It's the little things that matter

Today I made a small change to the Triton Workcentre but this small change will have profound results with regards to how I use it in my shop.

So I had wanted to put wheels on the thing so as to be able to move it around the shop. This unit can have genuine wheels added but there's a few reasons why I haven't gone this route.

• Time to get unit here
• Availability of unit in the first place
• Cost of unit
• I live in New Zealand

Anyone who's from NZ knows that availability and cost go hand in hand. For example NZ's culture has literally been defined by location. We're at the bottom of the world. Getting stuff here has been a nightmare and in getting it here the costs have increased exponentially. This is not so much the case now. With some careful planning we can get stuff here so cheaply and quickly it's not funny so travel and technology has made NZ closer to the rest of the world very quickly.

Some companies like to add their cut but I've found some really fantastic companies. For example Carbatec are really good for me. Here's their comparison:

Buying direct from Rockler shipped direct to NZ
Buying from Carbatec

That's a saving of $6.99 which isn't bad considering. Now I know that Carbatec would have better buying power and they'll be adding their cut which is fair so that explains the difference with that.

However NZ Post has an interesting service. I buy in the US and get it shipped to a fake address (it's legit but it goes to a warehouse in the States) and that then gets shipped to me. Now just to show you how business in NZ works here's a break down of how I come to the next cost:

Using YouShop

Using YouShop is 85.13% the price of going through Carbatec giving a $6.69 but it's $13.68 cheaper than purchasing directly from Rockler and having them ship it to me directly to NZ.

Now, it's safe to say that this post has gone off topic here and to a certain extent that's by design. What I'm trying to say here is that getting stuff to NZ is either expensive or time consuming with a bunch of different services getting their grubby little mitts in.

Back on topic

So, needless to say using legitimate parts for this Workcentre was out of the question. I'm not even sure if you can get legit parts anymore.

So I was going to go to Mitre10 and get me a couple of wheels and bolts to match. I got sidetracked by something and ended up standing on my stool and it was at this moment that I had formulated a plan for something caught my eye that made me spend not a dime.

We were given a few bikes of varying sizes for Little Wookie to grow into and one bike had a set of trainer wheels that didn't actually fit any of the bikes. So I put them into the workshop thinking they might come in handy. Did they what.

I now had two wheels but they were 8mm bolts and certainly not long enough to go through the wheel and the table. I thought I didn't have any bolts long enough but then I noticed some long bolts. 8mm bolts too. So I drilled the holes out and grabbed three washers each wheel and proceeded to bolt the wheels to the table.

TLDR version - I now have wheels on my Workcentre allowing me to move the table around the shop and out of the way with ease.

Note: Reading this article you'll realise I can go off on a tangent at times. This is normal and will be the norm because I am trying to take you on a journey by use of stories. You'll get used to it.

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Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://woodenwookie.co.nz/index.php/2020/01/02/its-the-little-things-that-matter/

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