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The Hobbyist Machine Store
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News archive
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News
Tool Orders
Taig tool accessories have been moving well since the first of the year. Folks must be using their machine tools more now that the Northern Hemisphere is in the grip of winter and we have to stay indoors to keep warm.
Winter has been rather mild so far in Texas but in January we did get 6 inches of rain where I live. We are still in a drought mode but all that rain did help. An Ice storm could still be on the way for us.
Thanks for the orders and here's hoping the cold weather doesn't last too long where you are.
Merry Christmas!
And very happy holidays. No mater what your religion of beliefs may be, the end of the year is always a time of self examination and a look back over the year. For some it may have been a hard time and we hope what is ahead for them and for all of you will be better.
As for me I want to thank all my customers for choosing THMS to make a purchase this year. It makes the effort worth while when I get an order for gears and other items because I know you are trusting your payment to me that I will faithfully fulfill your order. My aim is to always do my best.
Have a great New Year - Dan
Small Manufacturers
THMS presents an opportunity for small "cottage" manufacturing. Our goal is to assist you in marketing your tool, gadget, or accessory with a professional web presentation.
We are also interested in presenting finely crafted "shop built" original items of any type that are a step above a weekend craft project.
Have your name or company name dispalyed in the Manufacturers list.
Send a "Contact Us" email to start a dialog.
Taig Info
The Taig parts stock is back to normal here in THMS.
We have added some additional Taig Accessories to our inventory:
T1066 - Unground tool bits
T1200 - Lathe Top Slide
T1210 - Radius Turner
T1221 - 3/4-16 Chuck Adapter
Sorry, many quantities are low and some Taig items are out of stock. Business was slower than normal this summer so I was watching and limiting stock levels. Of course I can drop ship from supplier, but I like to maintain inventory on what turns over quickly.
Thankfully orders all over the world have picked up again. My standard stock items are on order and should be back to normal in 7 to 10 days. I am adding a couple more items too! Please watch for announcements here in this column. - Dan
The gears are back in stock. This is a picture (next to a mini lathe) of just the new order. Not the complete stock of gears already here at THMS. Orders can now be placed. Thanks for your patience ~ Dan'l
Gear Status
The change gears and 80 tooth gears are out of stock. More are coming. I'll make a posting here when they are in stock so you don't have to search.
You can also subscribe (below) and this column will be emailed to you.
Wet or Dry?
We just passed Memorial Day here in the USA so that is usually the official start of Summer no matter what the calendar says.
We are busy filling orders and ducking the passing rain storms. No hurricanes (cyclones) yet but lots of tornado's in Texas and the USA. Lots of weather and natural disaster all over the world. Weather may affect shipping to anywhere these days. No delays I know of so far, so that is good. Texas can always use the water.
A long dry Spring permitted a huge wild fire to burn west of Dallas and Ft. Worth. Lot's of property damage but Dallas and THMS were far from any danger.
I hope you all stay safe and dry as this planet changes it weather patterns. Keep the chips flying!
Proxxon Price NOW CURRENT
I just updated the US product prices for Proxxon items I sell. The PD400 lathe and accessories HAVE been updated.
Some of the standard line products I was able to lower the price slightly. Other items have gone up in price a few percent.
Not so bad considering the US and world economy. Not sure how stable any of that will be.
Shipping Problem
I use the USPS (United States Postal Service) on-line service to estimate shipping cost when customers place an order. The USPS must have shut down the software version I was using to request the shipping cost. The problem (for me) was it didn't seem to happen all at once. Export calculations seemed to fail first then the domestic.
Please accept my appologies for not being on top of this change. If I received a notice of the change, either I ignored it or it got lost in the spam. It has taken me two days to figure out what was going on. Actually not going on.
I did upgrade the THMS store system software to the latest version, but that wasn't the problem. You may see slight differences. In any case I believe I have it repaired.
Happy New Year!
It's great to start off a new year working on some projects in the shop. Or, if you need to, making that steel gear update to your mini lathe or mini mill.
A few folks write me to ask what shipping may cost. Many of those are for export orders. The store's X-Cart software will compute the shipping cost for the method you select and show you that cost before you are committed to payment. You do have a chance to change your mind.
Occasionally some export orders have problems with the PayPal process while other folks from the same location have no problem. I have never had PayPal take money and then not work. I suspect there is some bit of information PayPal doesn't understand in the address format that makes it not take the payment. It could also be that some counties do not have a currency exchange with PayPal as I can only accept payment in US dollars.
Send me an email if there is a problem and I will work with you the best I can. The THMS store software works very well so most non USA order issues are rooted in PayPal.
Otherwise, Have a great New Year!
