New Zealand - The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

[patches]

Speaking of which, I bought my first Festool couple of weeks ago. Random Orbital Sander.

 

Everyone I spoke to said although it costs the same as a whole collection of tools by everyone else, I'd not regret it. And to my surprise, I haven't. It's already saved me much pain.

 

The problem now is to wonder what I'm missing by not having other Festools...

 

Festool... damn! You're playing in the big leagues 

 

I was watching a Festool "table saw" on TradeMe. Was super tempted.

 

Especially because said "table saw" was actually a Festool TS55 track saw, mounted to the Festool CMS unit, with a sliding table and mitre gauge. The guy wanted $1800

 

Something like this:

 

 

Sadly he withdrew the listing before I could talk myself into it.

 

EDIT: probably a good thing it was withdrawn because I was already pricing up the CMS router table insert and Festool routers  . Such a great system though!

Edited June 17, 2020 by patches

[intern]

Speaking of which, I bought my first Festool couple of weeks ago. Random Orbital Sander.

 

Everyone I spoke to said although it costs the same as a whole collection of tools by everyone else, I'd not regret it. And to my surprise, I haven't. It's already saved me much pain.

 

The problem now is to wonder what I'm missing by not having other Festools...

 

Looks like we got ourselves a badass here...

[intern]

Nobody ever regretted buying a quality tool - every single time you use it, it is super satisfying...

[Skylark]

Festool is next level expensive, they have some innovative products/systems but the actual quality of their tools is no better than say Makita.

 

They are renowned for their random orbital sanders, very good vacuum systems but you probably need the insanely pricey Festool vacuum system for it to work as specified.

[davetapson]

Festool is next level expensive, they have some innovative products/systems but the actual quality of their tools is no better than say Makita.

 

They are renowned for their random orbital sanders, very good vacuum systems but you probably need the insanely pricey Festool vacuum system for it to work as specified.

 $100 Ozito vacuum cleaner with fancy power take-off (you plug the sander into the vacuum and it turns on when you turn the sander on and vice versa) plus some duct tape - works like a frkn charm.

 

Dustless sanding?  It's a thing.  Esp. good when you are sanding in your garage and especially so when it's epoxy.

 

Sander can switch between RA and Eccentric.  Eccentric eats up the crap like you can't believe. Flatten epoxy on 4 x 8 sheets of marine ply?  It's worth every considerable cent.  Use that with Mirka net sanding disks and the whole thing becomes completely next level.

 

I can't see (apart from the saw systems) that the other tools are quite as next level, but then, I've not tried them.  The saws... 

Edited June 18, 2020 by davetapson

[davetapson]

Festool... damn! You're playing in the big leagues 

 

I was watching a Festool "table saw" on TradeMe. Was super tempted.

 

Especially because said "table saw" was actually a Festool TS55 track saw, mounted to the Festool CMS unit, with a sliding table and mitre gauge. The guy wanted $1800

 

Something like this:

 

 

Sadly he withdrew the listing before I could talk myself into it.

 

EDIT: probably a good thing it was withdrawn because I was already pricing up the CMS router table insert and Festool routers  . Such a great system though!

Dang.

 

We should have gone into co-ownership and I'd save you the bother of storing it by keeping it at my place... 

[davetapson]

. 

Edited June 18, 2020 by davetapson

[patches]

If you guys (or gals) ever want a laugh and some realistic and informative tool reviews, watch a Canadian guy on YouTube called AvE.

 

He's crass, brutish, but extremely intelligent and funny. He actually takes the tools apart, inspects manufacturing processes and materials. And basically tells you where the tool-maker took shortcuts, or went above and beyond.

Here's a Festool one

 

[intern]

Never really heard that someone calls themselves to be knowledgeable... That's usually something someone says of someone else as a good characteristics. Generally people with pure knowledge are quite humble too.

 

Opinionated vs knowledgeable.

 

Here's an update from an opinionated and not knowledgeable person:

 

NZ GDP down 1.6 percent. Aus down 0.3 percent. For the most recent quarter.

 

We had no lockdown for...93 percent of this period.

 

Consider this your first serving of humble pie. There's plenty more in the oven. 

[intern]

If you guys (or gals) ever want a laugh and some realistic and informative tool reviews, watch a Canadian guy on YouTube called AvE.

 

He's crass, brutish, but extremely intelligent and funny. He actually takes the tools apart, inspects manufacturing processes and materials. And basically tells you where the tool-maker took shortcuts, or went above and beyond.

 

Here's a Festool one

 

 

Dang there goes today's productivity.

[Wayne Potgieter]

 

 

NZ GDP down 1.6 percent. Aus down 0.3 percent. For the most recent quarter.

 

 

Not arguing, but have an interesting piece of data that I have just come across.

 

I am sitting in a sales webinar with MYOB at the moment (this will make sense to you as you sort of know what i do for a living) and MYOB have been running some telemetry on invoices raised by all of their clients in the SME and Large enterprise space and in NZ they are seeing invoicing QTY and Values as being back to normal figures.

 

Naturally, just raising an invoice does not mean that it will be paid. But the stat is pretty interesting.

[davetapson]

Not arguing, but have an interesting piece of data that I have just come across.

 

I am sitting in a sales webinar with MYOB at the moment (this will make sense to you as you sort of know what i do for a living) and MYOB have been running some telemetry on invoices raised by all of their clients in the SME and Large enterprise space and in NZ they are seeing invoicing QTY and Values as being back to normal figures.

