Thread: Scheppach dedicated bench router - Part 2

Hermit,

Fair enough. It is your decision to make or take, but if there's anyway I can be of some assistance to you please do not hesitate in letting me know. Nowra is only a short drive east from me. If I'm going up to Sydney anytime, I can let you know if you'd like to go for a drive and we could check out Hare and Forbes or Carba-tec if you'd like. It's not that much out of my way to head across country instead of going north from here. It's all much of a muchness.
I'm not sure how you're off for tools, but one thing I do have an excess of is chisels and I have been able to make old tools come up pretty good. This sort of harks back to my hot rod days when I used to be able to hand make lots of detailed items for my cars. My best friend who lives in Florida actually waited for me to visit him in the US just so I could drill the 'hood' of his Corvette for a pair of badges. He didn't trust himself to do it properly and I was the only other person he'd let touch his beloved Vette, much less drill holes in it. I think he called me "anal retentive" because I was so fussy in my details. You gotta know a guy really loves ya when he calls you that.

I'm not sure of your marital or home situation, but if you'd fancy a day/night here where you can stretch your legs we could cut some logs for you to take home and play with.
Whatever your decision, I'm here to help whatever way I can.

All the best,
Bob

Originally Posted by Glenrob

Hermit,

Fair enough. It is your decision to make or take, but if there's anyway I can be of some assistance to you please do not hesitate in letting me know. Nowra is only a short drive east from me. If I'm going up to Sydney anytime, I can let you know if you'd like to go for a drive and we could check out Hare and Forbes or Carba-tec if you'd like. It's not that much out of my way to head across country instead of going north from here. It's all much of a muchness.
I'm not sure how you're off for tools, but one thing I do have an excess of is chisels and I have been able to make old tools come up pretty good. This sort of harks back to my hot rod days when I used to be able to hand make lots of detailed items for my cars. My best friend who lives in Florida actually waited for me to visit him in the US just so I could drill the 'hood' of his Corvette for a pair of badges. He didn't trust himself to do it properly and I was the only other person he'd let touch his beloved Vette, much less drill holes in it. I think he called me "anal retentive" because I was so fussy in my details. You gotta know a guy really loves ya when he calls you that.

I'm not sure of your marital or home situation, but if you'd fancy a day/night here where you can stretch your legs we could cut some logs for you to take home and play with.
Whatever your decision, I'm here to help whatever way I can.

All the best,
Bob

I'm overwhelmed by your kindness & generosity, Bob. I appreciate your offer. I'm pretty well set in the way of chisels - I bought a cheap set a while ago and was given a few more. Also got a 5-piece miniature set for carving.

Toolwise generally, I've accumulated a pretty good collection in my 18 months of woodworking. I'm even starting to get a good collection of machinery - oscillating spindle sander, drill press, 2 scrollsaws, 12" disc sander, 6"/4" belt/disc sander, 16" wide drum sander, the Scheppach router table, 12" bandsaw, ROS, angle grinder, hand drill, hand belt sander, Dremel rotary, Dremel MultiMax and a few more that I can't think of.

I wouldn't mind a day up there sometime. Not sure when - I'm a bit of a hermit as my forum name suggests and I live alone with 2 dogs that have to be kenneled, making travel a bit awkward.
Cutting up some logs sounds good, too, but getting timber home is a problem - no car. I buy only from places that deliver, but pay dearly for the privilege. The online sellers like Misan and Nimbin Timbers make good $ from me.

I used to have to drill holes for badges too. I started my working life as a panel beater and that was one of the chores I had to do as an apprentice. Like a lot of things in woodworking, you would only get one shot at it. (I think many are just glued on these days.)

Steve..........I hope I have your name right from other posts.

I called up a few engineering firms here in Goulburn today and managed to find one that might be able to mill your bandsaw table flat and level for you. So if you can take a couple of pics from both the top and underneath, I should be able to get an idea if they can do the job. It depends on if and how they're able to mount it in the milling machine.
So if you can do that we might be able see about getting the ball rolling if you'd like.
Let me know either way and don't worry about not having a car. Mine's big enough. I rolled my last Pajero about 6 months ago on the way back from Goulburn, so I have a better one now.
Not really what I needed though, but what's a bit more pain to me?

Bob

Originally Posted by Glenrob

Steve..........I hope I have your name right from other posts.

I called up a few engineering firms here in Goulburn today and managed to find one that might be able to mill your bandsaw table flat and level for you. So if you can take a couple of pics from both the top and underneath, I should be able to get an idea if they can do the job. It depends on if and how they're able to mount it in the milling machine.
So if you can do that we might be able see about getting the ball rolling if you'd like.
Let me know either way and don't worry about not having a car. Mine's big enough. I rolled my last Pajero about 6 months ago on the way back from Goulburn, so I have a better one now.
Not really what I needed though, but what's a bit more pain to me?

Bob

Yep, 'Steve' is right. (In my sig.)

Sorry for the slow reply, Bob. I had camera hassles but finally got a couple of decent pics.
The LHS of the table is OK, but it drops away to the right from the centre. (The pic below is from the back.)

This one shows the bow, a couple of mm at it's worst point: -

Table Bow.jpg


A couple of under-table shots: -

Under Table 1.jpg
Under Table 2.jpg


I spoke to a local guy about 12 months ago who said he could do it with a vertical bore, but it was going to cost a couple of hundred dollars so I decided to live with it for the life of the bandsaw. I'm pretty used to it now, and set the table angle depending on whether I'm working to the right or left of the blade. There's a difference of about 0.6 degrees. I've memorised the settings so it's quick to swap.
For when I need a dead flat table top, I've made one out of MDF, with shims under the RHS to keep it level. Not a drama, so I don't really think it's worth spending a lot of $ to get it machined. I figure the bandsaw won't last for a lot of years so I'll just make sure my next one is nice and flat. I'll probably buy a Powermatic next time around.