Gear Sets Available
The mini-lathe replacenent steel gears are back in stock.
All gears sets are again complete and ready for shipment to you. Best buys are always the complete set as they have a 15% discount. Individule gear orders always welcome.
I have a great looking new product I will be offering in The Hobbyist Machine Store in November. It is a very high quality 12 inch slip roll machine with 1 inch diameter precision ground and polished tool steel rollers. This machine will roll form all types of light gage (0.040 max) sheet metal into tubes, cones, funnels and other rolled shapes. With its wire groves it will also form up to 0.156 inch diameter wire into rings.
Its small size is perfect for hobby, model and craft activities but is actually a professional industrial quality tool. Tight diameter tubes (allowing for spring back) can be formed with the small diameter 1 inch rolls (requiring the quality of tool steel) which are an improvement over the larger 1 ½ inch soft bar-stock rolls found on low quality imports. Oh, yeah… this machine is entirely made in America.
It's been a hot summer here in North Texas. Not record breaking but many days of well over 100 degrees. Workshop activity slows as folks spend more time outdoors (even if it is hot!)
The THMS store sales are a bit slow in Summer as to be expected. But school is starting here in the U.S. so vacations are mostly over. That usually brings workshop hobbies back to life.
The daylight hours shorten in the northern hemisphere especially when the time change hits again. That too encourages hobbyist to move back to their workshop activities.
Our business picks up as Fall and Winter approach, which are definitely the building seasons here.
We ship products to Australia which is opposite to here. Days are getting longer down South.
Thanks to everyone, everywhere for buying at THMS any time of the year!
The Google experiment was a disaster. They try too hard to own or totally control a vendor's business. The THMS problem is they couldn't automatically talk back to this web site. We turned it off for now.
PayPal works just fine. We may consider other pay options in the future.
Good news for the Proxxon PD400 lathe. The price has DROPED by about $60. It all has to do with the value of the dollar and the Euro. Prices have been adjusted here in THMS. No US stock (unstable trade dollars) so must be shipped direct from Germany. Well worth the wait!
The Taig sales have been nice. Thank you all for the orders. It's good to see the economy pick up a little and some folks getting back to hobby interests.
Mini machine gears are selling well too. Quite a few international orders. The mini-mills and the mini lathe are popular machines all over the world.
I added Google as an option for processing orders. I ran some tests but to be honest, I am not positive how well it works. Let me know of any problems if you try it.
I will reject underpriced orders with errors such as no shipping, etc. so there is no reason to think there is an advantage to exploit an error. I'll fix things like overcharges too so honesty works both ways!
Thanks, Dan
Taig Inventory
I am adding some Taig accessories to my inventory. I can get anything Taig offers but I can't (yet) stock everything. So I am adding a few pieces at a time so I can see what you are interested in buying.
It is not like stocking up on consumables. Most tool purchases are one time and it last forever.
You can always send me an email with suggestions.
I have both sizes of the Taig belt in stock. Display add soon. They last forever when kept in proper alignment and tension. I did wreck one or two when I first started so it is nice to have a spare.
I have added the 1/4" sq Taig HSS tool bits as that is an easy way to get the right shape.
Stay tuned!
Yesterday a customer discovered shipping wasn't working here in THMS. A store software update had created a zip code conflict between the THMS address and the USPS estimating system. The error message made it look like the customer's address was at fault. Neither the customer or I could see any problem with his address.
The problem is fixed. If you had any problems with shipping in the last few days, please try again. Thank you for waiting. I learned updates sometimes break things that were not broken before...
There were some expected small price increases in the Proxxon product line on the first of March. THMS expects Proxxon prices will remain stable for most if not all year.
Just added to the THMS catalog is the small handheld Proxxon rotary tool, Micromot 50/E. It's the first low voltage tool we have offered and THMS is impressed with the performance and smooth quite operation.
THMS now includes insurance and signature requirements on all shipments. Recent problems have illustrated best customer protection should be automatic. It raises customer cost by only 1 to 2 percent. Also most credit services (PayPal, Google, etc.) with "buyer protection" require this for seller protection.
Read the "Tems and Conditions" under the HELP bar in the left column for full information.
I hope you like the THMS site face lift if you have visited the old site before. Old members will have to register again. You must now subscribe to receive news and other info by email.
This new format and the software that drives it provides both the customer and the vendor a much improved user experiance. As with any change as large as this, there may be a few bugs in the cracks somewhere. I have been working hard before the release to eliminate all I could find. There is a lot of set up and options to select and get right.
Some things may work a bit different than before, but I think for the better. The underlying software is very popular and in wide use so the interface is pretty much industry standard. There is an email link in the left column if you need to report a problem. Thanks for visiting THMS.
