you posting.
Alan
Dear Alan,
Actually the CQ6125 lathe has been on my mind for a while, but not currently stocked. So the other alternative I had in mind is the CJ0623L. http://www.cnc-kit.net/584799/เครื่องกลึงเล็ก-cj0623l. Any thoughts? Lathe is definitely required: e.g. thinning out the wall of sockets, piston bullets… Below some pictures of tools that could be made up to give you a better idea.
As for the mill, the XJ9512L has been on my mind, opinions on the machine differ and quite a bit of negative feedback for the gears. A little worried as well that for some machining operations it might be a little light: eg: milling a 1 ½” crowfoot out of ½” steel, or lack of space on the table to fit a rotary table enabling to mill out (enlarge) sockets to custom sizes. Below some pictures of tools that could be made up to give you a better idea.
So I was thinking about the SM-30X3-RF. http://www.smartcncs.com/product-en-512061-2491280-Milling+Machine+Made+In+TAIWAN+Model+SM+30X3+RF+price+59,900+Baht+(Ex.VAT).html. Any thoughts on that one?
With Kindest Regards,
Lieven Maertens – ลีเวน มาร์เทนส์
Scuba Clinic Co. Ltd. – บริษัท สคูบ้าคลินิก จำกัด
http://www.scuba-clinic.com
Hello Lieven,
Had to do a bit of research to bring you the comments below.
LATHE COMMENTS
Comments on the CJ0623L Bench Lathe 39,500 Baht
http://www.cnc-kit.net/584799/%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B7%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B6%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%A5%E0%B9%87%E0%B8%81-cj0623l
Specification isn’t well detailed, so most comments based on the photos.
It looks very similar to my Sieg C4 except that it has a screwcutting gearbox which is an improvement and it’s a bit bigger.
The cross slide has T slots which is good – allows fitting a rear toolpost for example and allows sliding the topslide across which is a handy feature.
Cross slide slideway dovetails look very narrow.
The top slide gib adjusting screws are on the correct side. Mine are on the opposite side which is completely wrong.
Seems to have powered cross slide (for facing) which is useful if facing large plates but otherwise rarely used.
Has a screwcutting dial which is good.
No feedscrew handwheel which is very bad. See my article – link below.
Doesn’t seem to have either auto trip on the leadscrew or a dead stop.
Both essential as is the (non existent) leadscrew handwheel.
Doesn’t seem to have easy-reverse leadscrew but I could be wrong.
Electronic motor speed down to 100 rpm is not slow enough – not enough torque for intermediate cutting on large diameters.
Spindle accuracy of 0.01 mm typical workhorse but not precision.
Not many accessories. Check what you need and what the spindle fitting is. Can you fit an ER Collet chuck for example?
You need to check if the range of threads cut covers what you want.
All in all a standard Sieg type lathe.
The CQ6230BX910 Lathe
http://www.cnc-kit.net/856512/%E0%B9%80%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B7%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B6%E0%B8%87-cq6230bx910
The CQ6230BX910 is a much better spec. See the other two spindles below the leadscrew. One will be for standard sliding so that you don’t wear the leadscrew out (keep it for screwcutting) and the other may be an auto stop or dead stop.
119,000 Baht (three times the price of the CJ0623L)
PREVIOUS COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS ON STANDARD SIEG TYPE LATHES
I made some comments on a typical Bench Sized lathe here which will help explain some of my comments above:-
http://modelengineeringinthailand.com/#comment-988
MILL COMMENTS
Milling Machine Made In TAIWAN Model SM-30X3-RF price 59,900 Baht
SM-30X3-RF. http://www.smartcncs.com/product-en-512061-2491280-Milling+Machine+Made+In+TAIWAN+Model+SM+30X3+RF+price+59,900+Baht+(Ex.VAT).html.
The first comment is that it has a round column.
This is definitely a very bad feature:-
The head is not constrained from twisting when it is lowered and raised using that rack you can see. If you need to raise the head say to fit a tool and then lower it to use the tool you will lose your XY coordinates. Vat bad.
It is probably thin wall steel tubing and lightweight.
