WGM Toolworks

[Warren Lake]

these convos are pointless in a way non of it is this or that. old guy ran 12 stickers a day with a bigger shop than anyone here x 20 and that company still went down years after he left. Have lots of jointers and planers so what. The lowest price out the door is not right either. id be gone if thats the case, Choose your sandbox wisely.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Exactly. And lowest total cost out the door these days is based on less labor. That means more speed on the machine and less people running the machines is how you dramatically reduce labor costs and achieve that lowest total cost out-the -door. And I'm not always talking molding. You can set up a Weinig with straight knives and get a much higher quality product out the end with S4S lumber in one pass. Throw in depreciation on the new machine on taxes and he would be way ahead in short order.

I was attempting to recognize an expanded universe which includes short run, custom products, requiring frequent changeovers. 5-head changeover on a Weinig is non-trivial in terms of consuming machine time and expert labor. Low-volume moldings, for example. This changes the cost equation. As in 4-5 setups per shift - done that too many times.

On the planet of long-run S4S, the machine setups will remain unchanged for long periods. Heck - I worked with one process where the setup never changed - only for swapping in cutterheads with newly sharpened knives. I mean never in a 2-year period. And it wasn't S4S - it was moldings.

We are talking past each other, it seems. Be well.

[Charles Shore]

When you have a area making cabinet doors a area making face frames and a area making interior and exterior doors you need the straightest material. A machine that does s4s lumber will not straighten and flatten material that is why I have the 2 jointers and 4 planers and if one goes down you have backups. You get the highest quality when you do things the right way. You can't make a eight foot tall door with a machine that does s4s in one pass.

[Warren Lake]

Charles originally I got a back up machine when the General broke likely 3 diff times when i had tight deadlines. SCM came up from a special guy and hoped for no issues. Bought a second same another special guy thinking just in case. Neither ever let me down.

you are thinking with work station areas. Martin that was here had work stations around his shop fully equipped all the stuff for the function its own dust collection etc. You stroll in do the work then off to the next place all set up for that function. That is smart thinking.

I buy machines before I need them or in case I need them you read often people cant find a machine for sale when they want them. Finding used is an ongoing job. Had to buy a wide belt drum sander part way into a job as the material was not consistent. Paid the most for that of any machine but had to have it right then.

[Ronald Blue]

Maybe someone else wouldn't feel this to be important. Looking at the 8" cutter head for a Delta DJ-20 compared to the Byrd Shelix it only has 4 rows of 8 inserts rather than 5 rows. So 32 versus 40. Somehow I feel this has to lower the finish quality. Buy once cry once IMHO.