Thread: Diamond Grinding Wheel

The Chinese are showing signs of responding to criticism of their artificial devaluation of their currency.

If they do jump and revalue upwards the dung will hit the rotary cooling device world wide.

They have good reasons not to, that said, but the pressure is on. Biggest consumer market for their goods: US. Biggest US creditor: China.

Gotta laugh. Communism now has a major role in propping up the world's biggest capitalist economy.

(Sorry for the diversion; will go back now to domestic repairs and clean-ups).

Originally Posted by TTIT

Yup - I can hold off a while - doubt that the dollar will drop again overnight

Originally Posted by jmk89

So it might be worthwhile our holding off a bulk purchase from Woodcraft if Brendan is going to import them?

Agreed.

As I said in another thread, I would prefer to support a local supplier and only got into this exercise because there wasn't one.

Brendan, do you have any feeling for how long it will be before you will have an offering?

On the sizes, there would definitely need to be a 5/8" arbor option, with or without bushing, given that many bench grinders sold here in Australia have a 5/8" shaft.

If the price was attractive, I could live with a 20mm wide wheel, but would prefer a 25mm width. I've assumed that the Woodriver wheel was 1" wide, although it hasn't said so.

On the currency side, as long as the Renminbi is tied to the US$ it doesn't make much difference whether we are buying from US or China. As long as the A$ is rising against the US$ all Aussie importers will be laughing. However, should the US ever get its way in getting the Chinese to appreciate the yuan then... what Ern said...

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Yep, 1" wide and 5/8 arbour is what I'm looking for.

And I'm more than willing to support a local retailer.

That said, it's a rapidly shifting game $ wise.

Also bear in mind that the $US75 discount from Woodcraft runs out on 31/10/2010 (10/31/2010).

This amounts to a $US10-$US15 discount per wheel, or around 7-10%.

'Bird in the hand' is my view at this stage.

Early adopters in Aus will generate a demand momentum for a local importer.

After chatting with Brendan over the weekend and seeing what the wheel will do it should be ok.

He now has to go back to china and let them know exactly what it is he wants in both the 150mm and 200mm size.

We agreed that the 20mm width is not suitable and that a 25 or 40mm wide wheel would be better.

What may frighten brendan is the MOQ that they put on the product.

There is definatly a demand but the order may be a quantity that would last for some years and the problem is that once you sell a wheel you will not see that customer again.

If brendan goes ahead with this it could still be 3-4 months before he has the goods in hand.

I guess if you buy from China, it doesn't make any difference, but there are 3 sizes of US postal flat rate boxes. The large one is 12 by 12 by 5 1/2 inches, with a max weight of 20 pounds. I did send one box to Australia, and it seemed like it was less than $40. In the US, it is $14. They do go airmail.

robo hippy

The "diamond" wheel I got off Brendan is 200mm x 20mm x 5/8"hole. It fits and runs true as. The 20mm width is OK as I use a Kelton/McNaughton sharpening jig. A 25mm or 40mm would be good but the cost will go up too.

Originally Posted by robo hippy

I guess if you buy from China, it doesn't make any difference, but there are 3 sizes of US postal flat rate boxes. The large one is 12 by 12 by 5 1/2 inches, with a max weight of 20 pounds. I did send one box to Australia, and it seemed like it was less than $40. In the US, it is $14. They do go airmail.

robo hippy

Thanks for that info Robo.

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I have emailed the manufacturer today. In the past he has been very quick to respond. I will be making a decision as quickly as I can but as Jim said, it will depend on a few things. I have asked about the wheels being made 25mm and yes the arbour was 5/8" but I needed a bush for my 6" grinder. I find the 20mm good on the 6" but Jim has also told me some grinders don't have enough arbour thread to cope with this width.

I can't provide you with a clear time frame, sorry. So, if you all want to go ahead with the bulk order from US then do so confident in the knowledge I wont be upset (too much!!!)

I didn't think I'd be putting an order into Woodcraft until early next week. I'm happy to hold off until then Brendan if that gives you enough time to come back with an indication of whether you are going ahead or not.

After all, this was your party so I don't wish to spoil it for you...

I note Ern's concern about striking while the A$ is hot. On the other hand, Brendan might supply us with a wheel at a price below whatever the AUD/USD fluctuations may deliver.

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Originally Posted by NeilS

Thanks for that info Big Shed. If we could get the cost down to that on the shipping it would make a significant difference to the overall cost.

Not sure why Woodcraft didn't offer that option (I did ask for the non-express/priority method). I'll sound them out now on USPS shipping, Flat Box Rate.

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This is the reply I got back from Woodcraft about using USPS shipping, Flat Box Rate:

Thank you for your response. The shipping we quoted on the previous email are the shipping options available for this inquiry. Please feel free to contact us again if we may be of further assistance.

Thanks,
Ericka
[email protected]

Not sure why Big Shed was able to get things sent via USPS shipping, Flat Box Rate and why this is not an option for this order. Perhaps a weight/size issue.

Any thoughts?

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I couldn't get Woodcraft to budge on the shipping method, but I did get them to offer a 15% discount on the bulk buy. So that will offset the extra cost on the shipping, but I'm not sure that we could also add the $75 voucher discount on top of that.

Without the voucher the sums look like this:

9 x diamond wheels @ US$149.99 US$1349.91
Less 15% discount of US$202.57 US$1147.50
2 x shipping costs*

5 x wheels - US$134
4 x wheels - US$124

US$258

Total US$1405.50

Cost per wheel shipped from US = US$156.17

That will have to be converted to A$ at the going exchange rate + about 3% for the forex conversion fee.

There is still the cost of local postage to be added to that. The wheels weigh 2.08 kilograms each so that will be another A$10.30 to post on in a 3kg satchel.

If we had paid for the wheels today at an exchange rate of A$1S$0.99 then the individual cost of a wheel delivered to your mail box would be A$172.75. By my calculations that's a saving of A$63.42 if purchased individually...

Whoever puts their hand up to receive the second package will also save themselves the $10.30... ... for their trouble of posting on four wheels to the others.

* has to be sent as two packages to get the value of each below our customs threshold of $1000

The outstanding question, can Brendan supply a comparable wheel into our mailboxes for A$172.75?

I'll email him today to see where he is with his import exercise.

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I am happy to be the addressee for 1/2 of the purchase ( Sydney seems t be a good place for the distribtuion to ACT, NSW and QLD, at least)