Woodmizer Tuneups....???

[TnAndy]

Woodmizer is putting on a demo show and some seminars near Asheville, NC next month.....they are also doing saw tuneups in the $195 to $545 range, depending on what you get.......which from the list, doesn't seem like a whole lot to me.....

Anybody ever gotten one of these and did you think it was worth the money ??

Thanks

[Tom]

In 1991 I took my saw to the Georgia distributership for a lineup because I didn't know my Butt from a hole in the ground.   I was there 3 days (they were busy) and learned a lot by watching.  My charges, including travel and room were $800+.  I thought it was well worth it.  Sometimes you learn more by watching and helping someone who knows, than trying to learn from a book.  The blade alignment, guide alignment and tower adjustment were worth the money at the time for the education.  What they charged me was somewhere in the neighborhood of $500.

knowing what I know now, I wouldn't do it because it is expensive for just an alignment if you know how to do one.

Oh,  in fairness, this also took advantage of an upgrade where they replaced my drive side Pillar Block 'bearing with the "NEW" oil bath bearing.  That was a lot of the charge but I don't know how much.

[woodman]

  Andy i fix it myself went to NY one time for a semenar the people there put on a grate do it yourself fix it show and answerd all my ?. For me it's 6 hours to NY or 3+ to the new place in Maine. So you can see why i fix it myself.

[Tom]

AHa-a-a  Brainstorm.

If you just went and watched the tuneups being performed you would get as much out of it as if you had them tune your mill.  It's seeing it done that makes it worth the time.  

Take your manual and pencils to make notes and make friends with someone who is getting one done so you can help if they allow it.

[Bibbyman]

Something to think about is;  

If you hear Wood-Mizer is putting on a demo in a city near you,  you can often arrange to have them tune up your mill before or after the show.  I've seen them do the tune up (even had one done) where they did the show.  In my case, I brought my mill up and set it up in some vacant area on the fair grounds and after the show was over they went through it and replaced a few worn parts and put it back into adjustment.  On the same trip,  they arrived the day before the show and went to a WM owner's sawmill and tuned it up there. The big deal is that they don't charge you the driving fee from Indy or wherever. ;D

Plus,  if you know they are coming to your town and you need parts or blades,  you can order them and have the demo team bring them to show – thus saving the shipping cost. ;)

I agree, going through the mill with these guys is a real positive experience and I don't think they mind a bit showing you how it's done.  :P

[Gordon]

They are smart to want to share the information with the customers. That way the mill runs better, and if the mill runs better you have a much happier customer. After doing alot of reading on mills this is where alot of other bandmill companies need improvement. Customer relations.

An educated customer will help the parent company much more than hurt it. At the company I used to work at we used to give free seminars to help educate the owners and we got alot of good customers that way. Yes they would do somethings themselves but at least they knew how do do them correctly and guess what. A happy customer is alot better to have on your side than one steaming mad.

I think it would be money well spent.
Gordon