Hi Y'all,
Most of my friends aren't really into woodworking so they wouldn't
understand. I hope y'all will indulge me while I tell my tale.

After 14 years of cursing my Grizzly contractor's saw, I finally broke
down and ordered a real cabinet saw. I won't take you through all the
research I did, or all my reasons why, but I settled on a left tilt
"Factory Reconditioned" Unisaw with Beisemeyer fence. I felt like I
got a good deal from the only authorized dealer for factory
reconditioned Unisaws, Redmond Machinery in Hotlanta. I saved a few
bucks on shipping by picking it up at my local freight company.

One fine day back in December, I went to the freight company and had
them forklift the saw into the pickup. I had arranged for 3 friends
to help me get the crate out of the truck and into my shop. I was
glad 2 of them were large and muscular (I'm not). That sucker was
HEAVY. We took the crate apart, and there she sat. Not a scratch on
her. No evidence at all that it had ever been used at all.

Life intervened, and it was a couple of weeks before I had time to
start the assembly and setup process. That's when I found the
TRUNNION WAS BUSTED! Redmond Machinery never gave me any trouble at
all. They immediately said they'd ship me another saw. Didn't even
ask me if I dropped it (I didn't). When I mentioned how much trouble
it was getting it in the shop, they said they'd have the next one
delivered to my door by lift-gate truck and pick up the broken one at
the same time.

That was nice, but I still had to get the thing down 3 steps from my
shop and uphill across 50 feet of soggy grass. I tried a call to
Delta to see if they could send somebody out to fix it. I got quite a
lesson in Unisaws. Delta has had a problem with broken trunnions, and
has done extensive research to find the cause. They claim that in
almost every case, the shipper tipped the crate over. The cast iron
trunnion can't take the impact of the motor and arbor when it slams on
its side. I checked the crate, and sure enough, the slats were broken
where the saw bolted down to them. If the rear trunnion was broken,
they could ship me another one and talk me through the installation,
but since it was the front trunnion, it had to go back to the shop. I
elected to just take Redmond up on their offer of another saw.

I found that a Unisaw alone without the cast iron extensions and
without the shipping crate is managable on a 2-wheel dolly. I got the
thing back in the garage all by myself, and crated it back up in the
original crate which I had never gotten around to disposing of.
Bragged to my friends about my strength.

Like the corpse of Sam McGee, the thing mocked me for the next 3
weeks. I couldn't get rid of it. It seems Redmond sold me the very
last Reconditioned Unisaw they had. Christmas had wiped out their new
saws too; there simply was nothing to do but wait until Delta shipped
them more saws. I bugged them about 3 times a week to be sure they
didn't forget about me, but my only other option seemed to be to
cancel the order and buy another saw. That would have meant more
money and maybe more time. They began to promise me things to sweeten
the deal. First a premium blade. They don't sell Forrest blades, so
I settled for a Freud LM-74 Glue Line Rip Blade. Then they agreed to
throw in a disappearing splitter too.

Finally, the replacement saw arrived. It was still on the truck when
I saw the label on the crate - 5 HP Single Phase Unisaw. I'd ordered
a 3 HP! Quick call to Redmond. They gave me a choice, did I want to
keep the 5 HP saw or send it back? Don't throw me in that briar
patch. Yeah, I guess I'll just keep it, even if it means I'll have to
put in a 40 amp breaker and heavier wire.

At last, after several afternoons of tinkering, I got the 5 HP beast
wired in, set up, fully adjusted; ready to try it out. I have a dial
caliper with 0.01" graduations, but they are pretty far apart on the
dial, so I figure it's good to about 0.0025" anyway. I squared the
blade and the fence to the miter slots so I can't see any change in
the needle at all.

WOW! Nothing in my experience prepared me for what this thing will
do. The fence locks down perfectly parallel to the slots every single
time. I'll need a more accurate tool to measure the difference.
After a couple of adjustments, I set the hairline cursor on the fence
at 4 inches and ripped a piece. Then, just for fun, let's check the
width of the board with the dial caliper. Absolutely dead on 4
inches. That was lucky, lets try it again at 3 1/2. Dead on again
when measured with the dial caliper. I did it again and again to
convince myself it wasn't luck. I knew that the human eye can detect
minute differences in alignment of parallel lines, but this thing
seems to defy all logic.

I ripped a scrap of 6/4 cherry, just looking for a challenge. The
sound of the blade never even changed pitch; and the edge looks like
it's been sanded. I'll have to find something tougher if I want to
challenge it. I can't wait to put it to good use.


