Prometheus wrote:
Oh? I always thought David Marks seemed like a really stand-up sort
of guy. Same with that Underhill fella, though I only saw his show
once. The older guy on "The router workshop" seems to know his stuff-
though I don't think I'd let his kid touch anything of mine.

I have seen David Marks once, on the DIY web site. I thought he
presented a very good show. I'll have to watch some more. Roy
Underhill, Norm Abrahams, The Rosenthals (router guys), and Scott
Phillips are all funded by Public Broadcasting. They can afford to
hire expertise and spend lots of money on production.

You have to apply the same rule to tv as anything else- 95% of
everything is crap. The producers are just trying to cater to people
who know nothing, but have an interest in learning a thing or two,
because that's where the market is. Overly technical information is
likely to go right over the head of an average viewer.

Very true. Basically, they produce shows to sell advertising.
Advertising is based on viewership. Viewership is based on interest.
So, it doesn't do any good to spend a bunch of money on expertise which
may not increase interest (unless you get your money for free). Which
is why I thought they might be willing to accept free technical advise.
I can think of a number of good reasons for turning it down.

Just keep building that nice website of yours (and I'm not being
sarcastic- it's a good site.) If there's a market for your expertise,
people will eventually find it, though it sometimes takes a quite a
while. There really aren't that many good nuts-and-bolts how-to sites
on the internet, and putting the time in to make one- which I can see
you're willing to do, almost certainly boosts your sales.

Thanks. I'll just keep plugging away. I think people appreciate
expertise when they discover it, not when it presents itself to them.
;-) So, the web site is a good medium.

Though I have been meaning to ask you something-

Why isn't there a jointer/planer aligner product? While I'm unsure
about personally needing a Ts-aligner, I would certainly be
interested in a tool that could help set jointer and planer blades
without slicing and dicing my fingertips, and help adjust
infeed/outfeed tables to eliminate snipe. Those are the really touchy
tools that can really use some help, IMO. Get one of those on the
market, and I'm in.

Both Aligners do jointers quite well (the Sr. works best on 8"+
machines). Planers are another story. The Aligners can be used for
bed rollers, feed rollers, chip breaker, and cutterhead alignment (with
some hieght limitations). This would address any snipe problems
(assuming proper feeding technique). Some of my competition would lead
you to believe that it's proper to align planer knives from below (in
reference to the table). It's not a good idea. Planer knives should
be aligned to the cutterhead. Then the cutterhead should be aligned to
the table. There are a number of jigs for doing the knives. I've had
one in mind for several years (called the "TP Aligner") but just
haven't had the time to get it out.

Thanks,
Ed Bennett

http://www.ts-aligner.com