Hi Woodworkers,

I made the big mistake of spending three days at the San Mateo CA show last
weekend. And.... am in the final stages of negotiating for a new MiniMax
combination jointer/planer and a saw with formating table. Also bought a
Delta X series variable speed drill press. This will replace my Robland
Combination Machine and Shopsmith. Don't ask me why. I just want to. So,
the following is getting spread around the net and ads. The following are
two balanced reviews of the Robland and the realistic pros and cons.
http://www.roltru.com/x31.htm
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00131.asp

After a period of adjustment it has worked great for me for years, and would
continue to do so except for tool lust. Strong user support group on Yahoo!
The X31 is over 1000 pounds of cast iron and heavy sheetmetal, three 3 hp
German motors, heavy duty shaper, saw, sliding table, mortiser, 12" jointer
and thickness planer.Here are the particulars if you are interested:

- Approximately 13 year old Robland X31. I guess I will have to dig up a
serial number to determine exact age.

- Very good condition. Everything works well. Yellow plastic euro guard is
missing the little plastic lift lever, but it is not a practical problem. I
am using multiple rubber bands in lieu of a spring to fine tune the spring
action of the guard. Looks gintchy but works great. Easy to put stock
spring on. Missing one 6x6 sheet metal cover to the saw mechanism on the
rail side of the saw. Makes it easy to vacuum out sawdust periodically.
Minor scratches on flat part of rail.

- Well tuned and aligned. With care on the move it should pretty much stay
that way.

- Mobility kit and tow bar.

- Shaper kit with replaceable cutters. Lightly used.

- Short very stiff rip fence for up to about 10" wide rips which works just
fine. A centrally mounted (above the mortiser chuck) jointer fence is
reversed facing the saw blade and does it for wide rips. Works fine but
requires adjusting to parallel miter slot each time it is installed. I just
use a perfectly square piece of MDF to get it into initial parallel
alignment each time I put the fence on. Once aligned it stays that way for
different rip widths. Not as nice as Biesemeyer fence but does the job.
Some people have added a Biesemeyer fence very successfully.

- Mortising table with a set of HSS bits in good shape.

- Conventional HSS jointer knives in good shape (no dings), but nearing time
for a first sharpening.

- Full documentation and a collection of good messages and ideas from the
Yahoo! Robland group.

- All jigs, spanners, tools and accessories. Zero width blade insert.

- Transportation would be the responsibility of the buyer. I moved it
fairly easily from San Diego to Grass Valley by removing the rail, sliding
table. Three of us muscled it into a low bed U-haul trailer with blocks and
ramps. Much easier would be a truck with lift gate. I think a moving
company might do it in California for perhaps $500 (cost of a recent piano
move to Ojai.) You probably have ideas on this as well.

Let me know what you think on price. If you aren't interested I would
appreciate marketing ideas. I have an old Shopsmith 500 with internal
upgrades I am going to sell to make room for the J/P and a drill press. The
Shopsmith makes a great drill press (variable speed, large adjustable
table), an ok lathe, and a super disk sander. The combination of the X31
and the Shopsmith make up a very nice small shop on a limited budget.
Perhaps $3000 for the both might be a sweet setup for the right person.

Regards,

Jerry Hall, 530.273.4234, (remove x's)