Friends, it's been a long road, but tonight, the smiles are worth the
miles. I haven't been more impressed with a machine since that Honda
Interceptor back in '83, but that's another story. Thanks for
listening.

DonkeyHody
Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.

In article ,
says...
Hi Y'all,
Most of my friends aren't really into woodworking so they wouldn't
understand. I hope y'all will indulge me while I tell my tale.


.... snip of long tale of the agonies of defeat and final joy of triumph.

Friends, it's been a long road, but tonight, the smiles are worth the
miles. I haven't been more impressed with a machine since that Honda
Interceptor back in '83, but that's another story. Thanks for
listening.

... it was a pleasure


DonkeyHody
Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.


Well-spoken! Good luck with your new acquisition, the longer the
anticipation, the greater the reward.

Donkey,
Purty good story. I've got an older Unisaw with a "wimpy" 3-hp motor. I'd
sure like to see what it could do with a 5-hp............

Larry

--
Americans

"DonkeyHody" wrote in message
m...
Hi Y'all,
Most of my friends aren't really into woodworking so they wouldn't
understand. I hope y'all will indulge me while I tell my tale.

After 14 years of cursing my Grizzly contractor's saw, I finally broke
down and ordered a real cabinet saw. I won't take you through all the
research I did, or all my reasons why, but I settled on a left tilt
"Factory Reconditioned" Unisaw with Beisemeyer fence. I felt like I
got a good deal from the only authorized dealer for factory
reconditioned Unisaws, Redmond Machinery in Hotlanta. I saved a few
bucks on shipping by picking it up at my local freight company.

One fine day back in December, I went to the freight company and had
them forklift the saw into the pickup. I had arranged for 3 friends
to help me get the crate out of the truck and into my shop. I was
glad 2 of them were large and muscular (I'm not). That sucker was
HEAVY. We took the crate apart, and there she sat. Not a scratch on
her. No evidence at all that it had ever been used at all.

Life intervened, and it was a couple of weeks before I had time to
start the assembly and setup process. That's when I found the
TRUNNION WAS BUSTED! Redmond Machinery never gave me any trouble at
all. They immediately said they'd ship me another saw. Didn't even
ask me if I dropped it (I didn't). When I mentioned how much trouble
it was getting it in the shop, they said they'd have the next one
delivered to my door by lift-gate truck and pick up the broken one at
the same time.

That was nice, but I still had to get the thing down 3 steps from my
shop and uphill across 50 feet of soggy grass. I tried a call to
Delta to see if they could send somebody out to fix it. I got quite a
lesson in Unisaws. Delta has had a problem with broken trunnions, and
has done extensive research to find the cause. They claim that in
almost every case, the shipper tipped the crate over. The cast iron
trunnion can't take the impact of the motor and arbor when it slams on
its side. I checked the crate, and sure enough, the slats were broken
where the saw bolted down to them. If the rear trunnion was broken,
they could ship me another one and talk me through the installation,
but since it was the front trunnion, it had to go back to the shop. I
elected to just take Redmond up on their offer of another saw.

I found that a Unisaw alone without the cast iron extensions and
without the shipping crate is managable on a 2-wheel dolly. I got the
thing back in the garage all by myself, and crated it back up in the
original crate which I had never gotten around to disposing of.
Bragged to my friends about my strength.

Like the corpse of Sam McGee, the thing mocked me for the next 3
weeks. I couldn't get rid of it. It seems Redmond sold me the very
last Reconditioned Unisaw they had. Christmas had wiped out their new
saws too; there simply was nothing to do but wait until Delta shipped
them more saws. I bugged them about 3 times a week to be sure they
didn't forget about me, but my only other option seemed to be to
cancel the order and buy another saw. That would have meant more
money and maybe more time. They began to promise me things to sweeten
the deal. First a premium blade. They don't sell Forrest blades, so
I settled for a Freud LM-74 Glue Line Rip Blade. Then they agreed to
throw in a disappearing splitter too.

Finally, the replacement saw arrived. It was still on the truck when
I saw the label on the crate - 5 HP Single Phase Unisaw. I'd ordered
a 3 HP! Quick call to Redmond. They gave me a choice, did I want to
keep the 5 HP saw or send it back? Don't throw me in that briar
patch. Yeah, I guess I'll just keep it, even if it means I'll have to
put in a 40 amp breaker and heavier wire.

At last, after several afternoons of tinkering, I got the 5 HP beast
wired in, set up, fully adjusted; ready to try it out. I have a dial
caliper with 0.01" graduations, but they are pretty far apart on the
dial, so I figure it's good to about 0.0025" anyway. I squared the
blade and the fence to the miter slots so I can't see any change in
the needle at all.

