How easy is it to own metalworking equipment in France? It
*might* be that the lack of a similar newsgroup or mailing list reflects
the difficulty of becoming a metalworking hobbyist in France. (I have
read of similar difficulties in Germany.)

Then again, I see from your .sig block that you are not *in*
France, so you might not know the answer to this question.)


Hello Don
I'm living in a french oversea country beetween madagascar and Mauritius
island
In france there is no problem to get a metalworking equipement
but in reunion island : it's quite impossible
with 12000 kilometers (in a strait line) from France everything turn to be
difficult
By plane the shipping price is more than expensive for equipements witch
weight is over 250 Kg
There is no local reseller from any of the well known factories
I am an hobbyist, what in french, we call a "bricoleur" doing some little
thing but wanting to do some things more difficult
My first idea was to buy a micro lathe and a mini drill, but damned, I was
astonished by the prices
A mini drill and a mini lathe are more expensive than a medium manual drill
and lathe with their standart accessories
My next idea was to try buy one drill and one lathe from France, my third
idea was to buy them directly from Singapour or one other eastern country
In any case I stopped my dream with the amount of shipping and to find a
trading agent
The next idea was to buy a drill and use it like a mill
The previous posts upon the subject were precious for understanding that I
was in wrong
(I loosed my chuck falling down every minute but I was thinking than the
chuck was bad)
What a curse to be in a charming island with a lot of sun but far from
anywhere ,-)

Jean-Luc


that's why I find always many
answers
to my newbie's questions
Sometimes I must just be familiar with your "special working language"
;-)
One day, a dictionnary could be written

And perhaps that could best be done by someone coming into the
newsgroup from the basis of another language, as the special use of
words to which we have become accustomed might become invisible to us,
as we have *always* used them.

I must admit that your English is much better than my Spanish.
(I did not study French in school, as I did not expect to need it, and
then I had to spend some time in Paris when my mother was in a hospital
there. As it turned out, the times when I could not find anyone who
would admit that they spoke English, I was able to find someone who
spoke Spanish, so I was able to communicate -- with some difficulty.

Best of luck,
DoN.

P.S. I see that you are posting from a Wanadoo address, so I fear
that you could not send me e-mail directly, as I have a lot of
Wanadoo in France blocked for spamming (and for not doing much
about their users who are spamming. :-)
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