tablesaw group purchase?

[devonwoody]

http://burt.manufacturer.globalsources. ... le-Saw.htm

Minimum purchase twenty, unless anyone is good at chineese and negotiating.

 

[devonwoody]

email notification from ukworkshop to me says item does not exist?

 

[the_g_ster]

This made me think.

For local members, anybody ever thought of sharing key expensive items, maybe a Festool or 10, or other portable items that merit a half, third share etc.

 

[Gary S]

This made me think.

For local members, anybody ever thought of sharing key expensive items, maybe a Festool or 10, or other portable items that merit a half, third share etc.

The tricky bit comes when you have to decide who keeps it in their workshop and what happens if / when it goes wrong...! Great idea in principle but not too sure how it would work in practise.

Perhaps a better option (or one that may be easier to work!) is for people to 'rent' time with their tools - for example if you have a planer thicknesser you could charge a UKWorkshop member £5 per 30 minutes planing time (figure plucked out of the air).

Win win situation - the owner gets a few quid to put towards wood / tools, the other member gets to use someone's kit (supervised!) perhaps to try before they buy and you BOTH get to have a bit of a chat with a fellow woodworker!

I for one would be interested in this sort of setup from a "Lender" and "Borrower" perspective...

Cheers

Gary

 

[the_g_ster]

Gary S

Good point, that's worth exploring. As would trying out different tools too to see about getting your own.

Could this be a new thread like Byrons for skill share?

G

(Gotta get me a go on some nice hand planes, got one LN already and I am turning into an addict, ug)

 

[devonwoody]

When I was out in Australian, one of their forum members took me to an industrial estate, and on the site there was a tool merchant who hired out machinery for use on their premises.
Felders, hammers etc.etc.

 

[wizer]

taking it one step further.. what about a fully kitted out workshop where you could rent it, supervised, for a day, week, project, etc

 

[inventor]

I've been thinking of trying to organise exactly this, a shared workshop. I'm in Bedfordshire, left hand edge, near Milton Keynes. I'd be interested in a shared space with nice machinery, and I could contribute both some machinery and some money. However, I can see it being expensive - renting space, security, sorting out contracts. Anyone else round here want to talk?

 

[Joe90]

These are some great ideas... particularly the 'co-op' type arrangement when buying tools in bulk. Presumably there'd be savings of 50% or so.

Maybe N. Ireland members can shed some light on this... I reckon Cam Co, a tool company in N. Ireland had a special package deal a year ago or so... they were selling a table saw and a spindle moulder at reduced prices, they said it was because they had bought in bulk and were offering big discounts because of this. I'm not 100% sure what the deal was but there were great savings to be had.

I remember also last year I was looking for a larger nozzle (2.2mm or so) for my AS-1040 spray gun from Axminster, this is a cheap gun anyway but when I couldn't get the nozzles anywhere I contacted the Asian producer directly, they responded very quickly and sent me a catalogue... great prices... so great in fact I was considering starting to sell their stuff!!! :shock:
Partly because in Ireland the cheapest sprayguns on offer are £150... this is crazy money when you consider Axminster sell the AS-1040 for £25 or so.. I have two of them and I think they're grand, the only drawback is that there is no filter on the inlet, this really lets the gun down and it's such a cheap thing to leave out.
Minimum quantities may be only 6 of each item so on a forum as large as this I reckon we could easily band together and save big time.

Cheers
Joe

 

[wizer]

I've been thinking of trying to organise exactly this, a shared workshop. I'm in Bedfordshire, left hand edge, near Milton Keynes. I'd be interested in a shared space with nice machinery, and I could contribute both some machinery and some money. However, I can see it being expensive - renting space, security, sorting out contracts. Anyone else round here want to talk?

i guess you'd also need a strict Health and Safety policy as well as a hefty public liability insurance.

Are there really enough workshop-less woodworkers out there willing to pay for workshop space?

yep, i have thought about it too

 

[engineer one]

you have hit the nailon the head, elf and safety, plus public liability would be the major problems for any of these deals.

not sure how halfords did it, or indeed whether they still do rent out motor workshop space. the other problem is training. because now if you provide equipment for people to use, you must ensure that they are trained to use it safely and properly.

informal arrangements might work, but unfortunately as we all know, you lend someone your tools once, twice maybe three times, but eventually they let you down, and you don't want to do it again.

still offering sharpening help etc and teaching is a valuable resource so maybe that is the way to go.

paul :wink:

 

[Scrit]

These are some great ideas... particularly the 'co-op' type arrangement when buying tools in bulk. Presumably there'd be savings of 50% or so.

