“Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.” Norman Vincent Peale

I finished  adding all the two by three pieces to the trailer. $24 bucks worth of screws  one ruined handsaw, a smoking table saw and a couple of days work.

I own a Craftsman/Ryobi BT 3000 Table saw. In fifteen years of service never gave me a lick of trouble.  A few years ago I added some minor mods. Widened the table added track guides, built a cool add on for holding the boards down as I cut them.

Today as  I ripped some 2×10  I noticed a smell, then I saw arcs and sparks. Then Billows of smoke. I assume that I either have a mouse nest inside the saw or I need new brushes. Brushes are a small chunk of carbon attached to a copper wire that runs through a spring. The purpose of this part is to send electricity to the inside of the motor. A small part that can wear out. No big deal.

Until you try to buy one in Canada. One seller on EBAY has one.  He or she refuses to sell one to Canada. Four companies sell this part about the size of a penny. Prices range from $6.95 to $19.99 per side (need two).  Shipping ranges from 34.95 to 78.00 dollars USD. Fucking ridiculous. I search the Internet with the actual part number. Sears parts direct has them yeehaw. I add them to the cart. I can’t enter my Postal code.

I access the helpful online chat. I get Tom who tells me that They don’t to ship to Canada. Then he gave me the Canadian number for Sears Parts in Canada.

I talk to someone that says to call the US because he can’t get the part in Canada. So I get Adam on chat. Who is really an undead brain eating  zombie who tells me after I tell him the whole story, that they don’t ship to Canada.

He recommends that I contact Canada Sears who can get me the parts. So again I explain to him again the whole story, ready to recite him the whole Alice’s restaurant song word by word just out of frustration.

He asks me if I have a US shipping address. Then he sends me a link to a picture of the part I need. Then again tells me that I can get the part in Canada. So this time I call the Sears customer care department to see if I can find a fully functional human that has not had a recent bite from a zombie horde.

I want to file a complaint. The sears phone system sends me to parts by accident. This time I load my shotgun ready for the zombie,

I get Kevin the friendliest Parts guy, he puts me on hold, after a few minutes he picks up the phone and tells me he can’t figure out why the part number is there without the pricing. He also tells me I have sold a ton of these. He then tells me that he will contact the manufacturer directly and personally call when he can get the parts for me. Wow.

I want to warn him about the guy in the next cubicle, the guy I got earlier. He is infected and will try to bite him. But I am sure that Kevin has a samurai sword propped up against his desk ready to fend off the other zombies.

He has his shit together and actually cares about his customer and will go the extra mile to get the job done. Thank you Kevin. My whole tiny house build depends on him finding me the parts for my saw.

Update Kevin left a message RYOBI will not sell the parts to Sears in Canada and currently have no one here that can. I found a company in England that will custom make me new  brushes. They just need the size.   I just took the brushes out and confirmed one came out in pieces.

The motor will have to be removed and disassembled (oh if Johnny 5 heard that I am in trouble)  to make sure there is no debris left inside. The other is intact but worn out I have to find someone who has a measurement of the brushes. In the meantime I will have to either buy a new table saw or find the little parts I need.

The adventure continues …………

Update June 24. I contacted Ryobi tools directly only it wasn’t. It was a third party company that handles parts for ryobi. More Zombies it seems that the standard charge for shipping to Canada is $35.00 no matter what the actual shipping is . I thought it was a  money grab at the expense of Canadians.

So I pressed him on it, till I pissed him off enough that he finally gave up the phone number of a Canadian Distributor. I talked to a nice Canadian man who gave me the number of a company in Calgary.

The told me they could get the parts in about 10 to 12 working days. Another call to the distributor I asked him if the parts were in stock in the warehouse in Vancouver where he was located or in Toronto. He told me Toronto has them in stock.

So I asked him for the number of a Toronto retailer who might have the parts or get them same-day. Sure enough in stock they cost a dollar more each than Calgary. No problem if I can get them sooner ,awesome. Tomorrow morning I will have conformation of delivery and the cost of  shipping. Best part they use Canada post which is the best  way to get them to me. It saves me twenty bucks in Gas traveling to the Purolater depot in the next town.

It took some perseverance and positive thinking But I should have the table saw up and running next week sometime. Crossing my fingers. Then its back to building my new handsaw should arrive with Thursdays freight at my local home hardware. I could have bought it at the Home hardware in the next town, they had it in stock.  Loyalty is very important to me and my Hines Creek Home hardware has treated me very good over the years.

July  7 I ended up paying 30 dollars in shipping anyway. Installed the parts and once again smoke and grinding noises. My motor was shot. Cheaper to buy a new table saw than the motor by itself.  The way of our world don’t make it fixable make it disposable. Keep the economy rolling. No wonder our landfills are full.

Take Care