Shopsmith Forums

For those who want to go back to the beginning, there is a thread for that.

http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/viewt ... 914#p58914 Was the announcement of the PowerPro by Bob Folkerth Feb 3, 2010

The thread has 23 pages and some folks posting in this thread were posting in that one. Nick Engler had left already, but had designed the graphic for the new headstock control panel....

I post that link for those who want to go back and take a look at what was being said. Obviously Teknatool was still developing the relationship with their new customer, Shopsmith at the time.

Everett

I was going to leave this thread alone, but since I have had this failure, I want to say something.

First I love the PP. It is truly a magnificent improvement to the Mark V. Now, I bought this machine, as a green/new woodworker, BECAUSE of the ability to route as one of the factors and power being the other.

Since I knew I was starting from scratch, my approach was to see how this machine routes, table saws, horizontal bores, sands, turns and the other SPT's that can be used on it. So far, until a few days ago, it has exceeded my needs and expectations. I have now transfered the Mark V (500) headstock to the Mark 7 and am using it to do the things I have been doing with the PP. There is a difference, and I am glad I bought what I did.

I understand component failure, it happens. I just hope this is not a regular thing. It is nice to hear that mine is the only one known of so far, so there is that.

Right now, I trust SS to do what needs to be done. I am not particularly happy as to how it has been handled so far, but that is just procedural. I hope they give me reason to maintain that trust.

We will see .....

rjent wrote:I was going to leave this thread alone, but since I have had this failure, I want to say something.

First I love the PP. It is truly a magnificent improvement to the Mark V. Now, I bought this machine, as a green/new woodworker, BECAUSE of the ability to route as one of the factors and power being the other.

Since I knew I was starting from scratch, my approach was to see how this machine routes, table saws, horizontal bores, sands, turns and the other SPT's that can be used on it. So far, until a few days ago, it has exceeded my needs and expectations. I have now transfered the Mark V (500) headstock to the Mark 7 and am using it to do the things I have been doing with the PP. There is a difference, and I am glad I bought what I did.

I understand component failure, it happens. I just hope this is not a regular thing. It is nice to hear that mine is the only one known of so far, so there is that.

Right now, I trust SS to do what needs to be done. I am not particularly happy as to how it has been handled so far, but that is just procedural. I hope they give me reason to maintain that trust.

We will see .....

Very well said rjent.

dusty wrote:Shopsmith doors remaining open should not be an issue. They have been selling PowerPro Upgrades and Mark 7s so fast that they cannot keep parts in stock. The financial crisis appears to be an issue of the past!er

My comments are related to the worst case where someone decides that the powerpro is not what it claims to be and wins a judgement...... be it a settlement or a class action event.... which could be enough to tip the balance of a small company.

A second out come could be that all powerpros need to be recalled to fix some issue. No idea how many there are out there but even a couple of hundred dollars for each one could add up to a lot of money.

I'm not saying either will or needs to happen but when people feel they have been wronged things happen. I've been involved in a couple of class action suits. In one case a company mislead us investors, they settled out of court admitting no wrong doing, I lost about $220,000. My part of the settlement was about $20. We all know how this works, a law firm got half plus costs and the rest was divided by the rest of us by percentage of what we lost. None of those that I have been involved in came anywhere near fixing things but at least the companies didn't get away with it for free. Add in their legal costs and they paid dearly but being a large company they survived.

Ed

reible wrote:

dusty wrote:Shopsmith doors remaining open should not be an issue. They have been selling PowerPro Upgrades and Mark 7s so fast that they cannot keep parts in stock. The financial crisis appears to be an issue of the past!er

My comments are related to the worst case where some decides that the powerpro is not what it claims to be and wins a judgement...... be it a settlement or a class action event.... which could be enough to tip the balance of a small company.

A second out come could be that all powerpros need to be recalled to fix some issue. No idea how many there are out there but even a couple of hundred dollars for each one could add up to a lot of money.

I'm not saying either will or needs to happen but when people feel they have been wronged things happen. I've been involved in a couple of class action suits. In one case a company mislead us investors, they settled out of court admitting no wrong doing, I lost about $220,000. My part of the settlement was about $20. We all know how this works, a law firm got half plus costs and the rest was divided by the rest of us by percentage of what we lost. None of those that I have been involved in came anywhere near fixing things but at least the companies didn't get away with it for free. Add in their legal costs and they paid dearly but being a large company they survived.