In short it looks like a bench drill pretending to be a milling machine.
It will be useless for any serious and accurate work.
That XJ9512L milling machine is better in the above respects but again it is a lightweight machine.
This is the milling machine I bought from the UK that I mentioned earlier:-
https://www.emcomachinetools.co.uk/EnterShop/tabid/268/CategoryID/139/List/1/Level/a/productid/1328/Default.aspx?SortField=UnitCost+DESC%2cProductNumber
It’s called the ST-20LV Milling Machine
At £1,590 (82,680 Baht) it isn’t cheap but that’s the minimum spec to aim for for serious work.
Something like this I would say is the minimum spec that will do real work:-
SM-1000SX3 Sold 65,900 Baht
http://www.smartcncs.com/product-en-512061-5514723-Small+Milling+Model+++SM+1000SX3+Sold+65,900+Baht+(Excluding+of+VAT)+2Year+Warranty,+Delivery+Free.html#
But as I said a DRO is virtually essential.
Hope that isn’t off-putting but long experience has taught me that buying small and cheap only results in disappointment and more expense.
By the way, I have attached some photos of my machines just to demonstrate that I know what I am talking about.
That red item sitting on the floor that looks like a part of a milling machine is in fact my ST-20LV Milling Machine awaiting re-assembly.
Best Regards
Alan Brown
Hi Livien,
You might be interested in this comment by Vince, who also lives in Phuket and bought a lathe and a milling machine in Thailand:-
Link to the topic.
In fact Vince bought a big manual lathe from Sumore SP2110/750 also a copy (Sieg) KX3 CNC Mill SP2215 and had them shipped into Bangkok and delivered to Phuket.
You might want to ask Vince about his experiences.
Hope this helps.
Best Regards
Alan Brown
Dear Alan,
Thanks for the info, most certainly helpful.
Just making the decisions as what machine to purchase is always the difficult bit. Add to that the language barrier… talked to CNC-kit.net, but they appeared very unhelpful even if someone fluently in Thai (Thai national) spoke to them.
The choice is rather limited if one would like small machines.
With Kindest Regards,
Lieven Maertens – ลีเวน มาร์เทนส์
Scuba Clinic Co. Ltd. – บริษัท สคูบ้าคลินิก จำกัด
http://www.scuba-clinic.com
Dear Lieven,
Thank you for your reply.
I took a look at your website http://www.scuba-clinic.com and was very impressed with both the website and your scuba facility.
If you want to make components for scuba compressed air systems then you do need very good quality machines, better than the ‘hobby’ mini-lathes..
Better to avoid the tiny ones – they just won’t give the accuracy and features you will need.
Have you tried the http://www.cnc-kit.net/ website?
Keith gives them a good write-up here:-
http://modelengineeringinthailand.com/resources/tools/tools-suppliers/pcam-precision-cnc-machinery/
I have a milling machine (bought in the UK) very similar to the XJ9512L milling machine on the cnc-kit website and it’s very good.
As for a lathe I would go for something like the CQ6128 or if you don’t want to stretch that far the CQ6125.
For the mill I would definitely recommend a DRO (Digital Read Out). I consider this essential for a milling machine. Nice to have on the lathe, too but not so essential as on the milling machine.
Chok Dii Khrap,
Good Luck
Alan and Kanyah Brown
“Surfin’ the World”
Dear Sir,
When researching mills/lathes in Thailand, often get links to your site.
My company is a small workshop down here in Phuket. Often I need custom made tools, but the quality the local shops deliver is of poor quality: hand filed/shaped, plasma cut, out of tolerance and no 2 pieces are the same 🙁
Anyways, could you be so kind to let me have some details of trusted supplies for a small sized lathe and mill able to fabricate smaller tools and high pressure fittings.
Much appreciated.
Lieven
Good morning Lieven and thank you for your enquiry.
I know of trusted and proven suppliers of both large and small lathes and milling machines.
I suggest you look at some of the featured websites on this, the resources Section of the ModelEngineeringInThailand.com website.
