The Rise and Fall of Delta

[RFGuy]

I stumbled on this video and found it fascinating so I am sharing. I grew up watching Norm Abram which sparked my interest, and my Dad's interest, in woodworking. At the center of Norm's shop was a Delta Unisaw which for decades had a stellar reputation in the woodworking world. I never got a chance to own any of their equipment though. Fast forward to today and I never knew what happened, i.e. how they just vanished into obscurity. As the video details there was more than one reason, but I guess the thing they imply that jumps out at me is parts availability. Delta stopped offering parts to new and old customers. JMO, I believe this is a big part of Shopsmith's success over many decades and a key to their continued success into the future. Given the comments I have seen from the new owner of Shopsmith, he seems to indicate that he will do his best to have new and old parts available to sell. Now, I know that there are issues with the PowerPro Gen 1 parts no longer being available and unfortunately this is out Shopsmith's control as they get those parts from a vendor that no longer makes them. IF he can continue to keep parts available for the Mark V conventional headstock and do his best to keep PowerPro Gen 2/3 parts available, then I really think that will go a long way of maintaining customer loyalty - hopefully that translates into longevity of Shopsmith as a company. Anyway, after watching this video on Delta, I am even more optimistic and hopeful about the future of Shopsmith with this new owner. It reinforces the idea that parts availability matters to customers.