The Linisher arrived today.
First time I've had a Heavy Delivery from Axminster which went flawlessly. I was concerned about the fact that we have loose stone outside the workshop which is not ideal for trolleying stuff and so emailed Axminster ahead just to alert them. Graham (the driver) had it all sussed...excellent job.
Then the phrase 'Houston...we have a problem' sprang to mind. I didn't realise that it came in two bits. There is this bit
which weighs this much
and needs to be lifted onto this
and there's only me and LOL...no neighbours, no fellow workers. Acrow props, oak beam, shackles?
Remove the outer casing to see what can be removed
and the cast iron table can come off. To cut a long story short, LOML and I struggled but we managed it.
Opening all the boxes and plastic bags revealed everything needed to get it all working. There are some obvious things like the mitre fence out of shot.
Everything, that is, apart from an installation manual. There is a very poor and laughable user manual. But nothing to say how it all goes together. Nothing on Axminster's website either. Spoke to Technical who offered to help if I sent some digital images of the bits I was unsure of ....which is helpful...but come on, guys.....your customers should not have to play guessing games and 'Where does this bit go?'. And that is ignoring wasted time waiting for a reply. But we got there...sort of..in the end.
This was the last bit that I couldn't see where it should go.
The photos in the user manual are...um..well...not exactly helpful. But with the aid of a magnifying glass and some time spent poring over the exploded parts diagram, it turns out that it fixes to the top and stops you letting any wood disappear into where the motor is.
OK...first impressions....in comparison with the Jet, as far as I can see, it comes with spring assists on the cast-iron table which is rather good. Testing the flatness of the cast-iron table it is reasonable...it dips in the middle slightly by about 0.3mm and I'm not that fussed. It's a sander at the end of the day. Of more concern to me is whether the belt is consistent at 90 degrees to the table across it's length...which it is...just about..it's slightly out right on the extreme left hand end but only by a very very small smidgeon and nothing to worry about.
The Linisher comes with a small cast iron table that fits on a spigot at the end of the machine so you can use it as a drum sander. Frankly, Axminster need not have bothered as it's so far out of true. Put it upside down on the main bed and it rocks ...noticeably. It also dips in the middle by 0.7mm. Junk. I'm not that fussed as I will probably never use it. Maybe the Jet one is flat?
So far, so good. Turn it on..it goes whirly whirly and up and down. The belt stays true and so the machine has been set-up with the right tension. It will sand.
What else? I've saved the best 'til last. The dust extraction unit. Whoever designed the fixing of it should be taken away somewhere quiet and told to go and get another job. It is rubbish. No, it redefines rubbish. It is totally pants. It is a flimsy bit of metal..with no structural strength. It has only one fixing point at the back which means that the front is unsupported and totally reliant on the stiffness of the unit to stop it fouling the sanding belt. But it has no stiffness and so it fouls the belt.
This is further compounded by where the outlet pipe is..at the side. So the heavy extraction pipe is going to try and drag the unit downwards, thus forcing the unit even harder into the sanding belt. As it stands IT IS USELESS. :evil: The phrase 'NOT FOR FOR PURPOSE' springs to mind. Certainly you cannot use this as it stands. But why should the customer have to dream up something? That will waste a day trying to make the bloody thing useable. Either that or remove it completely and have no dust extraction. Great idea. :evil:
Anything else...the thread for the handle that you use when moving the motor/belt assembly to the required angle is graunched and so you can't get the knob on it. No easy way to run a die on it as it is too close to the main assembly. You can see that it looks to have had some 'action' done to it as the thread is now unpainted.
And lastly the door lock on the cabinet has to be the cheapest, nastiest, most obnoxious, 'every time you use it you want to throw up or take a cold chisel to it' on the planet. Lots of nice nasty edges to cut you thrown in for good measure.
So...summary....disappointed. 6/10
