A New Tool In My Shop

[Bill Grumbine]

Greetings all

I realize that this should be titled some sort of gloat, and under most circumstances, it would be a gloat, full of the joy of a new tool, an allegedly nice new tool. That post will come later, if at all. I am posting though, to let you all know that I have put a new tool into service, but with more headache and frustration that is warranted with a tool this expensive. Way more.

Several weeks ago my bandsaw went belly up. I had planned on replacing it later on this year anyway, with something much larger and more powerful, so instead of fixing it, we decided to sell it as is and buy the new saw now. I had my eye on a Mini Max MM20, so I called down to Mini Max to see about the show model for the show that would be in town in the next few weeks. In very short order they had a deposit, and I was gleefully counting down the days until I would really be able to do some bandsawing.

I picked the saw up two weeks ago today. The Fed Ex guy just left a few minutes ago after delivering the last part I need (I hope) to make the thing right, and I can now turn it on and start some cutting. Overall the saw looks like a good tool, but with all the garbage I have had to go through, it is going to be quite some time before I can look at it without my blood pressure rising. I am not going to go into all the sordid details, but suffice to say if someone asked me if I would do it again, the answer would be a resounding NO!

So call this an antigloat. I do not have any pictures of it installed in the shop yet, although I do have some if it being loaded into my truck. Jim Becker and Alan Turner were very helpful in that respect, pictures and loading. Thanks guys, and hopefully I will have a smile on my face by the time Five Barns rolls around.

Bill

[Martin Shupe]

Sorry to hear about your frustrations, Bill. I hope things smooth out soon.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Bill,

Hopefully this will set your saw striaght! I had similar problems with mine (Took about a month to get running). Now that it is, I wouldn't trade it for the world. Hopefully your experience is the same!

[Alan Turner]

Bill
What is the story on the table? Is it now flat, or in alignment? Did they supply a fresh one, or did you have to find a grinder? Just curious, but for me, finding a grinder, drop off, pick up, disinstall, reinstall, etc. Big pain for a new tool, even if they do cover the grinder's charges.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Hopefully I will have a smile on my face by the time Five Barns rolls around.

Bill

Until then...

[Jim Becker]

Geepers, Jason...that looks like Bill is throwing us all a kiss!!

Bill, I hope things get resolved to your satisfaction soon.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Geepers, Jason...that looks like Bill is throwing us all a kiss!!

Come on, cut me a break It's hard to edit a picture that is 50 pixels square.

[Andy London]

Geepers, Jason...that looks like Bill is throwing us all a kiss!!

Bill, I hope things get resolved to your satisfaction soon.

Don't think so Jim, looks to me like he is chawing tobacco

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi guys

Well I am cheering up a bit, but part of that might be the fact that I am done working for the day, and I am sitting here with an adult beverage close at hand.

Alan, I was given authorization to get the table ground flat. I cranked and cranked on the leveling bolts as instructed, but all I did was put a bow in the table. So now I have a super flat table, but you are right about the pain. Get it off the saw (and it ain't light by a long shot!), drive 70 miles round trip to the closest grinder, or at least the closest grinder of good repute. I was referred to the company by a friend of mine from church whose company builds machines that weigh in at 400 tons! I was also fortunate that I caught them just before a machine setup change. They got the table done in 24 hours. If I had called one day later, it would have been three to four weeks. But, it was 140 miles, and over 1/2 day of time to get it right.

Then the thing did not have all the right parts to use the smaller blades, so I had to call for them. And then call for them again after a week! And then call AGAIN when the wrong ones were sent. It appears that I now have all the right parts, and the saw is sawing as it should. I still do not have it connected to the DC yet, as I am not quite sure that where I have it is the best place for it. But that is minor.

Jason, I am impressed, but shouldn't you be working on a sermon or something? I've got to work on one for Mother's Day. When Mom calls and invites me to preach on Mother's Day, how many answers can there be to that question!?!

To the rest of you, I am cheering up a bit, and not just from my adult beverage, although it is helping (...and wine that maketh glad the heart of man...). The saw cuts well, but I am dreading my next contact with a certain cretin who has some standing with the company. Hopefully it will be a loooonnnnnggg time before that comes up - like never.