Steve,

You seem to have been able to have worked around your problems pretty well when you were unable to attain a more permanent solution. That sort of initiative and and inventive problem solving acumen are the signs or someone who is a survivor and one who can get by on their wits and ability.
Just remember that if there's anything I can do to help, no matter how trivial you may think it is, please feel free to ask.
As I'm sure you've seen recently, the problems I've been having in my life by some of my posts, and the positive reactions and huge amount of moral support from the wonderful people in this Forum. So all I'm saying is that there's help out there from what you might think are the most obscure places and people. I'm just one of the many and because of the help and support I received from everyone, I want to be able to return that help in whatever way I can no mater how small it might seem to be.

Cheers,
Bob

Originally Posted by Glenrob

Steve,

You seem to have been able to have worked around your problems pretty well when you were unable to attain a more permanent solution. That sort of initiative and and inventive problem solving acumen are the signs or someone who is a survivor and one who can get by on their wits and ability.
Just remember that if there's anything I can do to help, no matter how trivial you may think it is, please feel free to ask.
As I'm sure you've seen recently, the problems I've been having in my life by some of my posts, and the positive reactions and huge amount of moral support from the wonderful people in this Forum. So all I'm saying is that there's help out there from what you might think are the most obscure places and people. I'm just one of the many and because of the help and support I received from everyone, I want to be able to return that help in whatever way I can no mater how small it might seem to be.

Cheers,
Bob

Thanks Bob. I appreciate the support and if there's anything I can do for you, let me know.

Just thought I'd post a final (fatal) note to this thread.

After all of about 2 hours total running time, the motor in this horrible machine seized last week. On the day, it had only been running for a couple of minutes - not even long enough to get warm. After I let it sit for a bit, I could just turn the shaft with my fingers, but it feels 'rough' and makes a squealing noise.

Contacted H&F last Wednesday to enquire about a new motor, but they haven't replied yet. Easter always seems to get in my way.

I've mostly used it for edge-jointing small lengths of timber, but for now it's back to the good ol' reliable hand-planes. At least they won't seize up on me.


Caveat Emptor!
(Buyer Beware)

Your story just goes from bad to worse. It's a pity that imported machinery doesn't go through the same scrutiny as imported toys so that the ones that are dangerous or not fit for purpose could be weeded out before they reach the consumer.
Is you table still under warranty?

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Your story just goes from bad to worse. It's a pity that imported machinery doesn't go through the same scrutiny as imported toys so that the ones that are dangerous or not fit for purpose could be weeded out before they reach the consumer.
Is your table still under warranty?

Yeah mate, I'm not real happy right now. Spent the day hand-planing heaps of narrow strips for a segmented lidded pot. Would have taken minutes with the router table.

Almost like it had an in-built timer, the motor seized within a couple of days of the warranty expiring. If H&F reply to my email, it would be nice if they say that they'll still provide me with a replacement motor for free, but I'm not holding my breath.
I'll possibly end up taking the motor to a local business to have the bearings replaced. (The thing is pressed together and I can't get it apart myself.)

I hope potential buyers of these things read this thread. Probably save them lots of grief.

Some good news for a change.

Dean Olic at H&F just rang me about the dead motor.

Didn't sound promising at first - he said that they don't have spare motors for these router tables, BUT, it turns out there was a 2 year warranty on the router table, not 1 year as I thought.
He's arranging to send me a complete new router table as a warranty replacement.

Definitely can't complain about that. Just waiting for a call-back to verify, after he talks to the boss.
The router tables aren't the best, but H&F are looking after me again, so I can't complain about them. They're back in my good books again.

Edit: Just got my call-back - it's on it's way.
With a little luck, the new one might be a little better than the first, too.

Glad to hear its all on track again.

Have you thought of making a 25mm mdf top for the bandsaw?
You could router a new slot for it.
Put some edges on the bottom and its would just sit over the metal one, like we all do with our drill presses.

Would mean working a way for the fence to work wth it.
Pete

Originally Posted by _fly_

Glad to hear its all on track again.

Have you thought of making a 25mm mdf top for the bandsaw?
You could router a new slot for it.
Put some edges on the bottom and its would just sit over the metal one, like we all do with our drill presses.

Would mean working a way for the fence to work wth it.
Pete

Do you mean something along these lines maybe:

100_5390.jpg

Not MDF, just some old chipboard I had laying around. The rip fence won't fit it, but the mitre guide does. I still use the fence without the extra top.
It has shims under the RHS to make the top more level than the bowed cast iron one, and two L-shaped blocks to locate it. You can just see the edge of them in the pic.
I didn't have the router table when I made it, though, and used my much-loved Dremel to route the mitre slot.
The lamp fitting helps my crappy eyes to see where I'm going, too. I've got four of those lamps, and brackets near all machines to fit them into. They just drop into a 1/2" hole.

Very good news about the Router Steve. Great PR for H&F as many people will be reading this thread.
I hope you get a better one this time. Maybe they have upgraded them since you brought yours, after all the negative comments from a number of people.

Originally Posted by Treecycle

Very good news about the Router Steve. Great PR for H&F as many people will be reading this thread.
I hope you get a better one this time. Maybe they have upgraded them since you brought yours, after all the negative comments from a number of people.

Yep. It cheered me up no end. Dean says the new batch are better, but I'll wait and see.....

Gotta say, too, that despite having sold me a couple of below-par machines now, H&F have looked after me pretty well throughout.