I know one cuemaker who bought one of these trimmers to try out. It was bad, huge runout. I think he checked all of them in the store and they were all the same.
I hope it is obvious that I am not questioning Sherm, it just might be good if someone who has had equal success with these, someone who has actually tested the runout, could also post. It would be good to know which is the norm for these, dead nuts or huge runout.
Kelly
I'm the guy Kelly is referring to here. I checked 8 or 9 different Ridgid units - all that were available between the Home Depots & Lowes locally. The best had around .005" TIR and the worst was .015" TIR. Yes, I brought a mag base & indicator to the stores. Even the salesmen were blown away at how far off they were.
I had already purchased my Think & Tinker collets so I checked all units with both collet sets - original & T&T. The T&T's brought them in a little closer but not enough to convince me to buy.
IMO, it was the same problem that T&T mentions on their website: the tapered collet seat in the spindle was not straight. It's like somebody sanded it after machining it & the collets would rock. This allowed for a large variation in runout.
Now...this might have been a bad batch as I have complete faith in Sherm's account. But what is puzzling is that BOTH stores had bad units - every unit, in fact. I even thought about contacting Sherm to have him buy me one at HIS store, hoping it would be better. Instead, I got a Bosch Colt that runs much closer & has an aluminum body vs. Ridgid's tapered plastic body. The T&T collets fit it, too. Problem is...no lifetime warranty.
That said, be aware that bad units are out there & the only way to be sure you have a good one is to check it. I, too, am looking forward to hearing the results of everyone's runout checks.
And if someone can find a few extra units that run true, I'll buy them from you.
