Picked up a Monster Articulated Hollowing System last summer. After trying to use it on some deep hollowing jobs, decided that I needed the captive bar system for my deep hollowing. Contacted Monster Lathe Tools and ordered those items to fill out my hollowing system to a full captive bar system as well as an articulated hollower. Also ordered a one inch boring bar as well.
When I received the parts for the Captive Bar system, the one inch boring bar fit well and I used it to rough out some urns I've been working on. When I tried to install my swan neck bar in the captive bar holder, it was a tight fit, too tight. Almost could not get it out. The swan neck bar fits my articulated system well as does my 3/4" boring bar. Tried the 3/4" boring bar in the captive bar holder and it wouldn't go in at all. They did a good job of machining the items that were shipped together, but the two different shipments were sized slightly different in size. I originally thought about sanding down the two bars that were a little large but realized they would then end up with excessive slop when I mounted them in the Articulated system.
Sent an e-mail to Monster Tools and told them what was going on. They responded back right away, on Black Friday, and apologized for the issue. Mentioned they were on vacation, but would get on it as soon as they got back. I received another Captive Bar holder and one inch boring bar the next week along with a prepaid label to return the old tools. Alas, when I tried to assemble all the different components, found I still had a sizing issue. I got out my digital caliper and measured each item, finding minor differences on the mating end of the boring and swan neck bars. We're only talking about 3 to 4 thousands difference, but they won't work with that small variance.
Shot them another e-mail informing them of my findings and Todd called me the next morning and we talked a little on what the best solution was. He was very concerned with correcting the problem and had me send back each of the items where there was an issue with the fit. Couple weeks later, received a package with all parts machined precisely to fit each other. They even sent a check for the additional postage I incurred when sending back the package with all the pieces in it.
Monster Lathe Tools went the extra mile to correct all my problems and I wanted to let everyone here know of what type of class operation they are providing.
Kudos to Todd and Michelle Matejka at Monster Lathe Tools.
Clint
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