Attn: Frank B. from Delta

[Ba r r y]

Frank,

Sorry for the delay. When I was in the shop, I forgot, but I remembered when I was nowhere near the shop. Now, I can't find the thread where you told me you'd check into this.

The bandsaw that was missing major parts is:

28-475X s/n 03J53171

Thanks for investigating! Barry

[Frank Boettcher]

Barry

Any more details? What major parts.

I did a task force on shorted parts one time. It is a big problem for all manufactureres. And I was shocked at the different ways it can happen.

They could be left out at the factory. Certainly happens but was the least frequent.

They can fall out during shipment. Indicates a look at your package engineering to see if it is up to the task.

They could be parlayed by the dealer. By that I mean, dealer sells a floor stock model that has been on display and parts have been lost or pilfered. To make it whole his counter sales guy opens a new one and gets the part(s) out. Good intentions of ordering replacements. Forgets or the next saw is sold before they come in, Customer complains when he gets home and next box gets opened and another unit is short. Or he is told to call Delta, they will make it right under warranty if he doesn't have the parts.

Sometimes it is a bungled master box shipment, when components are shipped in more than one box and one of the boxes is left off the shipment.

For hardware, it was often using the wrong piece in the wrong place during assembly and then coming up short later on. Most domestic Delta products have a full scale drawing of each hardware piece to make sure that doesn't happen. That was one of the projects initiated by the task force.

All in all, I think we came up with over twenty root causes for shortages.

Your Band Saw was made in October of 2003. I can't remember when it started (X5) but that could have been the time that the major changes were made to the model to make it a one box shipment (stand and saw in the same package) and a lot of other improvements to the motor size, quick release, quick blade tensioning, die type tension spring, dust collection improvements, etc. When lots of running changes are taking place, sometimes the Bill of Material changes and the assembly line do not catch up with each other. If so, the factory is guilty and I apologise for it.

More importantly than any after the fact apology, I hope you were quickly made whole.

Frank

BTW someone ask in a prior post why we didn't just weigh the packages. We did try that, but the grey iron was so variable batch to batch that weight differences were inconclusive.

The usual disclaimer, I represent no one but myself.

[Ba r r y]

The top of the base cabinet, several bags of bolts, and the pulley & belt.

The box was factory sealed and nicely packed.

The store I bought it from spent 45 minutes searching the stockroom for "box 2 of 2", but it turns out that saw is packed in one box.

It was pretty obvious that the box was undisturbed. When I mentioned it to the owner of the small dealership, the answer was "not again... sigh..."

Thanks! Now that it's up and running, it's become one of my invisible tools. "Invisible tools" are tools that work so well, you forget there _is_ a tool. The 5 contacts and 30 days I spent to get it right were a PITA.

Others on the short "invisible" list are my General 650, DJ20, LV low angle block & shoulder planes, Hock irons, & my DW733.

Barry