Iguanadon

Hi Rolf, Using a #3 blade, tension isn't an issue at all, I have that figured out and have the correct "ping" of the blade. The saw is vibrating like crazy and even the blade vibrates so much side to side that I am unable to start a cut on a line precisely. I shot 2 videos of this and sent them to BM for review. The vibration is also so bad that as I mentioned, it's literally vibrating the set screw out that adjusts the forward/backward pitch of the blade and when that happens the puzzle pieces will not slide. I realize a dab of medium strength Loctite will help with that but I am not going to do anything without instruction from BM. Unless the vibration issue is resolved, there's no reason to worry about the set screw at this point. At this point the saw is completely unusable and I'm approaching 2 months since I placed my order on June 11th.

He's representing the company and works for them? If so, I'd say do it, their representative is requesting and ordering, so you shouldn't have any issues. Of course I'm no lawyer, so take it for what it's worth. ;-)

Same as the first saw. Excessive vibration, excess noise and the vibration is so bad it's backing the set screw out that controls the forward pitch of the blade and I was having to toss out puzzles because the pieces wouldn't slide in and out. I stopped using the saw 5 days ago waiting to hear back from BM. My best guess is the saws are getting tossed around and not being kept upright during their long journey. The only place that says THIS SIDE UP is on the top of the box and the first thing the UPS guy did when he picked up the first saw was flip it on its side to put on his dolly... So they're not paying attention and don't really care.

My patience is being stretched to the max right now RJ... I need answers from either Scott or Nilus soon or I'm going to have to take other actions.

Scott, any update for me on my issues?

Hi Scott, yes, the "fitted" ones are loose enough to easily slide bins in and out from underneath.

The place I get my tablecloths from is having a 50% off sale... I personally buy the FITTED TABLECLOTHS as I like the fact that they don't blow up and on the table when it's windy. They are "fitted" but they're not elastic or tight fits, they simply drape all around the table. $10 a piece, you can't beat it. If you do shows and could use some tablecloths, now is the time to snag some. https://www.tableclothsforless.com/table-linens-coupons-customers.html

Yes, I was using "gross" as before expenses. My expenses, including wood, blades, etc is right at 10% plus booth fees, credit card fees etc, is another 10% which comes to a total of 20% in overall expenses, so net would be around $40k using $50k gross as an example.

Good idea and thread JT. I'll try to be concise... but many of you already know that's not my specialty... Although I work full time (from home), I've been scrolling "seriously" for the past 14 months, started selling the animal puzzles at the beginning of June last year. I started at my local farmers market on Saturday's from 8am to 1pm. I didn't know what to expect when I started but have been extremely pleased. I average selling 27 puzzles each Saturday which equates to $500-$600. I started looking for and/or hearing about the various craft events in the area, which there are a lot and I now have a master spreadsheet where I log and track what they are, where they are, when they are and when the deadline usually is. I missed many of them last year as I was hearing about them as they were about to happen, thereby missing the sign-up deadline but I'm hitting a few of them this year. I had some of my items in a couple of local shops but they didn't do well at all. The puzzles need to be able to be touched and held to get the full effect of what they are. When they're in shrinkwrap on a shelf, they lose that "ah-ha" moment. I'm trying to pick and choose which events to sign up for. If they occur outside farmers market season (Memorial Day thru Oct 1), I pretty much sign up for them all, try them out, see how sales are and then make a note in my spreadsheet as to whether it's worth doing again in the future. My first 7 months (2016) I sold almost 500 puzzles. So far, this year (2017) I've matched my sales from last year and the busy craft event season isn't even here yet and I'll more than double my sales from last year. In 2018 I'll have a better idea of which events to actually sign up for, as I hear about more and more of them as well. In an ideal world, I'd love to be able to do this full time, however, I'm fortunate in that I have a solid job/career in which my company pays me way too well to even consider making the leap. I've crunched the numbers... several times. I calculate that I could gross $50k a year "comfortably" meaning I'd treat it as a full time "job", still having time for family and social life. If I wanted to burn myself out, I could probably gross $75k a year, but then I wouldn't enjoy it at all. I created a Facebook page initially, then I created a website. The website gets little to no traffic but it's pretty much a must to have as a lot of people ask if I have one and it's good to be able to say that I do. My current "problem" is that I truly enjoy setting up and selling at events... I enjoy the people, the interaction, the selling, and I really enjoy the $$$ I come home with in my pocket. But, I need to take a step back and reduce the events I sign up for as Mrs. Ig is starting to grumble about the fact that I'm booking myself for virtually every Saturday thru the end of the year. I know of 4 events off the top of my head in which I can sell anywhere from 100-250 puzzles per event, in a single day or weekend and that's what I'll need to focus on next year so that I do fewer events, but still sell the same number (or more) puzzles. Two are in April, one in July and one in August. Then there are another 3 or 4 events that I know of in which I can easily sell 50-75 in a single day. Once I pinpoint the prime events, I can cut back on how many I sign up for, but I'll still continue to do my farmers market since it's just 4 blocks from my house and ends at 1pm each week. So far being a one trick pony and only doing puzzles is working well for me. Who knows what it'll be like in 3, 4, or 5 years. I'm happy to answer questions and share ideas, thoughts and failures I've had. Iggy

