Cecil Arnold
07-08-2004, 12:36 AM
The MM 16 is finally set up and working after a long delay:) . It took this long because of my own stupidness:o , which is part of this report. It arrived two days after ordered which was a Wednesday. It took only about an hour and a half to get it cleaned, attach the mobility kit and get it moved into the shop. At that point things begin to go wrong:( . Reading the instructions, I attached the plug and hooked it up to the power cord I use for the TS. Hit the power switch and nothing. Call to MM in Austin and am told to check the brake switch and possibly re-set it. Tried that with no luck. Over-rode the door switches, no luck. Starting to get flusterated:confused: , no help there. Am told that the current might be the problem. Called around to friends looking for a volt/ohm, no luck. Go to Sears, buy volt/ohm have 247 volts coming out the end of the extension cord. Check contineuty (sp?) of door and brake switches, all are okay. Called Austin, MM will overnight new power switch, no problem. New switch arrives, gets installed, same problem--nothing. Discuss trouble shooting so far, Rob (MM Tech) seems to be as troubled as I am. At this point I have memorized the wiring diagram and we can discuss it almost as peers. Rob agrees to send another power switch and says he will be coming to the Houston area this week to work on another saw. By this time it is Friday and we figure out a workaround to get the saw working by cutting out the safety interlock switches (something we are both a little uncomfortable with, I think from a liability aspect for him and 30 years in the safety business for me). Hack a little wood (its now the weekend) and make the mistake of touching the MM and the TC at the same time. Got a real nice attention getting tingle. The TC is bonded to ground through the DC, otherwise I think it could have been some time before discovering this problem. Rob arrives today (Wednesday) and before he starts through the saw I show him the fault. He proceeds to troubleshoot it pretty much as I had done with the same results. The crux of the problem is the coil that kicks out when the doors are opened and kills the power. We couldn't get that sucker to function. Finally, Rob decides that he may have to find a less sensitive coil as a replacement. He pulls it out so I can have use of the saw, then we start looking for the cause of the electrical fault. Lots of testing before he pulls the plug that I put on off to discover that rather than putting the green and yellow striped wire on the ground, I had put green to green (power to ground). It now works like a bandit.:D :D :D
First item of business was to set the drift angle on the fence, which, with the 1/2" blade provided, was more severe than I anticipated. After setting I was able to resaw some white pine thinner that 1/64" (actually .011"). Using the finished side next to the fence. The next two were 1/32" and 3/64". I had previously resawed some 9" birds-eye Maple and 10-11" Mahogany on my Jet, and while I realize there is a difference between the woods, the feed rate on the MM is awesome. I do not like the Euroguides. I have already had them come lose while sawing, even though they were hand tightened about as well as I can get them. I'm afraid I may have to use a tool to keep them tight.:eek: Anyone thinking of buying a MM16 might want to consider another mobility system. I replaced the MM system with a Jet moble base for about $65 as opposed to the MM of $150. I would not recommend the Jet, but think the Shop Fox is more suited to the weight of the MM, even both state that they are good for up to 600 lbs. IMHO the Jet seems a bit flimsy/shaky. Unfortunately I will be helping a friend do some cabinets for the next week or so and will not be able to get back to my project that will require using the MM.
I do want to say that the folks at MM did everything one could expect to get me up and going. :cool: Rob called several times to see if there was any progress and if the switches he sent had arrived, and Dain (the salesman) also checked in to see if everything was being done that could be done. I can understand someone losing their sense of humor over having a piece of equipment as pricey as a MM sitting uselessly in their shop, but getting mad and yelling does no good, especally when people are doing every reasonable thing they can do to make it right. I would have to give the MM people an A+ for customer service.
First item of business was to set the drift angle on the fence, which, with the 1/2" blade provided, was more severe than I anticipated. After setting I was able to resaw some white pine thinner that 1/64" (actually .011"). Using the finished side next to the fence. The next two were 1/32" and 3/64". I had previously resawed some 9" birds-eye Maple and 10-11" Mahogany on my Jet, and while I realize there is a difference between the woods, the feed rate on the MM is awesome. I do not like the Euroguides. I have already had them come lose while sawing, even though they were hand tightened about as well as I can get them. I'm afraid I may have to use a tool to keep them tight.:eek: Anyone thinking of buying a MM16 might want to consider another mobility system. I replaced the MM system with a Jet moble base for about $65 as opposed to the MM of $150. I would not recommend the Jet, but think the Shop Fox is more suited to the weight of the MM, even both state that they are good for up to 600 lbs. IMHO the Jet seems a bit flimsy/shaky. Unfortunately I will be helping a friend do some cabinets for the next week or so and will not be able to get back to my project that will require using the MM.
I do want to say that the folks at MM did everything one could expect to get me up and going. :cool: Rob called several times to see if there was any progress and if the switches he sent had arrived, and Dain (the salesman) also checked in to see if everything was being done that could be done. I can understand someone losing their sense of humor over having a piece of equipment as pricey as a MM sitting uselessly in their shop, but getting mad and yelling does no good, especally when people are doing every reasonable thing they can do to make it right. I would have to give the MM people an A+ for customer service.