This page reviews a supplier of smaller machines but they are not a tried and proven supplier:-
http://modelengineeringinthailand.com/resources/tools/tools-suppliers/scnc-mini-cnc-lathes/
The following supplier, Cromwell tools, is well proven and trusted. Many of the ModelEngineeringInThailand.com website’s visitors are repeat customers – myself included. They do supply small lathes and milling machines but the range is limited:-
http://modelengineeringinthailand.com/resources/tools/tools-suppliers/cromwell-tools-thailand/
When you get to the Cromwell Website (link is on that page above) be sure to download the catalogue.
I am copying this email to the Manager, Shaun Burke, who gives a personal service.
If you want large tools this is the company I use and the service is excellent, in fact they were here yesterday installing a taper-turning attachment to my big lathe:-
http://www.forcelinkthai.com/ You need to contact joe, speaks excellent English.
An Alternative is to have your things made by a well proven and trusted huge machine shop here in Pakchong called Teera Borigaan. I am having some parts made there now.
In addition to a vast array of manual machinery they have CNC Wire Erosion, CNC Lathes and CNC Plasma cutting etc.
There’s a movie of the machine shop here, but to see the CNC machines do wait until near the end of the movie:-
http://retiringinthailand.net/model-engineers-paradise-pakchong-thailand/
If you have a drawing or a sketch of what you want I’ll get you an estimate.
That’s the best I can do at the moment but If you have any more queries, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Chok Dii Khrap,
Good Luck
Alan and Kanyah Brown
“Surfin’ the World”
Hi Alan
Hope things are going well for you.
This mail is simply to keep in touch and perhaps update you a little.
My workshop is gradually progressing and Shaun Burke has been a star in helping with a number of supply issues. Cromwell has done quite well out of me over the last few months having purchased a Kobe Pillar Drill, vice, vertical/disc sander / linisher and a rolling tool chest.
This week I have ordered a milling/drilling machine which you are probably familiar with ZX7550, complete with 3 axis DRO (this will be a first DRO for me). The machine should be installed at the end of the month, subject to the DRO arriving on time and being fitted before delivery.
Having taken note from your experience I first approached All Arm and they were initially very helpful by email. I arranged to take a day off work and made an appointment with “Sam” to view the machine and to view their proposed DRO. I arrived at the scheduled time only to be told in Thai that Sam would not be coming to work that day. Not very professional I thought, he could have phoned to let me know. The staff in the showroom had very little English so it made some of my technical questions quite difficult despite my Thai wife trying desperately to translate. However as you will know, engineering English is very different to normal conversational English and my wife struggled.
The next day I sent a mail to Sam detailing the questions I would have asked during my visit. One of these questions was which 2 axis DRO was he proposing to use. Promptly he sent a reply with picture and model number. It was blatantly obvious that this was a lathe DRO as it had none of the milling functions, I actually then researched (internet) and found that the same model was available in both lathe and milling versions. Armed with this information I replied to Sam saying that I was happy with the model he had selected but please be sure to fit the milling model and not the lathe model. He replied “If you are going to be picky then I don’t want to sell you this machine all DRO are the same and if you want it for anything but X & Y coordinates I definitely do not want to sell you a machine.
I replied and pointed out that there was obviously a misunderstanding or something lost in translation and that I was not being picky but simply selecting the type of DRO that I wanted to purchase from him. That was over 3 weeks ago and despite further mails from me there has been no reply.
To say the least I was a little miffed and decided to find another machine and another supplier. I think that I have found a gem and can thoroughly recommend them. Their company name is PCAM (Precision CNC & Machinery) their website http://www.cnc-kit.net/ which is unfortunately in Thai only but still pretty easy to navigate.
It’s a small company that both sell new machinery and also build their own special purpose CNC machines for companies with special positional requirements (not only machine tools) The company appears to be run by K’ Thanakorn and his nephew K’ Noppadol. You could not wish to deal with two more friendly and helpful people who also know their products very well. Both speak excellent English.
As is normal in machine tools they were really not prepared to offer a discount but did agree to deliver and install the machine in Hua Hin and supply 5,000 baht of HHS milling cutters. So hopefully the delivery and installation will go well, they will deliver on a tail lift truck and bring the necessary lifting equipment to move it to my workshop.
