How far would you drive?

[Dustin Lane]

For a good deal on a unisaw? SWMBO says 250mi is too far. I say its far, but not quite too far. This would be a significant upgrade for me.
Should I ignore her (is that possible for SWMBO) or just wait and hope for another nearby?

[Cary Falk]

I guess that would depend on how good of a deal the unisaw is. At 15mpg, that is about $40 in gas each way. I hate to drive long distances but I drove about half that to pick mine up.

[harry strasil]

Ask her how far she would drive to get something she really wanted.

[Rod Upfold]

That would make a good field trip with a bonus of a unisaw


Rod

[Dustin Lane]

The saw is priced at $250. There aren't many details and I still have to hear back from the selling to see if its even available, but I was leaning towards going. 200mi or so is about the distance to any real major city for me so a lot of the better deals seem to be just out of reach.

I'll have to try a romantic get-away that just happens to be in the same town as the saw.

[Wayne Wheeling]

I just drove 100 miles each way this Wednesday to pick this up for $575. So, if I really wanted something I'd make a road trip outa it....But you don't know what you'll find when you get there, can be chancey. This saw had been stored for 2 years and looks like new when I cleaned it up. Now to get the rails back on. I felt like the trip was worth the savings. Now to find a 18" bandsaw worth the drive!

[Simon Dupay]

Don't you tell her AFTER you get the saw?

[Jamie Smith]

We drove 6.5 hours, through the mountains, in the snow to get our dog

The kicker is that the breeder met us half way...

So, no-- for the right deal it is not too far

[Curt Harms]

The saw is priced at $250. There aren't many details and I still have to hear back from the selling to see if its even available, but I was leaning towards going. 200mi or so is about the distance to any real major city for me so a lot of the better deals seem to be just out of reach.

I'll have to try a romantic get-away that just happens to be in the same town as the saw.

If you can make a romantic getaway out of it (or even better a shopping trip for her) the odds of not having to hear about it for the next decade would improve if your SWMBO is like mine. I'd try to make very sure the saw would be there when I got there. It'd truly suck to drive 4 hours and watch it leave the seller's property in someone else's vehicle. I'm not certain how you could be sure of that.

Curt

[jon reedy]

Be prepared to not buy it. Don't buy it just because you've driven a long way.

[Paul Ryan]

For the right deal nothing is too far. I was prepared to drive a lot farther than that for a SS a few months back. But the seller wouldn't go down far enough. Just get a lot of pictures before you go. Stay a night with the miss' if you can. I have driven 700 miles in a day for my job. It stinks but look it as you are making money by driving, or you are saving money.

[Roger Savatteri]

.

Just a thought.

Before you make the drive, have the seller put the phone to the saw and have him turn it on. (The bearings on the blade assembly have been known to go at times.)

And no it's not too far.

hmm, did he send you any pics to show around?

....r


.

[Tom Wassack]

Greetings from NC!
Back in 2006, I drove 1600+ miles for an early 40's model Unisaw that I won on eBay with a Buy-IT-Now bid of $5.00. The drive was from central North Carolina to Chicago. The deal was sweetened when the owner threw in 3 vintage drill presses for $10.00. Here's some links to the story on OWWM - http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?t=16321&highlight= and http://owwm.org/viewtopic.php?t=16487&highlight=

So for me the deal (and the experience of traveling to a city I had only seen from the air) was worth it!

Respectfully,
Tom Wassack
Asheboro, NC

[Phil Thien]

At $250 I guess I wouldn't worry about bearings or anything. I'd want to make sure there weren't any large dents or cracks or anything.

BTW, if the kids weren't around (like at camp), my wife would LOVE to take a trip like this with me. We'd stop for lunch. We'd maybe even make a couple of other stops to see what we can see.

[glenn bradley]

250 miles? That's a run to Vegas for me. Not far at all. I'm driving about 180 miles round trip today to go visit my folks. Make a long overdue "time together" trip out of it. Google some interesting things to see along the way.