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Woodturners Wonders

Good luck, Jim. They never called me back about the cbn wheel I mentioned above.
 
Reading this thread makes me sad that we've apparently lost a(nother) small business that serves woodturners.

I will forgive almost any delay from small business, as long as they communicate their difficulties. It doesn't have to be a personal call about an order; a message on the webpage, a group email or text to their mailing list, or even a voicemail greeting explaining the problem.

The fact that they've apparently gone dark with communication - especially in this digital age where it literally takes seconds to reach their entire client base tells me that the company won't be in business for much longer.

I'm taking Darryl's path and deleting all the contact info I have for them.
 
Good timing for this thread for me. I purchased a mini PROS palm sander from Ken two years ago, it stopped working two days ago after maybe ~200hrs use (or less). I searched for contact info on the website and finally sent a question via FB messenger which I haven’t heard back on (not criticizing). I was going to try calling today, maybe I’ll ask my question here and someone might know.

I’ve been very happy with this small RO sander and it’s become an integral part of my process but is a hundred or two hours all that I should expect for the lifetime of this tool? If so, I’m not sure if I want to buy another $120 ‘disposable’ sander. Does anyone know of other, more reliable, RO sander options (need to fit quick locks and be able to modulate sanding speed down, thousands of rpm that most air RO sanders I’ve found are just too fast).

Sorry to see that Ken’s no longer involved at Woodturners Wonders but good for him!

Hmm, I think I have the same RO palm sander. Is it the compressed air one?

I haven't reached 200hrs of use yet...I don't use it a lot, only on the most stubborn of pieces that I can't clean up any other way. I'm a bit concerned now, though.

Did you ever take it apart, clean it, or check the pressure?

====

This sale of business, sounds like how several of those went in the astrophotography community some years ago, which I am also a part of. Several top notch businesses in that arena sold, and the new owners were NOT communicative. At all. New owners also seemed to have supply problems that the original owners never had. Never quite understood that...but, in the long term, its destroyed brands, and one of those stores went completely out of business a couple of years after the sale, as the people who owned it and their employees were NOT very friendly, and often quite rude and derogatory.

I really hope that doesn't happen here...but, I've seen the aftermath of business sales too many times now, and heard these very same "symptoms".... Sad. I have a number of things from WW, including their lathe track system. I understand that China tariffs can potentially have an effect right now, however, this EXACT scenario, I've seen play out more than once. I just hope these guys don't hire the wrong staff...the one astro business that sold, oh, maybe it was as far back as 2018...the staff eventually went "rogue" and just started treating their customers like crap. Was a pretty rapid decline for them once that happened. Hope the new WW owners find the right, FRIENDLY, HELPFUL staff, and figure out how to navigate the new tariff waters.
 
The tariffs are not the issue here. This thread/problems started last December. If they had supply/customer service problems 5 months ago, apparently have done nothing to address these issues, they probably won't make to the end of the year.
 
The tariffs are not the issue here. This thread/problems started last December. If they had supply/customer service problems 5 months ago, apparently have done nothing to address these issues, they probably won't make to the end of the year.

Sad. This seems to be an age-old story... It usually doesn't end well, in my experience...
 
Sad. This seems to be an age-old story... It usually doesn't end well, in my experience...
Yep, and it was the only source for 7" cbn wheels. My 180 will suffice. The 600 I wanted to add is now vaporware. I'll survive.

Some people just have no business being in business. They bought the previously successful business, now they are killing it, and putting themselves in financial ruin at the same time. Lose-lose for everyone.
 
Yep, and it was the only source for 7" cbn wheels. My 180 will suffice. The 600 I wanted to add is now vaporware. I'll survive.

Some people just have no business being in business. They bought the previously successful business, now they are killing it, and putting themselves in financial ruin at the same time. Lose-lose for everyone.

Yeah. Sometimes even people who already own similar businesses, can still ruin another. That happened in the astrophotography community...an existing supply company bought a brand. That brand had been really well respected, made high quality narrow band filters, but a "particulate" issue caused some people to complain. The original owner of the brand, ended up decidign to get out of the market (I think he was beyond retirement age), and sold the brand. People had hoped that the new owner would resolve the particulate issue (some kind of somewhat sticky fibers and particles, assumed to be from the filter sleeves, was causing people to have to deal with non-trivial cleaning on their brand new filters.)

Well, the particulate issue DID get resolved, after a bit of hullabaloo...but then the new owners simply couldn't seem to actually make the filters. They promised, and delayed, and promised, and delayed, and delayed....and delayed... The previous owner never had issues getting them manufactured, new owners never explained the supply issue. Some people still had some trouble with having to clean their filters when they arrived, too. As far as I know, the supply/manufacturing problem is still an issue to this day, and the brand has effectively died. People switched to other brands with similar or better quality (and often better prices), and that was that...

I actually own some sets of those filters. They were really good when I bought them. Today, it sounds like they are just no longer trusted. The really crazy thing is, the company that bought the brand, had been successful in the astrophotography industry for many years before, with other kinds of equipment. Baffling how they just couldn't figure out how to manufacture and supply the brand they purchased.
 
Don't give up on these guys just yet. I ordered a lathe lamp with magnetic base and a Robert Sorby bowl gouge from them about 2 weeks ago. It showed up 3 days ago, but the mag base was stripped out where the flexible arm screwed into it. I called the phone number for them (678-400-8181) but the recording said the mailbox was full and hung up. I also found 2 email addresses for them (info@woodturnerswonders.com) and (customerservice@woodturnerswonders.com), so I emailed with pictures of the damage. 2 days later, I received a call from John, from that same phone number, he had received my email but was out of the office at the factory the day before, and was just getting to returning his messages. A very pleasant conversation and he more than made it right, promised to send out another lamp today to replace the broken one. I can attest that they fill their orders and stand behind their products. Let's not be too quick to criticize these guys. It appears they are still there for us, and they offer some really nice quality products.
 
I just called them, one hour before their posted closing time. Got the answering machine saying how important my call was... Voice mail box is still full and won't take any messages.
 
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