The Baileigh tools I bought with the winnings.

[Bill Wyko]

Thanks to the members that voted for my box in the contest, I was able to get an Edge sander, a mortising machine and some dust collection accessories. The first thing I noticed when the truck pulled up & opened the door was, everything was boxed & crated up very well. I've been around here long enough to see all the nightmares others have gone through with poor packaging of their investments. It was a nice sight to see everything well packed & in tact. Once we opened the crate the ES 6100 came almost completely assembled, all we had to do was install the table for the radius sanding, the dust collection and some small odds & ends. In order to place it in my shop where I wanted it, I had to re route the power cable. I was pleased to find, everywhere they had the wire secured in the cabinet, they used an insulator sleeve around the wire. This may seem trivial but it shows attention to detail in places you would never even consider. As I mentioned in other posts, I said it would go right to work. I'm building a wine cellar for 3000 bottles of wine so I have a lot of sanding. BTW not just any wine cellar, this one will have somewhere in the range of 10,000 dovetail joints when finished. Each DT joint has to be sanded flush to clean them up. Prior to the edge sander I was using an orbital, it was taking around 10 to 15 minutes to sand 16 joints or 1/2 of a rack. This process takes literally 4 seconds now, I can't believe how much time I'll save. Something else I didn't realize is, this monster has a 3hp motor, there's no slowing this belt down at all. I push one of the racks into the sander and there's no jerking or uncontrollable motion what so ever. You can get as delicate or aggressive as you want w/o any concern for damaging your project. Another great feature is the tables adjust ability. In the cabinet you can see the springs on the guides, these really make it effortless to raise & lower the table. This is a a feature that could be a deciding factor if you were comparing units side by side. The belt also tilts flat but I think that's a common feature on most edge sanders, If not, it should be. All in all I'm very impressed with this machine, even for just having it for the day, i can already see many ways it will save me a tremendous amount of time on all sorts of projects. I'll do another post on the Mortiser, I haven't had time to set it up just yet.
Thanks very much Shane, SMC and everyone who took the time to look at all the projects and bless me with their vote. I've wanted an edge sander & a quality Mortiser for a few years now & this was the only I could see getting one.
I have to get some chores done now but I'll be back with more tomorrow.
edge sander.jpgedge sander 2.jpgedge sander 1.jpgedge sander 8.jpgedge sander 4.jpgedge sander 3.jpgedge sander 6.jpg

[Bill Wyko]

The DT you see above is a before pic, this one is after 4 seconds against the sander. x 16 DT's at a time. So I can sand 16 DT joints all at once in 4 seconds. Guys, this is a good way to justify the investment to the wife.



dt1.jpg

[Jim Neeley]

Nothing like it when everything goes right! Congrats on the new sander and thank you for sharing it with us. It's nice to see a company who cares, even about the "little things".

Jim

[David Nelson1]

Bill, anyone told you lately that You SUCK. LOL looks like a great machine!

[Dan Hintz]

Bill, anyone told you lately that You SUCK. LOL looks like a great machine!

I still say he cheated by using his Pro Series© hands while many of us are stuck with the cheaper, less efficient Home Series©

[Bill Wyko]

These old hands are just standard issue, I blame all of you that post such beautiful work that has inspired me over the last 7 years or so that I've been a member here. It's all your fault everyone.

[Rick Markham]

Bill!!! Bill!!! Bill!!! Congrats!!!! You certainly deserve it, the work you share with all of us on here on the creek is priceless. You do round things and flat things amazingly well! Just let us know how the SMC Yacht handles!!! "Down Ladder! Make a hole!"

A wise man told me once... Only bet on a sure thing!

[Bill Wyko]

I always wanted a Yacht. Maybe I can do some custom woodwork while I have it in my possession. What's funny is, my friend Paul that helped me with the Marquetry is a boat builder. He has built some astounding boats. He is a wonderful teacher & craftsman.

[Rick Markham]

Wow! Looks like a good buddy to have! I'm super interested in the Chevalet. His work is beautiful and definitely shows his sense of humor in his cabinetry (which is also impeccably done.)

[Bill Wyko]

The American school of French marquetry sells plans and the hardware to build one. Paul has been there, said it was a great school.
www.americanschooloffrenchmarquetry.com

[Greg Portland]

So how are you cutting the dovetails? I'm assuming you cut the slot on a large board and the rip it into strips. How about the tails?

[Bill Wyko]

I'm using an Incra system. Actually the material was bought cut to width & thickness, I cut the tails 4 boards at a time. Each board with the pins are done one at a time, it's the most accurate way to do this project.

[Bill Wyko]

In total for the first 800 bottles, I have 5 or 6 stacks like this that have to be sanded. I can't imagine how long it would have taken me to do all this with a hand sander. I did this entire stack in 20 minutes front and back. I think I answered the phone a couple times too during the process. If this doesn't justify getting a tool like this, I don't know what will, such a piece of cake.

[Baileigh Inc]

Lookin good!

[Bill Wyko]

Thanks Shane, I can't even begin to say how happy I am with the sander. The whole time I've been building this cellar, I've asked myself "How can I make a profit & still do the dovetails" They are time consuming so I had to make up time somewhere. This tipped the scale in my direction. In total the cellar will hold around 3000 bottles of wine and require a few hundred of these to be sanded. I would have probably been looking at a couple weeks of sanding. Now I'm looking at a couple days if that. Multiply that out at $65.00 per hr as our standard labor rate and a purchase like this will easily pay for itself in days. It was well worth my effort to build the box. I'll be installing the first 3rd of the wine cellar in a couple weeks, I'll post more pics asap.