Hello all. I also placed an order for the Jet mini lathe when the price dropped to $199 on Amazon. I had been to several retailers to look at the Jet mini's and competitor's before making the purchase and like everyone else was impressed with the Jet. While I didn't actually see a 6-speed Jet I noticed the Jet VS was made in Taiwan and assumed the 6-speed was the same.
The Jet was delivered on Thursday evening. A couple of the plastic feet were broken off which was not a big deal, and, after setting up the lathe and starting to look it over I noticed it was made in China.
For what it's worth...the operation of the Jet mini is fine but the fit and finish is not up to par with what I have seen n the floor model VS models made in Taiwan. The quality of the paint job, in particular, in not up to snuff, as well as course grind marks on the castings, finger prints from handling when the paint must not have been dried, nicks and chips, etc. They are not huge, glaring problems...it just looks more like a couple of guys finished this thing off in a hurry in the back room as opposed to careful quality control coming off a production line.
Again, the operation of the lathe is fine...the fit and finish just seems off by about 10-15% compared to the VS models I have observed.
Is the shift from Taiwan new for the 6 speed model or has it been made in China for some time?