Cecil Arnold
06-23-2004, 11:50 PM
One reason I wound up at SMC was that I was shopping bandsaws. One individual I contacted recommended this site and after visiting I decided to join. I've found it to be a friendly, helpful group of woodworkers, which is more than I can say for others I've visited. Monday, I took the plunge. About noon local time (Houston) I called the MM folks and ordered a MM16. The freight compnay was supposed to call today (Wednesday) to set up delivery and when I didn't hear from then I called the MM rep. He gave me the number for the freight company and when I called I was told that the saw was on the truck and they would try to call the driver to see when I could expect it to arrive. Before the diapacher could call the driver I heard the truck out front. This was about 2:45 pm. The driver said he would have delivered yesterday (which would have been a worlds record) but just got tied up. Two days from order to sitting in the shop is amaizing.
Some comments on the MM16. There are a few shipping scratches in the paint, but they are not noticable unless you are cleaning the gunk off. As to the gunk, that some have called cosmoline, to paraphraise a fellow Texan from the VP Debates a few years ago "Senator, I know cosmoline, and you sir are no cosmoline" or somehting like that. Other observations--I have a minor problem with the power switch (it doesn't work right) and after calling MM I was talked through troubleshooting some possible electrical faults. I have been told they will overnight a new switch, and the tech suport guy is supposed to call and talk me through installing it. The carbide blade is on back order, which seems to be a recurring situation from reading the posts here, and the supplied blades (Olsen) are less than thrilling, but "free." The miter gauge is also not something to write home about, but appears functional. After using a Jet 14CS the fence on the MM is great. It's adjusted parallel to the miter slot for now and I'll check it for true with the blade sometime tomorrow, assumeing the switch comes in. The mobility kit works well, but that is one heavy hunk of cast iron and steel.
Updates to follow.
Some comments on the MM16. There are a few shipping scratches in the paint, but they are not noticable unless you are cleaning the gunk off. As to the gunk, that some have called cosmoline, to paraphraise a fellow Texan from the VP Debates a few years ago "Senator, I know cosmoline, and you sir are no cosmoline" or somehting like that. Other observations--I have a minor problem with the power switch (it doesn't work right) and after calling MM I was talked through troubleshooting some possible electrical faults. I have been told they will overnight a new switch, and the tech suport guy is supposed to call and talk me through installing it. The carbide blade is on back order, which seems to be a recurring situation from reading the posts here, and the supplied blades (Olsen) are less than thrilling, but "free." The miter gauge is also not something to write home about, but appears functional. After using a Jet 14CS the fence on the MM is great. It's adjusted parallel to the miter slot for now and I'll check it for true with the blade sometime tomorrow, assumeing the switch comes in. The mobility kit works well, but that is one heavy hunk of cast iron and steel.
Updates to follow.