Drilling

The very expensive drill press arrived Wednesday this week. I tried to move the boxes from the driveway into the garage, but man, the thing is heavy. So I covered it with a giant tarp till the weekend. On Friday I decided to unbox it in place and shelp the pieces in one at a time to save my back. I built up the base and got Reid, one of the strapping young neighbors, to help lift the 150 pound head onto the stand. I some point it dawned on me that there were in fact two huge boxes and my whole drill press fit in one. On further inspection it appears I  was shipped two. I checked my account and indeed I was only charged for one. Hmmm. I checked the manifest and shipping docs and they seem to feel that I was only shipped one. I have to admit that the thought of doing nothing and waiting to see what would happen did pass my mind for an instant, but my dad, sitting on my shoulder whispered in my ear that that simply would not do. So I called the company.

They had no clue. The young lady I spoke with wanted to send me a return sticker and to drop it off at UPS. I politely informed her that it weighed 300 pounds. She then said OK, I'll get FedEx to pick it up. I politely reminded her that FedEx will not pick up anything more than 70 pounds. It needs to be freighted, that's how it came. Of course, her supervisor had left for the day and would get hold on me on Monday to arrange pick up. So I have a huge boxed drill press sitting in my driveway awaiting pickup.

I used the monster this weekend. It is a sweet tool. A gentle whir is all the sound it makes. It does beep a bit too often for my liking, but at least it only flashes safety messages on the screen and there is no voice over reminding one to wear safety goggles at all times.