Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Almost running... and a Rant

The tablesaw is finally assembled, and just needs to have the plug wired.

Time for a little rant. I purchased the combo jointer/planer from Laguna Tools since it looked like a great deal. First, I find it exceedingly arrogant for a manufacturer to act as though I am privileged to be able to buy their product. I'm not lucky to be buying a product, the manufacturer is lucky to be selling a product, especially in this case. The jointer/planer comes with an instruction manual that clearly wasn't written by anyone with a passing command of the english language. To make matters worse, the local distributor was forced by the local electrical authority (who in their own right is of dubious ability) to install an auxiliary magnetic start/stop switch. The distributor was then kind enough to leave any details of the start/stop switch, such as the wiring diagram, absent from the delivery. After nearly two months of hounding the distributor, I was verbally provided wiring instructions. Well, today after wiring the unit up, it was humming smoothly. I ran a small 1x2 strip of maple over the jointer, and all seemed well. The first pass light, and I proceeded to take a 2nd pass removing the same thickness of material. Once I cleared the cutter head with the strip, the jointer shut down. The start/stop junction box smells of burnt electricals, and the unit will no longer start. To say that I'm pissed would be an understatement. Did I mention the "new" unit I purchased was the show floor model they'd been hauling around to shows for 6 months prior to my purchase? They neglected to mention that one on the phone when I made my order. Real classy.

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