WOW! Nothing in my experience prepared me for what this thing will
do. The fence locks down perfectly parallel to the slots every single
time. I'll need a more accurate tool to measure the difference.
After a couple of adjustments, I set the hairline cursor on the fence
at 4 inches and ripped a piece. Then, just for fun, let's check the
width of the board with the dial caliper. Absolutely dead on 4
inches. That was lucky, lets try it again at 3 1/2. Dead on again
when measured with the dial caliper. I did it again and again to
convince myself it wasn't luck. I knew that the human eye can detect
minute differences in alignment of parallel lines, but this thing
seems to defy all logic.

I ripped a scrap of 6/4 cherry, just looking for a challenge. The
sound of the blade never even changed pitch; and the edge looks like
it's been sanded. I'll have to find something tougher if I want to
challenge it. I can't wait to put it to good use.


Friends, it's been a long road, but tonight, the smiles are worth the
miles. I haven't been more impressed with a machine since that Honda
Interceptor back in '83, but that's another story. Thanks for
listening.

DonkeyHody
Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.

In article m,
Mark & Juanita wrote:
Snip


Friends, it's been a long road, but tonight, the smiles are worth the
miles. I haven't been more impressed with a machine since that Honda
Interceptor back in '83, but that's another story. Thanks for
listening.

... it was a pleasure

I hope the new saw is better made then the 83 Honda! I am a Honda
mechanic, and that was NOT one of their best efforts!
Glad you like the new saw.
Bruce

Lawrence R Horgan wrote:
Donkey,
Purty good story. I've got an older Unisaw with a "wimpy" 3-hp motor. I'd
sure like to see what it could do with a 5-hp............


Damn! Mine's even older and the motor is "less than a
horse".

By the way, BitchSlapBobZajicek had also bought a
reconditioned Unisaw from Redmond. It also took two round
trips, two crates into the basement shoppe and two
assemblies before he got one fit to run. Of course, he's in
At'Lanter which only made things easier in that he could go
and stand in front of the nice man at Redmond and complain
in person.

UA100

Just to be a snit. The saying as my Grandpa told it was. "Even a blind =
squirrel gets a nut sometimes" grin=20
Puff

"LRod" wrote in message =
...
On 1 Mar 2004 20:26:45 -0800, (DonkeyHody)
wrote:
=20
Nice tale. Congrats.
=20
Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.
=20
Minor nit. Hogs (acutally, pigs) find truffles. Squirrels find acorns.
=20
=20
- -
LRod
=20
Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite
=20
Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999
=20
http://www.woodbutcher.net

On 1 Mar 2004 20:26:45 -0800, (DonkeyHody)
wrote:

Nice tale. Congrats.

Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.

Minor nit. Hogs (acutally, pigs) find truffles. Squirrels find acorns.


- -
LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

http://www.woodbutcher.net

"DonkeyHody" wrote in message
m...
Snip



Life intervened, and it was a couple of weeks before I had time to
start the assembly and setup process. That's when I found the
TRUNNION WAS BUSTED!


How did I know that you were going to find the Trunnion busted.... More
often that not if something is busted on a Unisaw, it is the Trunion... For
years Delta blamed the shippers. About a year ago Delta finally admitted it
was a quality control problem during assembly.

When I got my unisaw, the guys at Woodcraft told me that they got a 5 hp
PM66 in one time that was upside down on the pallet. Seems that the
shipping company had knocked it over. It broke off of the pallet, so they
repackaged it their way! Needless to say, that one went back.

Grant



B a r r y wrote:

On 1 Mar 2004 20:26:45 -0800, (DonkeyHody)
wrote:


They claim that in
almost every case, the shipper tipped the crate over. The cast iron
trunnion can't take the impact of the motor and arbor when it slams on
its side. I checked the crate, and sure enough, the slats were broken
where the saw bolted down to them.

I noticed that new Unisaw boxes in my local Woodcraft's warehouse have
shipping tilt "tell-tales" stuck on them. Now I know why.

Barry

LRod writes:


Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.

Minor nit. Hogs (acutally, pigs) find truffles. Squirrels find acorns.

Those are French pigs. I won't take that any further. But obvoiusly you don't
live in the country. Pigs will root in damned near anything and eat damned near
anything: I recall one friend who back then raised thoroughbreds, finding a
couple dozen hoglets in his newly seed alfalfa patch where they had grubbed up
well over 2 acres, maybe 3. When he calmed down enough to not use his shotgun,
he ran his neighbor's hogs off, called the neighbor who thought it was funny (I
forget how much the reseeding of alfalfa cost back then, but it was
appreciable), then called a lawyer.

