4 Post vs. Cantilever

[jpgreen]

And.. what every you do buy GripperDogs.. 

[Engineer]

One thing I did overhear last weekend is one of the mill manufacturer's reps, and I won't say who, badmouthing Woodmizer without trying to make their own mills look any better.    I couldn't believe that they weren't trying to sell their mill on it's own merits, just had to lay down some smack on the competition. 

So there's one brand I'll never consider, thanks to their dealer rep.   

[jpgreen]

I had one major dealer sales man tell me point blank Woodmizer:

Headwobble makes inaccurate lumber

Needs at least an hour's time to align the frame each day before operation

Frame flexes making inaccurate lumber

I mentioned I had a chainsaw mill, and he also said they burn up saw heads every time.. 

... I'm sorry to be so bruttally honest but, it kinda erks me off... it was a TK salesman..  

[tcsmpsi]

I believe it is good for a mfr. to know how they might be viewed by the consumer base. 

It may be remembered that initially, I  had asked about the TK mills.  Studying them all, there was one thing which kept coming back to me in my work of 'kicking out' possibilities.

TK's constant  need to belittle other mill's designs, was what got them off my list.

From what I have seen and studied of the mills available,  they are all capable machines.  There are + and - points to them all.  As with ANY cutting tool, ultimate success is determined by the operator. 

Certainly, hydraulics take more of the manual work and 'save time', but has no bearing on quality of the finished product, or what is done with the product. 

Now, the mill I would REALLY, REALLY like to have is currently out of my reasonable financial spectrum.   And, is really out of my current 'need' spectrum.

So, I'm having built what I think is best for MY need and best for a 'weld it, beat it, bang it' repairman/customizer.   

[ronwood]

tcsmpi,

Well put on the last couple of lines in your post? 

Ron

[Engineer]

I guess I'm not the first guy to hear it....             Boooooo.

Sell your product on its' own merits and the recommendations of your customers.   Leave your competition out of it, or you will lose business.

[jpgreen]

One thing that I've seen over and over again is a good company will have an idiot salesman.  It just takes ONE GUY to screw up a whole companies reputation.

What's really bad is the owners or people in charge are not always intune with this, and the word from the sales man goes on, and on.  Word of mouth. 

But then some are.

Take Suffolk/Timberwolf for instance...

I had heard about them being a hard sale, and other bad things about them.  I read their website and was frankly impressed with much of the information.  I talked with 3 sales staff at length, and was also impressed- so much so I bought their setter, and some blades. 

Finally, on the forth time I called in to get a quote on shipping or something, a sales guy launches into his diatribe. He goes on and on about all the pitfalls of other manufacturers, the history of the business and how great they were, and on and on.   

I decided to engage him on a few contradictory comments, and he dodged and weaved and avoided my question, but I really think he was so caught up in his hard sale, he wasn't listening to me.

He would not shut up.  He went on and on, and I was so board, I PM'ed Tom at the vary same time with the phone in one ear, typing away... telling Tom what the idiot was saying..

Well come to find out this guy was the OWNER of Suffolk..    As successful as they are, he has been killing their business for a long time. This guy has no business being in sales, or picking up the phone for that matter.

I finally saw what everyone was telling me about Suffolk.  Good company though with some good products. 

The consumer is smart and no dummy.  The consumer seeks truthful information about a product to make a decision based on what their needs are, and what they have learned.

In sales- trying to BS someone ALWAYS backfires..   

[D._Frederick]

I have seen the different makes of band mills sawing side by side at shows for over 10 years. There are a lot of differences that I would look closely at in the log handling equipment:
Starting with the hydraulics, how is the pump powered, how reliable is it, how much will costs for repairs?

How new is the design of the log clamping system? Is it a two plane system?

What is the design of the log turner? Is it of the chain type? Will it roll a log in both directions?

What is the design of the squaring posts, do they go up and down or do they lay down?

What is the design of the log loader, can the lifting arms be adjusted for width?

Will the hydraulic equipment handle the maximum log size of the mill without problems, will it turn small logs without problems?

I would look at the mill head design the same way, see what features of each kind work the best.