Fumin' but it's my fault

[Gareth0123]

I'm fumin' but it's atually my fault


In mid November I took my Draper vertical bandsaw to a local repair man who has both a very good reputation and has done PAT testing and repair jobs for me in the past, including replacing the power cables on various angle grinders, powerfiles and Jigsaws, and has replaced motor brushes in various other power tools including a sliding mitre saw for me.

It seemed sensible to me to let him have my rather old made in 1996 Draper Vertical bandsaw in for repair when it began making loud noises. I bought this Bandsaw second hand for £30 back in 2010, and even though it has only done a total of 20-25ish hours of work in all those years it owes me absolutely nothing and it even still had the 10mm wide X 1mm thick X 6TPI blade I bought it with..... had being the operative word here.

I took it in for repair, told him to get around to it when he could as I was in no rush whatsoever and he's had it for about seven maybe eight weeks now.
I rang him up yesterday to see if it was ready as I now need it and the reply was yes. The Bill was £30 all in for new motor brushes, a thorough clean and a PAT test, all of which I thought was very reasonable until I picked the saw up this morning.

It is immaculately clean, the motor runs smoothly and quietly and there is a nice bright green PAT test sticker on it..... lovely jubbly I thought until I noticed the blade was missing. So I enquired about the missing blade as I knew for a fact it had one on when I took it in to him.
The answer I got was: "My insurance company won't allow me to return a repaired power tool with the existing blade in it or disc in it"

I replied; "OK, can I have the blade, I'll refit it when I get back home."

"Sorry, No. I haven't got it, I have to dispose of them when I take them off."

"What about the sliding cross-cut Mitre saw you repaired for me last Autumn then?"

"Er,, that didn't have a blade on it when it came in."

(That's when I remembered that my table saw, mitre saw and circular saw all have the same size blades and I swap them about to suit the job at hand.)

"So why didn't you tell me about this new policy of disposing of fitted blades and discs then?"

"Er, didn't you read the big sign hanging up behind me over the counter or the clearly visible note on the job acceptance receipt that you signed?"

"Doh!"


Anyway my lesson is learnt ............... and on the plus side I have two new blades on the way to me from Amazon. Both of the new replacements are 6.35mm wide X 1mm thick, one is 10tpi and the second is 14tpi, both of which will hopefully make cleaner, smoother and tighter more detailed radius cuts.

 

[Screwdriver]

I had a similar issue once with a certain Stan Stevens two stroke tuning guru.

Took my RG500 engine in to him for a complete refurb (gear mod, rebuild, new everything). The instant I placed this precious object on the bench he whipped out a pair of pliers and chopped the tops off all four spark plugs! these were super high spec iridium/unobtanium race plugs.

"WTF!!" I asked.

"Oh I always do that. You'd be surprised how often we have problems caused by old spark plugs" he smirked...

They weren't old.

 

[redlig]

I'm fumin' but it's atually my fault


In mid November I took my Draper vertical bandsaw to a local repair man who has both a very good reputation and has done PAT testing and repair jobs for me in the past, including replacing the power cables on various angle grinders, powerfiles and Jigsaws, and has replaced motor brushes in various other power tools including a sliding mitre saw for me.

It seemed sensible to me to let him have my rather old made in 1996 Draper Vertical bandsaw in for repair when it began making loud noises. I bought this Bandsaw second hand for £30 back in 2010, and even though it has only done a total of 20-25ish hours of work in all those years it owes me absolutely nothing and it even still had the 10mm wide X 1mm thick X 6TPI blade I bought it with..... had being the operative word here.

I took it in for repair, told him to get around to it when he could as I was in no rush whatsoever and he's had it for about seven maybe eight weeks now.
I rang him up yesterday to see if it was ready as I now need it and the reply was yes. The Bill was £30 all in for new motor brushes, a thorough clean and a PAT test, all of which I thought was very reasonable until I picked the saw up this morning.

It is immaculately clean, the motor runs smoothly and quietly and there is a nice bright green PAT test sticker on it..... lovely jubbly I thought until I noticed the blade was missing. So I enquired about the missing blade as I knew for a fact it had one on when I took it in to him.
The answer I got was: "My insurance company won't allow me to return a repaired power tool with the existing blade in it or disc in it"

I replied; "OK, can I have the blade, I'll refit it when I get back home."

"Sorry, No. I haven't got it, I have to dispose of them when I take them off."

"What about the sliding cross-cut Mitre saw you repaired for me last Autumn then?"

"Er,, that didn't have a blade on it when it came in."

(That's when I remembered that my table saw, mitre saw and circular saw all have the same size blades and swap them about to suit the job at hand.)

"So why didn't you tell me about this new policy of disposing of fitted blades and discs then."

"Er, didn't you read the big sign hanging up behind the counter or the clearly visible note on the job acceptance receipt that you signed?"

"Doh!"


Any way my lesson is learnt ............... and on the plus side I have two new blades on the way to me from Amazon. Both of the new replacements are 6.3.5mm wide X 1mm thick, one is 10tpi and the second is 14tpi, both of which will hopefully make cleaner, smoother cuts and tighter more detailed radius cuts.

What the hell is this world coming too. As if I didn't know the answer. All together " SNOWFLAKES RULE"
Isn't the disposal without your specific permission theft ?

 

[redlig]

I had a similar issue once with a certain Stan Stevens two stroke tuning guru.

