start up questions

[Ken Lago]

And starting with a rail saw leaves you with a "back up" saw for when your bridge saw acts up. Nice to have a back up

I think we all have done that when we move up but the reality is we would, quoting Dan, rather sit on a sword than use the back up. I just go home early and wait for the ups guy the next day.

[tim farr]

And starting with a rail saw leaves you with a "back up" saw for when your bridge saw acts up. Nice to have a back up

I think we all have done that when we move up but the reality is we would, quoting Dan, rather sit on a sword than use the back up. I just go home early and wait for the ups guy the next day.

X2. I don't even like to cut in manual now.

[johnschaeffer]

And starting with a rail saw leaves you with a "back up" saw for when your bridge saw acts up. Nice to have a back up

Our bridge broke down the other day.. I suggested to my guys to finish up with our old rail saw.... like a bull looking at a new gate... didn't go over well at all! lol

[ash20ash]

[/quote] like a bull looking at a new gate... lol[/quote]

Thats what my helper does when he has to polish an edge after 4 metals. Freakin P_ssy

[BellaRocha]

that sounds like a low risk way to enter the business. should probably get a cnc too for the sinks. those arent fun either. most defininetly avoid all forms of work. any task that requires you leaving the desk in the office should be replaced with machines. otherwise you will hate stone work. come too think of it, stone work is really synonymous with owning large expensive machines. if you have to actually touch the stone, youre doing it wrong...

I realize this was said sarcastically, but I completely agree with every word! I cant stand doing stone work, but I do enjoy managing production and the manufacturing process.

[topshop]

Probably should just order it over the internet and sub it out to Mexico. Why even get the machines other than an iphone or ipad.

Why do any work here? Lets all give up knowing any trades other than sales.

[Dan R.]

More sarcasm?

[BrentP]

I started with an Accuglide rail saw five years ago and a homemade wooden table in my driveway. We cut a lot of tops (or we thought so at the time) in the first year with that saw and bought a Sawing Systems saw as soon as I was able. Like the others mentioned, it is a good saw for the money. Although we've progressed to cutting a lot of things on the fabcenter, we still use the Sawing Systems saw daily. I'd recommend to keep your startup costs as low as possible. You'll never make as much net margin per job later down the road as you do those first couple of years when you have almost no overhead. With that being said though, the quicker you can move in the direction of automation the more sane you will be.

I'm sure you could find several SFA members on here that would be happy to trade you their operation for a good hotdog cart in serviceable condition. Ha ha

[Ron]

Im a new member and I am into my tenth year of business.. I am still running a rail saw, With a my helper we can fab and install two, two slab kitchens a week fairly easy.

[topshop]

I'm sure you could find several SFA members on here that would be happy to trade you their operation for a good hotdog cart in serviceable condition. Ha ha

Nope tried that once. That is a tough gig to make money - the cost of food has gone up waaay to much in the last few years to make money at it. Plus its too tempting to eat your profits if you have a good product.

[PoseidonMachinery]

Hi there,

If I may contribute, track/rails saws are great for small jobs like cutting steps, vanities, or steps , etc. they are very cumbersome for handling large slabs if you plan on doing countertops for kitchens.

Although, eventually you want to have machinery doing 90% of all your processes. I think it will go a long way to get a good used saw with a tilt table and a miter position capability and a min. 15 hp blade motor.



Good Luck!

Joe Alva