Page 1 of 8 12345 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 15 of 109

Thread: Some Euro machines in local shops...

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2012
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    4,082

    Some Euro machines in local shops...

    I recently did a tour of a few local Austin shops. Typically, what I see in shops is a bunch of either older American iron or your typical Chaiwanese assortment of table saws, jointers, planers, etc. I'll post pics from our shop at some point but I thought folks might enjoy seeing some Euro machines in their natural habitat. Here is an early 90's Minimax SC3. Great saw, highly underrated IMO. Many, many of these in shops across the country.



    These two images are significant in that they represent what you actually see when you go into shops:

    -A hodge-podge of DIY fasteners and fabbed parts
    -Safety equipment such as riving knives and guards missing or never used



    I'm pretty sure that bolt ^^^ is from a Toyota car or truck.



    ^^^ DIY splinter tongue and that locking knob for the flip stop looks very McMaster-Carr-ey.

    Older SCMi Si150 short-stroke slider. Built like a tank. Again, riving knife and sawblade guard nowhere to be found. Surprisingly, both flip stops present. Usually, it's only one or none. This shop does exclusively solid wood and actually did most of the ripping on a Sawstop (not pictured). They told me they used the slider for PT lumber, since it would trip the sawstop.



    Well hey there, gorgeous! Ten years old and still running like a champ....



    Apparently, he's not the only MM16 owner who didn't like the OEM plastic throatplate...



    For the record, it's about a 20-cent nut and bolt but, hey...



    Not a euro machine but gets in the door on sexiness alone...



    Different shop, I blurred his face. At least he is wearing ear protection.


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,685
    That last photo is "vawwy scawwy!"

    I hope you'll continue to post what you see "out there" in the, um...real world.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
    Cool stuff! Always nice to get a glimpse into a production environment. Makes you question all the "gotta-haves" we can't live without.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Ogden, UT
    Posts
    1,659
    Blog Entries
    1
    breaker boxes on top of breaker boxes in that last pic.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    New Brunswick, Canada
    Posts
    324
    Last pic is an accident waiting to happen. Yikes!. Sure hope the bicycle isn't the local ambulance.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    Beantown
    Posts
    2,831
    Quote Originally Posted by andrew whicker View Post
    breaker boxes on top of breaker boxes in that last pic.
    Could actually be breaker boxes on top of fuse boxes. My last 2 shops had similar types of mess on the power walls. My guess is most if not all the darker grey boxes are fuses, while the 4 or 5 light grey boxes are newer ones with breakers. Nice thing about the fuse panels is they were a lot cheaper to get up and running than breaker panels!

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    9,647
    And all of those Euro saws came with a riving knife and guard, yes? Forrest Gump had it right. "Stupid is as stupid does."

    Time for everyone to go find their missing safety devices and put them back on their machines.

    John

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    LA & SC neither one is Cali
    Posts
    9,447
    Back when I did a lot of products liability work I was often stunned to see the great lengths people would go to in order to defeat some of the safety interlocks on machines so I don't even bat an eye when I see missing TS guards, since while many are loath to admit it more people work without them than do and that includes the preponderance of Creeker's shops I have been in.

    What always strikes me is the lack of quality dust control in commercial and light industrial shops. While woodworking machine guarding accidents can indeed maim someone it is far less likely to significantly reduce one's lifespan compared to breathing dust laden air for 20-30 years. Dust control overall has less of a negative impact on production as well, which is the root of guard non-use.
    Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.

    Deep thought for the day:

    Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.

  9. #9
    Why do you safety nazis have to ruin everything?

  10. #10
    Haha Martin, you made me laugh pretty good.

    Being i make my living as a residential carpenter i will chime in.

    My jobsite sawstop has no riving knive on it. It sits that handy dandy little carry case built into the table but non the less its not on the saw. Nor is the blade guard. In all my years in the trades "20" i have never seen a jobsite ts with a blade guard. I do use a auto switcher and shop vac for dust collection it when i can. Various circumstances can negate this happening though. Namely someone takes my shop vac for another task on site or the 15 amp breaker can't handle it. I would say it gets used 30% of the time realistically.

    My ICS that sits in my shop always has a riving knife in it and a blade guard. The reality is this is mostly about dust collection.

    So you ask why no riving knife. Well now im really gonna get in trouble. Straight line ripping. And yes i do enough of it that taking the riving knife on and off everytime is just not going to happen. If had 50k for a brand new T75 Prex i would this surely would not be the case. The fact is i spend 90% in the feild and would be rolling riving knife free straing line ripping away on my jobsite saw. The fact i use sawstops i think is pretty responsible of me.

    In my shop i often can not fit stock under my blade guard and off the whole assembly comes fairly often. The plain riving knife hangs on the walll 2' away amd i really should learn to just put it back on in this case.

    Whom ever suggested dust exposuer was a bigger risk long term than being maimed by a ts was righ on in my book. As a tradesman i inhale more dust than i care to think about. I takes me a good 20-30 minutes during and after my evening shower to clear all the crap out ofmy nasel passage and throat. Most often i wake all clogged up.The long term health implications do bother me terribley. The fact is in the feild there is little i can do about it. I work for a company and not one of my co workers could be bothered to waste even 30 seconds thinking about any of this. More often than not i am using a company owned ts and it is what it is. I can complain all i want but im not going to make many friends and the fact is the squeeky wheel does not get grease on a jobsite ge gets the boot!

    Ninety percent of comercial cabinet shops i have been into rock old school dust collection with cloth bags if anything at all. Lucky if they ever get emptied. I have never once seen a riving knife in one of these shops as they all seems to use antiquated old american cabinet saws or sliders from 20 plus years ago. Does any of this make any of it right "nope" but those that can not be bothered to care set the precident leaving those of us that do care "the minority" to go along with it or risk sitting on the couch as i already am as the boss is between jobs.

    My two cents, i know it does not make it right but it is the way it is in the field right or wrong.

  11. #11
    I've been using the kind of splitter that is installed in a table saw insert on my 66 for about 5 years - it is easy enough to switch out that it actually gets used!

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Okotoks AB
    Posts
    3,495
    Blog Entries
    1
    I completely understand not using a guard all the time; there are some situations where the guard is just in the way. But for the life of me, I can't understand not using a riving knife when the guard is removed. As far as I'm concerned the riving knife is a far more important safety feature than the guard.

    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Walsh View Post

    My jobsite sawstop has no riving knive on it. It sits that handy dandy little carry case built into the table but non the less its not on the saw. Nor is the blade guard.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    WNY
    Posts
    9,647
    Because people who get hurt because they wouldn't use safety devices affect the insurance rates we all pay.

    John

  14. #14
    Patrick, if freehand ripping on the jobsite tablesaw is what you are talking about, wouldn't it be considerably safer with a riving knife? I won't debate the advisability of doing it in the first place, but why not make it as safe as possible?

  15. #15
    Funny how when I did woodworking professionally, never used a guard, but now that it is a hobby, use the guard whenever possible. Along with good dust collection. Find when using my K3 Winner, just about always use the riving knife and the guard. Enjoy not getting sawdust in my eyes.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •