Southbend

[Artie]

Hi, while perusing my 2021 Grizzly catalog (which arrived 2 days ago), I noticed they had a new company . It was Southbend, now I have a circa 1968 Southbend drill press, but I was unaware they were still manufacturing drill presses, table saws,bandsaws, and the like. Has Grizzly bought the name and is trying to go upscale? just curious. The machines looked very good. 

[Gene Howe]

Dunno, Artie. I thought they just made Lathes.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

I searched it, and it seems they are still operating in the US. There's a long history and the company has been sold several times, but it seems to be back to an employee owned operation doing business as it did in it's heyday. I had always though lathes were the only tools they made, but it's not something I followed very closely.

[Artie]

I have only been able to find out info about the lathers online. I do own a South Bend drill press (bought off Craigslist). I can't find anything regarding South Bend on Grizzly's website. BUT in the 25 pound catalog they send out, there are South Bend tablesaws, and bandsaws (maybe some other machines too. I'm broke so I wasn't looking very hard) The South Bend machines looked GOOD, caught my eye, but that doesn't mean there is any quality there. They did seem priced slightly higher than the Grizzly equivalent. 

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

I can't help but wonder if Grizzly was able to license the Southbend name. As the company changed hands it might be possible that one of the former owners sold them out....and the contract can't be undone by the current owners. Just speculating.....

[Cal]

I looked at one of the metal lathes on the Grizzly website.  They make mention of the tech manuals and support being US or US based.  The lathe itself is made in Taiwan.

[Artie]

I hope these come out well, they’re from the Grizzly catalog.