Something Better Than Repairs Is Coming

[JPG]

Those of us who are concerned re parts availability are mostly concerned with previous headstock versions(mechanical only) and do have the expertise to repair.

[Christine]

My question is Does shopsmith have an official date for the Relaunch of companies product line?

Second question how bad are we going to get hurt with the product line pricing?

[stephen_a._draper]

Insiders think end of May as an estimate.

[shopsmithguru]

Very interested to see what Shopsmith will be doing in this regard. I seem to recall an interview with the new owner saying they wanted to have actual factory authorized repair locations (I think there's someone who already claims to be authorized but I think it might not really be).

It appears the new management had no real plan or strategy from the start—just a sudden shift in direction. They thought this approach would be a faster way to generate much-needed upfront cash from customers, while forcing them to rebuild their headstocks regardless of whether it was actually necessary. Setting up proper repair locations would have required time and money the new company simply doesn’t have.

This mirrors the previous management, who claimed they would sell 5,000 Mark 7 machines and told everyone to forget about legacy headstocks. They raised prices on all parts, and if you needed a part for your Power Pro, you were looking at a six-month wait.

At the end of the day, this is another attempt that’s doomed to fail—because they have no control over two-way shipping costs, nor any control over spare parts pricing. The letter also didn’t specify how long it would take to get a headstock back. If the parts needed aren’t even available on the website, how are they available for the rebuild process? Or is this just another way to pressure DIY customers into sending in their machine if they want it fixed? To me, this feels like yet another fantasy meant to keep the doors open.

[Matanuska]

Respectfully, I think you are reading too much into the motives behind the recently announced Shopsmith machine rebuild service option. Repair parts are still available for those of us who prefer to maintain our machines ourselves. It appears you are a newcomer to this forum. Do you have a Shopsmith?

[JPG]

Shopsmithguru joined in Nov 2023!

[Maurice]

The interview that just came out goes over a lot of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PICHdbftWuc

The renewal program sounds great to me. All those old beaters on Marketplace now have a known price for a second life.

I can only imagine the old repair model was a nightmare. Receive a headstock, hope it wasn’t damaged in shipping, diagnose it, quote it, wait for approval, store it while everyone thinks it over, maybe only fix half the worn parts because the customer doesn’t want to spend more, then send it back and hope the next 40-year-old wear part doesn’t fail a month later and they get blamed for it.

A flat renewal with a proper shipping box, margins, wear parts dealt with, AND a warranty ... seems like a fantastic solution.

I also liked his idea to move from individual screw sales to related kits. Again, imagine a single screw: someone still has to stock it, count it, find it, pick it, pack it, and ship it. If instead it’s a few related pieces already bagged together for about the same money, that seems better for everyone.

The rest of the interview didn’t sound like a company with “no plan” to me, there's a tonne of stuff going on. Maybe some of it works and maybe some of it doesn’t, but that's the way of everything. And you can never, ever, make everyone happy.

Maybe I see it differently because I’m in Australia, where Shopsmith parts don’t exist locally. If I lived in the US I’d be thrilled to buy parts as easily and cheaply as you guys can. I’d give them a fair shake. They’re trying to keep conventional parts available, make factory service viable, and sell the newer systems too. I don't see why they can't succeed.

[RFGuy]

Maurice,

I have only gotten to watching about a third of the latest interview so far and I agree with you. Most of what the new owner had to say sounds promising and does give me hope for Shopsmith going into the future. I still have to watch the rest of the interview sometime. I like that they still support the conventional headstock and are going to continue to sell it. IF they would address the past reliability issues with the PowerPro and offer a larger, more usable LCD screen, I would seriously consider upgrading my headstock to a PowerPro. Also, that LCD display needs to have the contents rotate when in drill press mode, but it doesn't today. FYI...the company (Teknatool) that makes the DVR motor that goes in the PowerPro is a New Zealand based business in Auckland. I don't know how the currency exchange compares between NZ->AU versus NZ-USA, but if Teknatool would sell it to you, you could probably get the PowerPro motor much cheaper than we can here. Of course, the motor isn't everything as there are a few other differences to convert a conventional headstock to a PowerPro.

[RFGuy]

Curiously, later in the interview, he does say that the PowerPro Gen 2 supposedly fixed several of the issues that the Gen 1 had. Is he only referring to the overheat circuit added to the Gen 2 or are there other fixes rolled into the Gen 2, e.g. power supply, etc.? I thought the only change on Gen 2 was primarily the LCD and control module, with the core motor and power supply being unchanged. He also mentioned that the ability to flash the firmware through the USB connection was aspirational and Teknatool has never added this to the product, but intended to do so. Maybe one day they will. I would sure love to see the fix list from Gen 1 - > Gen 2. There have been a few reliability issues reported on the PowerPro over the years on this forum. Knowing what exactly has been resolved in the Gen 2 might help some of us who are on the fence about a potential purchase. He also stated that we should expect a Gen 3 in 2-3 years time.

P.S. He did mention that this forum will be an updated platform soon. I wonder what that will mean for us here.

[Maurice]

Well that is very interesting! I did some research and I don't think it would be possible given the manufacturing supply chain of it all, but still cool to know. I know almost nothing about the PowerPro. Maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to own one, but in the meantime I'm happy with what I have.

A forum upgrade will be very nice, I actually use a chrome extension to alter the CSS to make the forum more friendly to use and read. Anything will be a nice change to vanilla phpBB, even a modern responsive theme so I can actually use it on my phone!

I'm very curious to see how this new Miter Bar product works, sounds cool.