You know, I got to thinking while I was up in the shop this afternoon after posting on this. My last posting on a new tool was about the Shelix cutter and all the problems I had with those folks. It was eventually resolved, but I am getting to the point where I have to wonder, am I turning into a curmudgeon? Are my expectations of competence unreasonably high? I know that everyone makes mistakes, and I am in that group myself, more often than I care to admit, but it just seems that lately I have had a run of encounters with people who do not know, do not care, and wonder why I do. Maybe I should go out and buy some more tools to test my theory, but I am not sure that my heart could take the stress!

Bill

[Dev Emch]

Bill...

What kind is issues did you have in getting this saw online? Sorry if I missed this info in another post. Were parts missing or were they broken during shipping?

I have not bought any asian machines myself but have helped out with a couple of friends who have. Needless to say, we were not amused. One was a jointer, the other was a dust collector and the third was a metal lathe. in the case of both the jointer and the dust collector, items that were suposed to be precision machined simply were not machined. The lathe was a disaster and wound up having to be rebuilt, rescraped and refit to actually cut something with any degree of accuracy. An old bow back nag South Bend ready for the scraper could cut more accurately than this thing. Now, it works great but how much rework did it take on our behalf to get it there!! One reason to always try to buy the floor model as you know the kinks have already been worked out.

The following two photos are circa 1930/1940 yates Y-20 snowflake saws. The gray one belongs to a buddy and was totally stripped to its underwear and rebuilt. The green one is mine. I have been after this saw for over a year and finally got a semi decent deal worked out this its previous owner. Not bottom feeder prices but decent. The gray one was a total rust bucket, hanger queen in worse shape than mine. At least mine runs like a top for right now. Even got some extra blades thrown in including a highland hardware resaw blade and some suffolk blades. The plan is to clean it up, dial it in quickly and use it for the summer season. Then next fall when the snow comes, I will tear it totally down and rebuild it exactly as my buddy did the gray one.

[Jason Tuinstra]

Bill, since I've been in California, I've come to truly appriciate Psalm 104!

Now about your sermon - see if you can preach on father's day as well and preach on Proverbs 31 for both! The man who speaks and the woman who fulfills! In our circles, we don't usually preach sermons related to special days, but if we did, I've often wanted to preach Proverbs 31 for both.

Have fun.

[Dev Emch]

Opps, I left out the pictures. Here is my new bandsaw. Its a 1933 snowflake and it has virtually all the new saw bells and whistles including a brake.

Turns out I have already uploaded the "brand new" gray Y-20. Here is the URL to get you to that picture.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=19453

[Jim Becker]

I have not bought any asian machines myself but have helped out with a couple of friends who have. Needless to say, we were not amused.

This is not an Asian machine. It's an Italian bandsaw made by Centauro and marketed in the US by Mini Max USA.

[Martin Shupe]

Hi guys

You know, I got to thinking while I was up in the shop this afternoon after posting on this. My last posting on a new tool was about the Shelix cutter and all the problems I had with those folks. It was eventually resolved, but I am getting to the point where I have to wonder, am I turning into a curmudgeon? Are my expectations of competence unreasonably high? I know that everyone makes mistakes, and I am in that group myself, more often than I care to admit, but it just seems that lately I have had a run of encounters with people who do not know, do not care, and wonder why I do. Maybe I should go out and buy some more tools to test my theory, but I am not sure that my heart could take the stress!

Bill

Bill,

When you pay as much as you did for the Shelix, and as much as you did for the MM20, the tools should be delivered not only on time, but in perfect condition and ready to run right out of the box. Are your expectations too high? Not unless you bought your tools from Harbor Freight, which in this case, you certainly did not.

Keep us posted regarding how you like the saw after you get over the initial setup/poor quality of the tabletop grind.

When you pay that much for a tool, the purchase should be a pleasant experience. See Per Swenson's post on his new Sawstop...I think his words were..."the saw was tuned perfectly, right out of the box", and "the saw screamed quality". That's the kind of customer satisfaction I like to see.

Hope the saw will bring you many hours of enjoyable, trouble-free work in the future.

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Dev

The saw is not Asian, it is Italian, and the problem is not so much with the saw itself, although there were problems with parts missing and the table not being flat. No, the biggest problem was having to call THREE STINKING TIMES to get the parts that were supposed to be with the saw in the first place. The problem is calling and having to talk to a MORON who fancies himself an expert on these tools. The problem is having to deal with said moron regarding three different tools and getting a huge dose of stupidity each time. So, it is not so much the tool as the person with whom I have to do.

Bill