Ed

Ed that had to be a HIT, 220K$ Sure could change retirement plans. My one son is a Shark, but the best book I read, cant think of the author, he wrote a number of attorney Novels, was the "King of Torts" or "The King of Torts" it sure opened my eyes to class action suites.
Da I will open a new page and google it. I never think to do that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Torts

dusty wrote:Shopsmith doors remaining open should not be an issue. They have been selling PowerPro Upgrades and Mark 7s so fast that they cannot keep parts in stock. The financial crisis appears to be an issue of the past!er

Dusty I love how you look at things! The perpetual optimist! You go guy!

I saw the lack of parts in a completely different light. I wonder which of us is right?

Ed in Tampa wrote:

dusty wrote:Shopsmith doors remaining open should not be an issue. They have been selling PowerPro Upgrades and Mark 7s so fast that they cannot keep parts in stock. The financial crisis appears to be an issue of the past!er

Dusty I love how you look at things! The perpetual optimist! You go guy!

I saw the lack of parts in a completely different light. I wonder which of us is right?

SS has control over their parts. They are at the mercy of the supply chain for the PP guts (i.e. Technatool). Are not PP DIY upgrades in the same back order status as full up head stocks? That is Technatool! SS can't build or repair Power Pro's or supply DIY upgrade kits in a timely manner if they can't get parts from Technatool. I suspect Technatool can't make product fast enough to supply the demand. That is a good thing to a point and good because it is a great product.

I am curious. How do you see the lack of parts?

@ JB>SS has control over their parts. They are at the mercy of the supply chain for the PP guts (i.e. Technatool). Are not PP DIY upgrades in the same back order status as full up head stocks? That is Technatool! SS can't build or repair Power Pro's or supply DIY upgrade kits in a timely manner if they can't get parts from Technatool. I suspect Technatool can't make product fast enough to supply the demand. That is a good thing to a point and good because it is a great product.

I am curious. How do you see the lack of parts?

JB, or is the MS not able to purchase enough at a time for them to be important to the MS? We dont know how good/important there relationship to each other is, and who has the upper control hand. SS might be just a drop in the bucket to them. My nephew the food chemist, company, has contracts with Frito Lay for some of there products they produce/develope for them, he is 2nd in command of the RnD department, he sez they are a HUGE PITA, want more share of overall profits, want supreme service ect, because they are so big, compared to other clients. Harley Davidson is like that also to there suppliers.

There shall be a "lack of parts" when management fails to anticipate sales, when purchasing cannot locate the parts required to meet production demands, when purchasing cannot locate a source who can produce the parts/assemblies in the quantities required, when purchasing cannot requisition parts (for a host of reasons - at least one being financial).

Most of these are by-products of the "just-in-time" inventory guidelines being used today. Don't stock it unless you need it now. Inventory is an asset that becomes a liability when not used.

It is really hard to maximize production while minimizing inventory.

ERLover wrote:@ JB>SS has control over their parts. They are at the mercy of the supply chain for the PP guts (i.e. Technatool). Are not PP DIY upgrades in the same back order status as full up head stocks? That is Technatool! SS can't build or repair Power Pro's or supply DIY upgrade kits in a timely manner if they can't get parts from Technatool. I suspect Technatool can't make product fast enough to supply the demand. That is a good thing to a point and good because it is a great product.

I am curious. How do you see the lack of parts?

JB, or is the MS not able to purchase enough at a time for them to be important to the MS? We dont know how good/important there relationship to each other is, and who has the upper control hand. SS might be just a drop in the bucket to them. My nephew the food chemist, company, has contracts with Frito Lay for some of there products they produce/develope for them, he is 2nd in command of the RnD department, he sez they are a HUGE PITA, want more share of overall profits, want supreme service ect, because they are so big, compared to other clients. Harley Davidson is like that also to there suppliers.

Technatool is not Frito Lay. Where else have you seen their DVR motor except on their own lathes and the SS? I suspect Technatool reached out to SS to get enough volume to make their motors profitable and be able to manufacture them. Now SS is selling like hot cakes and Technatool can't keep up. Did we have this problem 6 or 7 years ago?