why isn't there a for sale section here?

[wa2crk]

Here is a comparison of a new SS belt and one from a 27 year old machine.
[ATTACH]19135[/ATTACH]
The old belt is a lot narrower than the new one.
Bill V

[JPG]

One would think that a reliable stocking quantity would be maintained for the '17'!

[paulrussell]

To be honest I don't know why Shopsmith doesn't deal more in used and/or reconditioned parts. I would willing to pay a bit more for a used part from Shopsmith knowing that they stand behind it, than from an ebay seller. And I would be willing to pay a bit more for that assurance.

[dusty]

To be honest I don't know why Shopsmith doesn't deal more in used and/or reconditioned parts. I would willing to pay a bit more for a used part from Shopsmith knowing that they stand behind it, than from an ebay seller. And I would be willing to pay a bit more for that assurance.

Might this be the reason? Expectations of a warranty on used parts?

[paulrussell]

Might this be the reason? Expectations of a warranty on used parts?

And how is it at all unreasonable to expect that a used part function correctly? I expect that of ebay sellers as well, but not all of them are entirely honest. And as I wrote, I'd be willing to pay a premium for that assurance.

Shopsmith sells reconditioned headstocks, I just question why they don't extend this to other repair parts.

[charlese]

...
Shopsmith sells reconditioned headstocks, I just question why they don't extend this to other repair parts.

Could it be that the reconditioned headstocks contain all new parts with the old case? After all their warranty applies.

[rjn2649]

I would like to see SS sell reconditioned parts, but that would bring up another mess of questions and issues that would have to be addressed and still leave room for them to make a profit.
Anyone ever buy a rebuilt part for a car? Think about it, not only do they rebuild the part you trade in, but they also buy in bulk from wrecking yards, take the stuff apart, clean it up (I'm sure all that de-greasing and painting is a real mess of EPA paperwork) put it on a shellf and wait for someone to buy it. One advantage they have is volume, volume I don't think SS can come anyplace close to.
I would still like to see it happen, but I get why it probably wont.
I do think they need to be more carefull in their inventory of parts, I recently orderd the jointer guard that was on sale and it's backorderd, a little disapointed. I orderd it because I thought if they advertised it on sale they would have enough to go around...
But the sad fact is this is what you hav eto be prepered to deal with when you are buying from a small speciality company that does such small volume.

[trainguytom]

While I understand the concept of operating lean on the parts inventory side (having had a business failure a while back), It does seem to make sense to keep a stock of common "wear out/failure" items because, as mentioned, when a belt goes it's usually in the middle of a project & having several weeks of down time may not be an option.

Also, many of those kinds of parts are not big dollar items, so you're not tying up a ton in inventory. Yes, I know it gets to be a balancing act, but maybe what you lose in sales & credibility with customers ends up being more than the cost of keeping the inventory on the shelf.

That's what customer service is about. It does have a cost and if you can't afford that cost, customers will (often reluctantly) go away. If enough of them go away, so will the business. I want Shopsmith to stick around as much as the next guy, so I'm hoping that the decision makers make choices that will allow that to happen.

[greitz]

Maybe one reason that SS gives us the list of the 17 most-replaced parts is so that each of us can get spares at our leisure, so that we already have them when we need them. I look at these as the SS equivalent of keeping spare batteries and light bulbs around the house.

Or have a complete headstock, ready to swap out as necessary.

It's interesting to me that there has been quite a bit of discussion on other threads about personal responsibility and not depending on the government to take care of us. Is this really any different? We have been warned about the items most likely to need replacement.

Sorry for the soapbox. Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

Gary

[fjimp]

Last week I ordered a small part for my pickup. I attempted first to find the part used. One guy at a junk yard laughed and told me I was nuts to even try to find that part used and still working. Yes I ordered it new from a Toyota dealer. It arrived and I installed it. While doing so I realized that the part is highly fragile and getting one used would have been frustrating at best.

Why in the world would a world class manufacturer of wood working tools desire to create a department that rebuilds destroyed parts for resale, while knowing full well every time they sell one that fails, an angry jerk somewhere is going to have expected the part to be warrantied like a new one? Sorry gentlemen I fail to see any wisdom in the concept.

Further I would love to hear about one other manufacturer of top notch equipment that makes parts available for more than a few years. I choke every time one of us complains that Shopsmith can't supply parts for 50 year old equipment they didn't build in the first place. At what point does reality enter the picture?

As for having to wait for goods. In case you folks are unaware our nation is still suffering from one of the worst financial crisis in recent history. I don't care where I go for any desired goods, I frequently have to wait. I suspect many of shopsmith's vendors are out of business and other are struggling to remain in existence. I suppose that many of you are unfazed by today's economy. I for one have so watch my expenditures more closely than ever. Why in the world would I even consider criticizing vendors I count upon for doing the same. Jim