Charlie Self
In a New Hampshire Jewelry sto "Ears pierced while you wait."

http://hometown.aol.com/charliediy/m.../business.html

Bruce Farley wrote in message news
I hope the new saw is better made then the 83 Honda! I am a Honda
mechanic, and that was NOT one of their best efforts!

Bruce,
Ya know, You're right. That darn engine melted down on me after just
10,000 miles. Not enough oil getting to the head as I recall. But
while it was running . . . MAN, WHAT A RIDE! I blew away a bunch of
900 cc bikes with my little 750. And it handled well in the twisties
too. But that's another story . . . .

DonkeyHody
Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.

LRod wrote in message . ..

Minor nit. Hogs (acutally, pigs) find truffles. Squirrels find acorns.


Down he-ah in Missippi, thays HAWGS. Back in my Grandpappy's time, a
hawg was only fed when they was fattn-n him up fer to eat. Rest O the
time, hawgs run wild on the farm and ate what they could find. Big
part O their diet was acorns. Some O them hawgs just couldn't be
caught when it come time to pen 'em up. They went a little deeper in
the woods and found more of their kind and made little pigs. Afore
long, the woods was full of wild boar. Now that you had yore history
lesson, maybe you won't be so quick to pick nits with a country boy
(Grin).

DonkeyHody
If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?

On 02 Mar 2004 14:43:09 GMT, otforme (Charlie Self)
wrote:

LRod writes:


Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.

Minor nit. Hogs (acutally, pigs) find truffles. Squirrels find acorns.

Those are French pigs. I won't take that any further. But obvoiusly you don't
live in the country.

Comedy 101. The point of the metaphor is that even seriously
disadvantaged servants occasionally achieve success in their area of
expertise should sufficient opportunities be presented.

It's not about servants in other fields, no matter how ubiquitous
their presence.

Thus, although squirrels are known for finding acorns, and we might
presume a blind one would have a serious disadvantage, the sheer
proliferation of acorns plus genetics assures that the blind one would
occasionally have success.

Similarly, (french) pigs are used for hunting truffles, and although
we might presume a blind one would have a serious disadvantage, the
sheer proliferation of truffles (albeit buried) plus genetics assures
that the blind pig would occasionally have success.

That the argement can be made that a pig, blind or otherwise, will dig
up anything is utterly beside the point.

In a New Hampshire Jewelry sto "Ears pierced while you wait."

I posted about that the other day, except it was Tattoo Charlies;
Tattoos While You Wait. I asked, "what other way is there?"


- -
LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

http://www.woodbutcher.net

On Tue, 2 Mar 2004 08:06:07 -0200, "Puff Griffis"
wrote:

Just to be a snit. The saying as my Grandpa told it was. "Even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes" grin

No, not a snit. That's the alternative saying. I wasn't explicit
enough. So here goes:

Even a blind pig finds a truffle now and again.
Even a blind squireel finds an acorn now and again.

It was the mixing of the metaphor to which I was alluding.

- -
LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

http://www.woodbutcher.net

Well hell, I always thought a hawg was like the 12lb 8oz. largemouth bass I
got hanging above my fireplace!!!

--
"Cartoons don't have any deep meaning.
They're just stupid drawings that give you a cheap laugh."
Homer Simpson
Jerry© The Phoneman®
"DonkeyHody" wrote in message
m...
LRod wrote in message
. ..

Minor nit. Hogs (acutally, pigs) find truffles. Squirrels find acorns.


Down he-ah in Missippi, thays HAWGS. Back in my Grandpappy's time, a
hawg was only fed when they was fattn-n him up fer to eat. Rest O the
time, hawgs run wild on the farm and ate what they could find. Big
part O their diet was acorns. Some O them hawgs just couldn't be
caught when it come time to pen 'em up. They went a little deeper in
the woods and found more of their kind and made little pigs. Afore
long, the woods was full of wild boar. Now that you had yore history
lesson, maybe you won't be so quick to pick nits with a country boy
(Grin).

DonkeyHody
If ignorance is bliss, why aren't more people happy?

I usta ride a 73 model hog.

In article , LRod-
says...
On 1 Mar 2004 20:26:45 -0800, (DonkeyHody)
wrote:

Nice tale. Congrats.

Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.

Minor nit. Hogs (acutally, pigs) find truffles. Squirrels find acorns.


