[rnt80]

I am looking at the Steel City drum sander but I haven't heard much about the company or from anyone that owns any of their equipment. If you have any experience with their stuff or know someone that does your thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Big Dave]

I'm pretty sure we've got some members who own some Steel City stuff. It might be awhile before they see this thread though.

 

[Nancy Laird]

YES!! We own two Steel City machines, a 15" planer and a 6" wedge-bed jointer. Both are WONDERFUL machines - well-made, solid, ready to roll right out of the box.

Planer: we got it, uncrated it and set it up, installed the tables, and fired it up. The thickness digital readout didn't work. LOML figured it was the battery, so the next day he called SC and asked for Larry (he was told that Larry was the go-to guy). The responder said that Larry was at lunch and his name was Scott, and could he help? When LOML explained the problem, Scott said "no problem, we'll send you a battery." About 3 days later, a FedEx package landed on the doorstep with not one, but TWO batteries AND a new digital readout. They sent the new readout on the off chance that it was the culprit, not the battery. Oh, by the way, the Scott who answered the phone was Scott Box, the president of SCTW. That tells me a LOT about their commitment to customer service, when the president of the company answers the customer service phones. When was the last time you were able to get the president of Delta or Grizzley or General or Jet/PM on the phone??? The planer is much quieter than the Hitachi combo machine we replaced, and so far has turned out materials so smooth that they need just a touch-up with the ROS to be finish-ready.

Jointer: We got this machine a few weeks later (it was backordered), and the nice surprise when we opened the two crates was that the bed was crated upside down, so there was no need for any bracing or fear that it would fall over. Granted, it took two hefty guys to turn it over and get it on the base, but once there, it was spot on level. The one minor glitch was that the fence wasn't exactly perpendicular to the bed--it took all of 5 minutes to adjust it.

Both machines are super, and we are definitely converts to SCTW.

At the AWFS, SCTW has introduced a table saw and a band saw with granite tables. See http://blogs.popularwoodworking.com/editorsblog/Exclusive+Steel+City+Will+Rock+Your+World.aspx.
They also have a granite fence for their jointer. I saw these machines yesterday and today, and they are primo!!

Here I am with Tom Guertin and Scott Box in the SCTW booth today. Two nicer guys you will never meet.

BUY STEEL CITY!!!

Nancy

 

[TexasTimbers]

rnt,
I guess there are alot of considerations when chossing an importer. One thing I would think most important would be customer service. If I was considering Steel City I would call their customer service department and see how hard it was, and how long it took to get ahold of a human. Then I would see how much time the human was willing to give me, and how knowledgabel he/she was.

Well, not being in the market for a new tool right now but having wondered about SCTW in the past, this thread promted me to do just that!

I dialed 1-877-728-6651 and a human answered the phone! I could tell I was on speaker phone because it was a littl hard to understand what he said so I said "I'm sorry you have me on speaker phone and I can't understand you very well" and I heard a "click" and he said "Sorry about that. This is Eric at Steel City how can I help you?"

I told him I was interested in considering SCTW next time I buy a piece of equipment and just wanted to ask a few questions. I aksed alot. At one point I said "I should probably let you go I'm not in the immediate market for a tool and you probably have alot to do." He responded "No no I have all the time you need!."

I don't know about you, but if that is a regular occurence and nota freak event, getting a knowledgable human on the phone right off the bat who is willing to spend as much time as I need makes me feel real good about the commitment to customer service that they advertise as being reality more than just empty words.

You ought to call them yourself and see if you get the same experience.

 

[johnep]

Steel City

What an inspired piece of lateral thinking to apply worktop ideas to machinery.

granite is every hosewives dream but very expensive. I think every machinery addict will want granite in his workshop.

johnep

 

[Mike]

rnt,
I guess there are alot of considerations when chossing an importer. One thing I would think most important would be customer service. If I was considering Steel City I would call their customer service department and see how hard it was, and how long it took to get ahold of a human. Then I would see how much time the human was willing to give me, and how knowledgabel he/she was.

Well, not being in the market for a new tool right now but having wondered about SCTW in the past, this thread promted me to do just that!

I dialed 1-877-728-6651 and a human answered the phone! I could tell I was on speaker phone because it was a littl hard to understand what he said so I said "I'm sorry you have me on speaker phone and I can't understand you very well" and I heard a "click" and he said "Sorry about that. This is Eric at Steel City how can I help you?"

I told him I was interested in considering SCTW next time I buy a piece of equipment and just wanted to ask a few questions. I aksed alot. At one point I said "I should probably let you go I'm not in the immediate market for a tool and you probably have alot to do." He responded "No no I have all the time you need!."

I don't know about you, but if that is a regular occurence and nota freak event, getting a knowledgable human on the phone right off the bat who is willing to spend as much time as I need makes me feel real good about the commitment to customer service that they advertise as being reality more than just empty words.

You ought to call them yourself and see if you get the same experience.

Well this is not personal experince but ive read in another forum that someone had a question and the President of the company answerd the call so thats what i call customer service

 

[Nancy Laird]

I don't know about you, but if that is a regular occurence and nota freak event, getting a knowledgable human on the phone right off the bat who is willing to spend as much time as I need makes me feel real good about the commitment to customer service that they advertise as being reality more than just empty words.

You ought to call them yourself and see if you get the same experience.

This IS a regular occurrence. Steel City, through Scott, Tom, Mark, Jim (in Canada) and all of the others are committed to customer service, and I had it straight from Scott's mouth that they don't want to get so big and impersonal that they have a "press one for English" phone tree--they want their employees to be able to deal directly with customers without the frustration of punching 47 phone buttons before they can reach a human voice.

I am a HUGE advocate of SC machines and tools. Although we aren't in the market for any new machines at the moment, I can tell you that if the time comes, Steel City will be our choice.

Nancy