Kitting out a new workshop

[Adam]

Steve,

This link is worth having a read about to:

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... onstration

I have seen a demo. of the Record Maxi 26 but I was not impressed by the pressed steel work tops. Some of the people attending had already purchased this machine but had gone to the demo to complain about faults the machine had developed

I have never heard of people actually turning up at demonstrations to complain about something they have already bought. Now thats frustration....

 

[Signal]

My tupence worth on Record, or more precisely the Maxi26

I have one and to be honest now I have managed to get all the bits which
where missing I like it. But that said it only cost me a bottle of alkehole plus about 200 quid for the missing bits

Didnt make it to Ally paly at the weekend but BIL did and he managed to collar some one from the record stand and we have now ironed out the last remaining niggles with it.

Most peoples niggles seem to be with the fence, but to be honest ours is easy to adjust and locks square every time.

However I would say ours is a much older model, AEG badged, so I wonder if over the years between the manufacture of ours and the present things may have gone a bit wonky with regards to quality.

Would I pay 2K for a new one, no Id buy something more substantial like the Jet and get the other bits as seperates. Which would more than likely push me over the 2K for the maxi.


Signal

 

[woodshavings]

Hi Signal - good to hear you have your Maxi up and running !

I checked out the Maxi at Ally Pally, the fence clamp was very rigid and seemed accurate. Maybe the quality control at Lurem may have been weak in the past.
I remain very pleased with my Maxi - fence clamp apart, it is excellent, particularly the table saw/sliding table .
I am going to contact Record to see if they will change my fence clamp.
Cheers
John

 

[Steve]

Fair enough Adam - I've heard bad things about their combi too. In Record's defence however, they've just done a management buyout last year, and they are re-sourcing most of their range to get back to the Record quality of yesteryear, after having being bought by Irwin and had quality 'sidelined'. One of their dealers is a good mate of mine, and he tells me that the staff were none too happy. Now that the staff actually own Record, things should get progressively better.
The Record CL4 lathe is an outstanding machine that is also really well made and finished. Similarly, the RBS14 bandsaw is terrific - I'm delighted with it. If Record really can get 'back to the old standards' - it'll be fantastic. Especially as they employ Brits in Sheffield.
It's up to we customers to keep the faith, keep them on their toes and keep them in business. There are precious few domestic companies left, and although Record have been forced into buying a great deal from abroad, the new stuff will be made with the original Record tooling and to the 'old' standards.

 

[Guest]

My only piece of Record equipment is a mortiser. It is a solid piece but I don't think whoever designed it had ever used a mortiser.The part which holds down the work has no relationship with the motor head,each time I make any adjustment I have to set everything square again.The fence is very difficult to lock in place but I think I have worked out how to overcome that problem.All in all,what could be a good pice of kit is spoiled for the want of a bit of forethought.wish I'd known about the trend jig before I bought the Record.

 

[Anonymous]

I started from scratch a couple of years ago with a plan to build the bedroom furniture the other half wanted but couldn't find to buy.....

I ran 4mm armoured cable down the garden from a 32amp circuit breaker in the main house consumer unit. In the shed I have a 25 amp breaker and then a small consumer unit that splits it into separate ring main and lighting circuits. I usually only run 1 machine plus dust extractor at a time, and I use gas heating rather than electric, so i've never had a tripout....

I got the kity bestcombi from new as i knew I wanted to work on some fairly big pieces. I'm fortunate in having a dedicated 16x12 workshop so it sits in the middle of the shop most of the time, although I do drag it to one side if I need to run 8x4 boards over the saw. Still learning to get the best from it but so far I've been pleased with it - fine adjustment seems better controlled and sturdy than on the record maxi I looked at. It does take a bit of planning on the order of work, although its only really the saw and the spindle moulder that get in each others way....and if I'm working a number of identical or same dimension items I always make a couple of extras blanks from the thicknesser so i've got spares if something goes wrong with a later process. But of course this was when they were still a going concern, but you often see second hand come up in the magazines.

Another tip that has proved itself was 2 freestanding benches along one wall with the floor standing pillar drill in between them. That way I can support long work pieces on the benches whilst drilling, and I can also drag the benches out and put them together when glueing up large items.

I've got a small axminster bench mount mortiser screwed to a couple of 50x100mm feet which in turn have coach bolts and wing nuts through holes facing one end of one bench. That way i can take it off when I need the whole bench clear and just stand it on the floor. In use I have to drag the end of bench out from the wall but it is stable and doesn't tip forward in use as you have the whole weight of the bench hanging out behind it.

Bandsaw sits on an old workmate, usually against the wall but is light enough to be swung around or dragged out for more clearance when working on large pieces...but I tend to use the table saw much more for long work.

on the nightschool/course front I tried a year at a local college evening class and learnt very little, especially about machines as they weren't insured for students to use the big stuff. Self taught, books and lots of extreme caution...and that's after years of using normal DIY power tools for house renovations. Still intact so far but very aware of how sharp and fast TCT blades are.

Final tip - buy something cheap at machinemart and give them your address. Then every 3-4 months they mail you about special event days with 10% off all normal prices and 15% off their own Clark stuff...don't buy much of the Clark but I've saved quite a bit off the normal list price for the common brands - bosch, dewalt, makita, etc....