Well, after my little adventure with UPS, Grizzly checked out my fence and agreed that it was a little twisted. I even got a phone call from the tech who was working on it, letting me know he had it. I received my new fence this afternoon, de-cosomolined it, and checked it out. Awesome, totally flat within .002 across the whole face.
One thing that I forgot to mention in the original post: I did not discover the twist until my jointer was over a year old. Not to put too fine a point on it, but it was out of warranty. Grizzly still made it right. I can’t say they’d do it for everyone, but it’s that kind of extra-mile stuff that keeps me coming back for more.
By the way, have I mentioned that Cosmoline is gross?
A few weeks ago I decided against refurbishing my dad’s old 1970s Craftsman radial arm saw. I can get $100 for it from RadialArmSawRecall.com and would apply that to a new Festool TS55.
Well, while I was waiting on it, I stumbled into a chance to pick up a never-used TS55 and track in a barter situation. Just proves the old adage “it never hurts to ask”.
I’ve only had a chance to make a few cuts so far, but this thing is incredibly nice!
Well, the internal structure, that is. Now it’s time to skin it! Click here for pictures and details.
It turns out that because of confusion between myself and the driver, the jointer fence was actually shipped under a different tracking number. UPS graciously canceled the original shipment and removed the “missing documents” fee on the new shipment, so I actually ended up paying less than the original!
Also, big-time kudos to Grizzly. I had posted on a woodworking forum about my woes. Robert from Grizzly read it, contacted me directly for information, and worked UPS from his end. After the confusion was straightened out, he verified that Grizzly had indeed received the fence and asked his service supervisor to hand-walk the return though processing and personally inspect the replacement fence. In addition to selling good machinery at a very nice price, Grizzly’s customer service has always been phenomenal. This is just the latest example.
Wow, it’s hard to believe it’s been two years since I started this project. A quick look back …
And from this morning …
I had to ship my jointer fence back to Grizzly to correct a minor twist. Now I find out that UPS has lost the fence on the way to Grizzly. So, not only am I out $25 shipping, I have to spend $120 to buy a new fence.
I have an old Craftsman radial arm saw that was my dad’s. I had thought about setting it up purely for cross-cutting wide stuff, but never got around to it.
If you don’t know, there’s a general recall on all Craftsman RASs. Depending on the age, you can get an upgraded guard or a $100 rebate. For the rebate, you have to send them the motor and carriage so they know the saw is permanently disabled. They send you a box with tape and pay the shipping, too.
After much debate, I decided that my need for wide cuts was so infrequent that I really couldn’t justify the shop space. So I’m taking the $100 and ordering a Festool TS55 tracksaw. Woo-hoo!
For details on the recall and a tool to see if your RAS qualifies, see http://radialarmsawrecall.com
The $35 explosion-proof fan cleaned up and repainted quite nicely. You can see it here held in a temporary frame for testing. My rough tests show that it’s moving around 4500 cubic feet per minute, which means it’ll completely change the air in my planned spray booth every 20 seconds!
The castors I had been using on the bandsaw just weren’t working out. Much too difficult to raise/lower the rubber feet and they made it too wobbly. So I created a new version of my mobile platform for use with a pallet jack, click here for photos and more details.
craigslist irritates the crud out of me with their sanctimonious, holier-than-thou attitude, but it is a great source for bargains if you’re patient.
I’ve been wanting to build a spray booth for quite a while, but I want to spray more than just water-based finishes. Which means I need an explosion-proof motor for the exhaust and those run about $1,000 new, which is way more than I can see paying for a fan. I’ve been watching for a used one for the last year or so, but nothing was even offered, just some full-blown spray booths.
Then, this morning, I scored this 24″ fan being removed from a home auto shop …
Yes, it’s the real deal …
I was more than happy to pay the asking price of $35
