Just an update on my mill saga.
I called Chester UK this morning and requested that the salesman from Harrogate be ready to receive me mid afternoon.
Got there approx the right time, and sure enough he was waiting for me. Head slightly bowed from the email tongue lashing I had given him. My first instruction was, 'any BS and you can forget any sales'.
First things first, he gets his version of the catalogue out, the one BEFORE all taxes are added., and duly stated, your order will be totally tax free - good saving already, 17.5% discount.
So with a little bit of arm twisting, I got a very good upgrade on the supplied vice for nothing, and again a very good price for a full ER32 collet set and holder, and a y axis power feed (it comes with x axis). While I sort of had him in a daze, I ordered a load of toolholders for the lathe (20+) at the same deal we have for the miller, plus a couple of sets of soft jaws for the supplied 3 jaw.
Then at the very end when he was wringing his hands with glee, I dropped the last bombshell. I said I wanted the mill to have the same readout as my ordered lathe. They are the very latest, and can be used on either at the touch of a button. 'Very sorry, the one that comes with it, is the one you have to have' he says. 'OK then' says I, 'forget all about the mill, I will just pay for the lathe now'. Half way thru writing the cheque for the lathe, he stops me and says 'give me five minutes'. He comes back and says, 'OK we can do that just for you', what a BS'er, but at least it got me what I wanted. So I duly wrote the cheque and got everything down in writing.
It might seem I was a little hard about the DRO, but there is method in my madness.
The mill comes with 2 axis DRO, I want a 3 axis. For Chester to upgrade to 3 axis they want £500 ($1000), and they get to keep the old 2 axis readout they remove. Now I will have the same readout on there as the lathe, so by removing the 2 axis readout from the mill, and fitting it to my lathe for my 3rd and 4th. Then buying the same make 3 axis readout with the two readers for the lathe and the extra one for the mill, I can get both machines done for £450 ($900). 'Devious thinking', I says to myself.
So basically I had a good afternoon, got myself everything I wanted, and for over £600 ($1200) less than I should have paid. That will pay for all the new chucks and collets for the lathe.
Now the bad news. My lathe will not arrive in the country until early August, so more chewing bricks and climbing up the walls. But at least the shop will be ready for them when they are installed, and I can now start to order all my shiny new tooling.
So it looks like my September date for getting the shop up to speed was about right.
Smiling Bogs.