 

Naturally, just raising an invoice does not mean that it will be paid. But the stat is pretty interesting.

 

I think MYOB have fired 300 staff? 

 

I remember this because I tried to interview for them - wrote a test for them, sent it to them and then got a snotty email from their HR saying that if I couldn't be arsed to do their test I'm not the kind of person they want to have working for them.  To which I replied, "check your email" but had another option, so didn't chase it up.

 

I can't find evidence because all web searches lead to how to do redundancies on MYOB (ironic?  maybe.)

[Wayne Potgieter]

I think MYOB have fired 300 staff? 

 

I remember this because I tried to interview for them - wrote a test for them, sent it to them and then got a snotty email from their HR saying that if I couldn't be arsed to do their test I'm not the kind of person they want to have working for them.  To which I replied, "check your email" but had another option, so didn't chase it up.

 

I can't find evidence because all web searches lead to how to do redundancies on MYOB (ironic?  maybe.)

I sell two MYOB products and have monthly catch ups with the entire partner network.

 

Doubt this is public knowledge at this point.

 

Actually, If i am honest, I am still in the webinar but the next bits are pretty boring.

[patches]

Dang there goes today's productivity.

 

Yeah, I went down a very deep AvE rabbit hole a few months back.

 

I'd watch 45min of his tool reviews on the bus to work, and another 45min on the bus home.

 

He does some good ones on socket wrenches where he builds a rig to test them to failure.

 

 

He also built what he calls "a janky ventilator", which he built by following the medical standards for ventilators.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqRgISFuE0k

Edited June 18, 2020 by patches

[intern]

Not arguing, but have an interesting piece of data that I have just come across.

 

I am sitting in a sales webinar with MYOB at the moment (this will make sense to you as you sort of know what i do for a living) and MYOB have been running some telemetry on invoices raised by all of their clients in the SME and Large enterprise space and in NZ they are seeing invoicing QTY and Values as being back to normal figures.

 

Naturally, just raising an invoice does not mean that it will be paid. But the stat is pretty interesting.

 

You don't argue WP, you engage in discourse ;-).

 

(Good) economists always advise looking at the long run outcomes of any policy or course of action. With the government pumping us all full of free money, they are effectively kicking the can down the road. Right now, there is still a sense of elation and we can do this and we got it beat (notwithstanding recent evidence of the current administration's chronic incompetence...and if you watch politics, you will know that incompetence is in the DNA of the current lot) and there is most certainly also a sense of financial security. It doesn't surprise me in the least than a good number of businesses are experiencing high demand for products and services (pent-up demand, in other words). Fast food, even some durable consumer goods, haircuts and other personal services.

But remember, it is the long run we have to consider, not the short term feel good-ism. The can may be kicked down the road, but chickens come home to roost and the cows apparently come home at some point too. We can mask (pardon the pun) the reality of economic devastation for political purposes for a short time only. Why do I say political purposes? Because there is an election in September. This rabble have only appeared competent in the event of a tragedy, where the more easily swayed have responded to the notion that a hug and a cuddle are the same thing as effective political leadership. Christchurch was a gift to the PM, no matter how distasteful even saying such a thing might be. Same with White Island. And now most assuredly with COVID. They're pushing this narrative of 'hard and early', when nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, as of earlier this week, they still had not secured the borders effectively (and given the propensity to either embellish the truth on the one hand, or fail to perform any operational checks on the other, who knows if this situation persists to the minute).

Anyway, the economy is not, as the PM claimed a few weeks back, '95% back to normal'. We have no tourism, our biggest industry. We're not feeling that yet, because free money etc, but believe me, in the medium to longer term, we will feel it and we will feel it hard. Up to 20% of people are employed, directly or indirectly, in tourism.

Things might be peachy right now, but very bad things are going to happen. When the figures come out for the next quarter, we will have a clearer idea of the true impact of shutting down an economy. You might think this has some good points, like for example finally making housing more affordable to first home buyers, or reduced environmental impact. But when people don't have jobs and the housing market is going down, which I believe it inevitably will (as it did, steeply, after the 2008 GFC), who's going to buy? Imagine you'd saved 50k or whatever, are you going to roll the dice and potentially see that become 0 owing to decreasing equity?

Yes, negative Nelly. But there must and shall be consequences. And on top of that, now that COVID is well and truly back, in our flu season this time, what now? Another lockdown? The government is caught in a catch-22. It told us lockdown was necessary the first time, so if we don't do it again, they were mistaken the first time (governments are not in the business of admitting fault or failure, particularly not on this scale). If we do do it again, the cupboard is now bare and the anticipations for economic contraction can be seen in estimates which put house price retreat at up to 50 percent.

 

Anyway, I hope everyone here is having a happy Friday. Pissing with rain in Whakatown, but we need a good soaking!

[intern]

Dang.

 

We should have gone into co-ownership and I'd save you the bother of storing it by keeping it at my place... 

 

Oh, get a shed already you two.

 

Speaking of sheds, anyone seen Allen Millyard on YouTube? Dude creates amazing motorcycles and engines out of old parts. For EG built a Kawasaki Super Six by sawing up a few 900 barrels, crankcases and heads, then rebuilding the crank and camshafts, welding up the barrels, cases and heads, and...ja, old dudes in sheds, amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhrLg6mZQIo&t=4s

 

(Patches...enjoy the lost productivity on this one mate!)