... I've always heard it as "even a blind hog finds an acorn now and
then". Made sense to be because the first time I heard it I had
finished reading Homer's Odyssey and remembered the reference to the pig
keeper whose hogs thrived on the acorns they found in the forest on one
of the islands (it's been a while now, so the details are somewhat
fuzzy).

In article ,
(DonkeyHody) wrote:

Bruce Farley wrote in message news
I hope the new saw is better made then the 83 Honda! I am a Honda
mechanic, and that was NOT one of their best efforts!

Bruce,
Ya know, You're right. That darn engine melted down on me after just
10,000 miles. Not enough oil getting to the head as I recall. But
while it was running . . . MAN, WHAT A RIDE! I blew away a bunch of
900 cc bikes with my little 750. And it handled well in the twisties
too. But that's another story . . . .

DonkeyHody
Even an old blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.

That was one of the first street bikes that really handled. The oil
problem was that the oil pump sent oil to the top end without first
sending it through the oil filter. I replaced a lot of cams and cam
followers on those bikes. Spend most of my time working on GL1800's now.
They are having their own share of new bike problems.
Bruce

On Tue, 02 Mar 2004 19:34:29 +0000, LRod
scribbled:

Similarly, (french) pigs are used for hunting truffles, and although
we might presume a blind one would have a serious disadvantage, the
sheer proliferation of truffles (albeit buried) plus genetics assures
that the blind pig would occasionally have success.

To further pick nits, truffles are found by smell, not sight, so a
blind pig would not be at a disadvantage. Plus, it ain't a hog, it's a
sow, preferably a sow in heat. I read somewhere that truffles
apparently smell like a horny hog to a sow, so the poor horny sows
goes rooting in the hope of getting laid, only to be disappointed by
that wonderful fungus. We get to benefit.

Luigi
Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html

Luigi Zanasi wrote:

To further pick nits, truffles are found by smell, not sight, so a
blind pig would not be at a disadvantage. Plus, it ain't a hog, it's a
sow, preferably a sow in heat. I read somewhere that truffles
apparently smell like a horny hog to a sow, so the poor horny sows
goes rooting in the hope of getting laid, only to be disappointed by
that wonderful fungus. We get to benefit.

Please speak for yourself. I'm not into sows. ;-)

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
(Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 20:51:28 -0500, Nova
wrote:

Luigi Zanasi wrote:

To further pick nits, truffles are found by smell, not sight, so a
blind pig would not be at a disadvantage. Plus, it ain't a hog, it's a
sow, preferably a sow in heat. I read somewhere that truffles
apparently smell like a horny hog to a sow, so the poor horny sows
goes rooting in the hope of getting laid, only to be disappointed by
that wonderful fungus. We get to benefit.

Please speak for yourself. I'm not into sows. ;-)

But when it's last call on a Friday night and you have no date for the
weekend..........


Cape Cod Bob
Visit my web site at http://home.comcast.net/~bobmethelis

Cape Cod Bob wrote:

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 20:51:28 -0500, Nova
wrote:

Luigi Zanasi wrote:

To further pick nits, truffles are found by smell, not sight, so a
blind pig would not be at a disadvantage. Plus, it ain't a hog, it's a
sow, preferably a sow in heat. I read somewhere that truffles
apparently smell like a horny hog to a sow, so the poor horny sows
goes rooting in the hope of getting laid, only to be disappointed by
that wonderful fungus. We get to benefit.

Please speak for yourself. I'm not into sows. ;-)

But when it's last call on a Friday night and you have no date for the
weekend..........

If they're rooting for truffles you should find a better place to hang out.
;-)

--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
(Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 15:06:06 -0500, Nova
scribbled:

Cape Cod Bob wrote:

On Thu, 04 Mar 2004 20:51:28 -0500, Nova
wrote:

Luigi Zanasi wrote:

To further pick nits, truffles are found by smell, not sight, so a
blind pig would not be at a disadvantage. Plus, it ain't a hog, it's a
sow, preferably a sow in heat. I read somewhere that truffles
apparently smell like a horny hog to a sow, so the poor horny sows
goes rooting in the hope of getting laid, only to be disappointed by
that wonderful fungus. We get to benefit.

Please speak for yourself. I'm not into sows. ;-)

But when it's last call on a Friday night and you have no date for the
weekend..........

If they're rooting for truffles you should find a better place to hang out.
;-)

OBWW: What's wrong with hanging out in oak forests on a Friday night
looking for potential lumber?

Luigi
Replace "nonet" with "yukonomics" for real email address
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/antifaq.html
www.yukonomics.ca/wooddorking/humour.html