Hey Everyone, Answers to all the questions: I'm home early from the farmers market because a storm rolled in. Fortunately I saw it coming on radar and was able to pack up all of my puzzles before it hit and then just huddled under the tent until it passed. At which point I loaded up and came home. A shame, I was having a great day. 1) The tent came with 4 side panels. I only put one up as I saw the storm coming and decided instead to pack up instead of trying to get all 4 of them up. Here's the tent I bought. I'm very happy with it. Hexagonal shaped legs supposedly stronger against wind. The side panels attach easily and I can tell they would be great against rain if/when I ever need to put them all up. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H4UL6L6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 2) I use 5 gallon buckets that I fill with water and bungee cord them up to the frame of the tent as anchors. That way I'm not hauling around 100-150 pounds of weights to every event. 5 gallons of water weighs about 40 pounds. One on each corner works well. 3) The top banner is also new, I found this guy online. He was great to work with in designing it. He'll do anything you want. It was a bit pricey, but I'm very happy with it and think it's worth every penny. http://www.canopybanners.net/ Picture of today's setup with the new tent and banner. Sales were going GREAT til the storm came... darnit. Sold 24 in just 3 hours. My new kids puzzles were flying off the table with people snatching them up today and I had increased the price! LOL Used to be $10 each but I increased the price today to $15 each or 2 for $25 and everyone bought 2 at a time. Let me know if any other questions or if I failed to answer any. Iggy

Received my new tent today along with a new banner I ordered for the top. Looks great in my opinion, what do you think? I also tested a new table layout for events in which I only have my 10'x10' space with vendors right up against me on both sides. Very happy with the layout and plenty of room for people on both sides.

Hey RJ, I received an email from Scott Smith today, they received my first saw back at the shop and they're checking it out while reviewing the videos I made of the replacement saw to try to figure out what is going on. I told Scott that I'm 99% sure that it's a shipping issue. The box only says THIS SIDE UP on the top, not on the sides and the first thing the UPS guy did when he came to pick up the first saw was flip it on it's side to put it on his hand truck... Imagine bouncing along the highway for 1,000 miles on it's side.

Yes, I sell them as READY TO PAINT! Added fun for the kiddos. I even offer a little watercolor set, but everyone says they already have plenty of paints at home. This was the last time displaying the painted ones but shows the new variety of unpainted ones I'm making.

Nicely done. I've cut 7 so far and want another 13 done ahead of my event at the end of the month. FYI - Harvey drew up a 2nd mermaid... I haven't cut one yet, but this is what it looks like.. Pattern available to purchase. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Redhead-Little-Mermaid-Colorful-Wooden-Puzzle-Amish-Scroll-Toy-New-Decoration/401374460521?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D45726%26meid%3Dd89af588b03d490aae886296683fbc8e%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D401374459968

No, I don't coat them with anything. In the year I've been selling them I haven't had anyone come up and punch me in the nose to complain. ;-) But, I no longer color the kids puzzles. Once I started offering them raw for less money, they exceeded sales of the painted ones.

I use it for my kids puzzles and the for the bases of my sea critters. I have several colors mixed and ready to use. I use distilled water.

Thanks for the thought, but on the new model, there is only one spot for the lower blade holder and any pitch adjustments have to be made via the set screw going in or out and that's what is vibrating out as the saw is running... Further proof that the vibration I'm experiencing is well beyond average or normal. Hint of the day for folks... I have been using a business card along the back of the blade which has worked well since I don't own a small enough square to use.

Unfortunately quite the opposite. I moved it out of my cutting area today and set up a DeWalt in its place. I hope to speak with BM soon but I'll likely be sending it back. This one has similar issues with vibration, noise and even the blade bounces all over the place. I sent them a couple of videos I made this morning. I honestly think it's UPS that is causing the problem. When they came to pick up the first one I was shipping back the guy ignored the THIS SIDE UP notice on the top, flipped it over on it's side to get it on his hand truck... I'm guessing during the 1,000 mile trek across country it is tossed in all directions and is totally screwing up alignments, etc. The box/packaging could use more THIS SIDE UP notifications on all sides to help, but they're going to have issues as long as UPS manhandles the boxes. I hate that this didn't work out.

I just laid out 16 of them on a board to cut tomorrow and Thursday. :-) Oh, and yes, the pattern is for sale as well.

Very nice. Great work.

So, my latest thing is that the pitch adjustment for the blade to set how aggressive is now working itself out while I'm cutting... I guess a dab of medium Loctite will be needed. I just had to throw away a Sea Turtle puzzle because I didn't notice it had adjusted itself and caused the puzzle piece I cut to not slide in and out... Yes, frustration is starting to set in. Hotshot, I sent you a couple of videos via PM when you get a chance to view them.

I've had a couple of customers ask about a mermaid which wasn't available, so I asked Harvey to draw one up for me. I sent him a general design and had him work his magic and here is the result. I'll display it this Saturday for the first time.

Dust port? Ain't got one on mine. I have my shop-vac hose wirestrapped onto the frame underneath just like I did with the Dewalt. Hegner's have a dust port... is that what you're thinking about?

Very nice Duke, and a great way to let everyone know that Harvey Byler doesn't just do animals... That tractor is one of his along with a lot of other transportation puzzles... Check them out here. http://www.woodenteddybearonline.com/x/home.php?cat=100

If you decide to, you can buy Harvey Byler's patterns from my site and I email them to you right away. Anything you see there, I have the pattern for. Harvey gets $2.00 from every sale (he insisted I keep 50 cents for myself). www.woodcraftbyscott.com