Only if you were buying direct from the manufacturer, but against that would a co-operative have to insure itself for product liability as well in the same way a regular importer would?

I'd be interested in a shared space with nice machinery, and I could contribute both some machinery and some money. However, I can see it being expensive - renting space, security, sorting out contracts.

How would you insure against liability? To me that's probably the biggest sticking point. An employer is supposed to do risk assessments on just about everything and also is required to do individual employee competence assessments/training for every machine in the place and retain the records. I'd assume that any legitimate insurer would require you to operate in the same way that colleges do, i.e. employ and have present at all times a competent person such a formally trained wood machinist or bench joiner who had been signed off on all of the machinery in the shop and to closely supervise anyone using machinery unless they had already been signed off. To me that seems like a bureaucratic nightmare. The reason why I think that would be a stumbling block is the question of liability in the event of a serious accident. I'm not saying it would happen, but injury is a lot more likely in a shop full of woodworking machinery than it is in an water-colourists co-op. Have we an insurer on the Forum who might be able to answer this? And all that's without looking at all the other stuff like PAT testing, safety checks, maintainance, etc which a hiring body would probably be subject to.

I believe that there was a group doing this in Sweden in the 1980s, but searching the net has failed to throw up any results. I was wondering what leguslative/safety hoops they neded to jump through and whether or not they still existed.

Scrit

 

[inventor]

"How would you insure against liability?"

I wouldn't. It'd have to be a co-op, rather than a supplier/customer relationship. I do think that straight rental would be possible - after all, you can do a fun day to drive a single seat racing car, so they have to have it sorted out. But I'd feel happier dealing with people I have some relationship with.

I do think I'd have everything in the shared workshop recorded on CCTV, and available to workshop members on the web. That would make us all behave, and stop arguments about who chipped which cutter, and keep us safer. But that does add to the cost. About the same cost as a spindle moulder, probably!

 

[Anonymous]

http://burt.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008802514987/pdtl/Woodworking-machine/1001376031/10-inch-Table-Saw.htm

Minimum purchase twenty, unless anyone is good at chineese and negotiating.

DW

minimum purchase is one

It is the axminster saw that I bought a few months ago - not similar, the same one

 

[tulsk]

DW- I reckon you could be on to something there!

Personally I can't see the co-op thing or tool hire having wings, but the bulk purchase proposal is a different kettle of fish. If you can find products sufficiently popular that can be sourced directly here then I think you could potentially negotiate some worthwhile savings.

just my own intuition I have no expertise

John

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi all

If anyone pursues this, please DO NOT give them the url of this site.

The last Chinese manufacturer spammed us for weeks. :roll:

Cheers
Neil

 

[devonwoody]

Back in Oz. again.

Do you know they have workshops available fully equipped with wood working machinery & tools which are available for use by men over 65.
These workshops are funded and sponsered by a church, (Uniting church of Australia). These premises are known as "MENS SHEDS".
I will sort out their web page today.

They have insurance which comes under the church all in policy.

 

[inventor]

Here's a by-the-hour rental workshop:

http://www.diywoodworks.com.au/
but it's a bit far for me

They charge Aus$15/hour, which is £6.25. That sounds tiny, hardly enough to pay the lighting bill. Anyway, someone thinks it works.

 

[lurker]

It would have to be a hell of a lot (50%) cheaper than axminster to interest me.
What happens if it does not arrive?
What happens if it arrives bust?
What happenes if it breaks down within 1st year?
What happens if it turns out to be an el rusto?
Who pays import /customs
Who covers paperework into UK

Thats the "insurance" you have from buying from Axminster etc.

I caution anyone to "Hire out" time on their machines or workshop - liabilities are enormous. And before anyone suggests it - disclaimers are not worth the paper they are written on.

 

[Alf]

Back in Oz. again.

Do you know they have workshops available fully equipped with wood working machinery & tools which are available for use by men over 65.

I'd give that five seconds over here before it was taken to court for discrimination... (on two counts, what's more)

Cheers, Alf