Took my RG500 engine in to him for a complete refurb (gear mod, rebuild, new everything). The instant I placed this precious object on the bench he whipped out a pair of pliers and chopped the tops off all four spark plugs! these were super high spec iridium/unobtanium race plugs.

"WTF!!" I asked.

"Oh I always do that. You'd be surprised how often we have problems caused by old spark plugs" he smirked...

They weren't old.

So basically £200.00 in the bin . I can understand the reluctance to use your existing plugs but surely it was your decision to bin them. I've still got a ice-cream container full of dodgy racing plugs that will come in handy one day.

 

[James1979]

I’m actually lost for words and that happens rarely!!

It’s not his fault but ffs. Who are these people who make this up!

Same as the over zealous loler inspectors that get on my wick and destroy gear.

 

[Gareth0123]

What the hell is this world coming too. As if I didn't know the answer. All together " SNOWFLAKES RULE"
Isn't the disposal without your specific permission theft ?

It is not the Snowflakes who rule, but the Insurance companies maximising their profits by not paying out on claims.

 

[gaz1]

It’s not his fault but ffs. Who are these people who make this up!

Same as the over zealous loler inspectors that get on my wick and destroy gear.

its not when you think about it

i suspect it comes from the petrol / electric grinders where its too dangerous to supply the customer there original blade back
and also too dangerous to be repaired and spun in the repair shop

now id be miffed if they removed a 30.00+ stone cutting blade and binned it
circular saws and table saw blades its the same thing

but i agree blades should be returned too customers unless its with the grinder fibre blades

 

[pcwizme]

I am glad the chainsaw servicing crew dont do this!
That said I can see the stores side.

 

[Erie Fred]

Many years ago I read of a similar problem, but it was justified (sort of).
Someone mailed a Lycoming aircraft engine camshaft back to the factory for inspection and overhauling (if possible).

It was worn beyond use, and Lycoming sent it back with a reject sticker, and sawn in half.
Nothing was indicated before hand about this policy.

The story related to me, was that the OEM did not want that camshaft re-installed in an airplane, and figured any lawsuit from
the destroying of the part was cheaper than the lawsuit from a crashed airplane.

 

[droopsnoot]

Isn't the disposal without your specific permission theft ?

If there's a sign clearly on display, and there is a note on the job card that the OP signed, that would probably be enough to be seem as giving specific permission.

A more reasonable person might have taken a minute to point them out and say "do you want to take the blade out before you sign it over to me?"

 

[pcwizme]

Many years ago I read of a similar problem, but it was justified (sort of).
Someone mailed a Lycoming aircraft engine camshaft back to the factory for inspection and overhauling (if possible).

It was worn beyond use, and Lycoming sent it back with a reject sticker, and sawn in half.

The story related to me, was that the OEM did not want that camshaft installed in an airplane, and figured any lawsuit from
the destroying the part was cheaper than the lawsuit from a crashed airplane.

same thing is done with dive bottles that fail test, they are cut in half to stop them being used.

 

[Gragson]

You do get some right pedants tho.
A guy we had in maintenance who was qualified in nothing went round the building with a fresh PAT test report cutting off plugs on failed item.
He did it to the MDs desk lamp - an antique and very expensive art deco item, pretty promptly sacked - true story.

 

[dobbslc]

I've still got a ice-cream container full of dodgy racing plugs that will come in handy one day.

I have a few old plugs too! I've also got some slightly second hand pistons...

 

[Dilkris]

same thing is done with dive bottles that fail test, they are cut in half to stop them being used.

This is interesting - how do they actually "fail" ?? Surely not during a pressure text.

 

[Shox Dr]

I can understand the shops POV, however it would have been polite to point it out.

We would not return suspension units, unless a desclaimer was signed to state it was not to be rebuilt or parts used. This saved my arris later on... we had returned a rear suspension unit to a customer (in bits) It had been in for service, required internals, for which he didnt want to pay for. He signed disclaimer. xx months later we get legal action. The little darling had rebuilt it and crashed, the shock been the problem.

One piece of A4 paper saved me one hell of a lot of grief and money.

 

[Migmac]

They could at least tell you and let you take the bits off of equipment before they take whatever over the counter.

 

[Arc Tourist]

same thing is done with dive bottles that fail test, they are cut in half to stop them being used.

Many years ago overseas, I Took one of my dive tank's in for a hydro test. It didn't pass, and was returned with a very conspicuous hole drilled in the shoulder of the tank.

 

[Erie Fred]

This is interesting - how do they actually "fail" ?? Surely not during a pressure text.

A standard "hydro" test is more than simply filling with water and then pressurizing to an amount over regular usage (for example 150%)
It's done inside a larger water filled vessel to tell exactly how much the tank under pressure expands, and if it comes back to normal size after release.

 

[Robotstar5]

same thing is done with dive bottles that fail test, they are cut in half to stop them being used.

The ex-police BMW's that were sent to auction due to engine safety issues had a hole drilled through the block with a hole saw.

 

[Dilkris]

A standard "hydro" test is more than simply filling with water and then pressurizing to an amount over regular usage (for example 150%)
It's done inside a larger water filled vessel to tell exactly how much the tank under pressure expands, and if it comes back to normal size after release.

Thanks Erie Fred - I honestly never knew that. . So I assume if the tank does not come back displacing the original external volume once emptied of the the testing pressure , the integrity of the tank is considered to have "yielded" and therefore fails. Correct?