For your resources section I have two additions that may help hobby machinists in BKK
Cutting fluid.
SUN SIAM Co., Ltd
325, 327, 329 Soi. Pattanakarn 3, Pattanakarn Rd., Suanluang, Bangkok 10250, Thailand.
Tel.: +66 2 7198662-4, +66 2 3192609-10
Fax.: +66 2 7198173, +66 2 3183382
E-mail: info@sunsoil.com
http://www.sunsoils.com/
They have a range of cutting fluids/oils
http://www.sunsoils.com/images/MW_WaterSoluble_Table.jpg
I bought their Cutting oil soluble in an 18L drum (smallest available but if you’re a big user you can buy it in 6,000L J) the price for 18L was 1,400 Baht +7% VAT the premium soluble was 1,600 Baht + 7% vat
Another item that was frustrating me was marking out blue or layout blue. Yes, I know that you can use a permanent marker but when you are marking a large area marking blue is the way to go. I looked everywhere and only came up with the American DYKEM marking out Blue or Red.
I found the Thai distributor who seemed shocked that I should want such a specialised item but I was much more shocked when they gave me the price!!! 4,500 Baht for a 236ml bottle or 7,500 Baht for a 930ml container. Needless to say I did not buy from them…….you can buy an awful lot of permanent markers for that kind of money.
Anyway by accident I stumbled across a Japanese brand, being sold here.
Check out Sol-Hitech Co., Ltd http://www.sol-hitech.com/product.php?lang=en&headername=Product&headername=
They have a Blue Varnish Spray: their quoted price 300ml spray = 280 Baht
They also have a Blue Layout Ink remover spray: their quoted price 300ml spray 260 Baft
And finally yes, they have a brush on marking blue called Aotack 500 which is supplied in a 500ml can and costs 400 Baht
Enough for now Alan but I have found some other resources that may be of use but for now it’s back to work….I’ll send the rest later
regards……Keith
Hi Keith and thank you for email.
Many apologies for taking so long to reply (I only just saw your email) but there is so much going on here and so much to do I shall have to find a way to ‘manufacture time’.
I’m glad you didn’t buy from AllArm – not because I don’t want then to get some business but because I don’t want you to suffer the same poor service that I did.
Yes, Sam has a strange manner, customers are a nuisance to him, or even worse. he treat potential customers with complete contempt and in his office in Bangkok her was more interested in flirting with his girlfriend than he was in my needs.
But I see you have suffered the same contempt and lack of professionalism from Sam that I did I’m glad you found what you wanted elsewhere.
I hadn’t heard of http://www.cnc-kit.net before and do hope you are happy with their service. Getting them to install the machine is a great bonus – these big mills are very heavy. (Mine weighs a ton as does yours)
The machine you have chosen ZX7550 looks fine and is a good size. (ie massive!). I find the DRO on my machine indispensable so you have made a wise choice there too.
Thanks for the links to the other products – will go on the website in due course.
You are spot on with Shaun from Cromwell Tools. He is great at servicing the likes of us. I bought my cutting oils from Cromwell Tools, both tapping fluid and soluble oil. The latter is in a 20 container but with my two big machines I need a lot of it.
Other things I have bought from Cromwell include an electronically controlled welding helmet and a 10 ton hydraulic press. All delivered to my door by Shaun.
Marking out fluid (one that works) is something I have been seeking for years. I have tried several types and the one that works best (but only on clean bright steel) is to heat it to blue heat.
I came across the American DYKEM marking out Blue during ser chine online here and you did better than me in at least finding a distributor here in Thailand. but at those prices I’ll pass it by as you did.
Did you actually buy that Aotack? I’d be interested in how it performs. A lot of my marking out will be on cast iron (when I start building the half size traction engine) and I don’t think the blue marking-out fluid is suitable. Again I have tried several materials but nothing I have tried works well.
Again many thanks for the email and the resource URLs these will help quite a few people I’m sure.
Please keep in touch with an update on your milling machine installation.
Best Regards
Alan Brown