If you'll indulge me in what is sort of a 'vanity' post...
Yesterday I was DESPERATE to obtain an adjustable rivet set holder and yoke for my CP-214 - it was unusable without these items. An order from a tool supplier was held up without explanation or notice - order placed on Monday, found out on Friday that it had never shipped.
So I called Avery and they had the holder in stock. I work in Dallas - they're a 2+ hour round trip - no way to get there during my lunchtime. They agreed to leave the tools in a pre-arranged location so I could pick up after hours. I did.
The set holder didn't fit my squeezer. Apparently, some CP-214s (mine is a real Chicago Pneumatic squeezer, one of the early ones) have irregular internal this-or-thats. So it didn't work.
I drove out to Hicks today and caught Bob Avery powerwashing his CNC Lathe's coolant tank (or something, I dunno). He immediately replaced the set holder with one that fit and then VERY graciously indulged a number of questions from this rank-newbie (I'd never dimpled a hole or squeezed a rivet before today), accompanying each answer with a hands-on demo of the operation. I was there for more than an hour learning how to adjust the squeezer, dimple, rivet, drill out bad rivets, etc...
There are a number of cheap(er) sources for some tools, but customer service is where it's at. What a great guy. He even had "olde phart" advice on how to get my wife involved in the building without boring her or pissing her off. They've got my business from now on...
Yesterday I was DESPERATE to obtain an adjustable rivet set holder and yoke for my CP-214 - it was unusable without these items. An order from a tool supplier was held up without explanation or notice - order placed on Monday, found out on Friday that it had never shipped.
So I called Avery and they had the holder in stock. I work in Dallas - they're a 2+ hour round trip - no way to get there during my lunchtime. They agreed to leave the tools in a pre-arranged location so I could pick up after hours. I did.
The set holder didn't fit my squeezer. Apparently, some CP-214s (mine is a real Chicago Pneumatic squeezer, one of the early ones) have irregular internal this-or-thats. So it didn't work.
I drove out to Hicks today and caught Bob Avery powerwashing his CNC Lathe's coolant tank (or something, I dunno). He immediately replaced the set holder with one that fit and then VERY graciously indulged a number of questions from this rank-newbie (I'd never dimpled a hole or squeezed a rivet before today), accompanying each answer with a hands-on demo of the operation. I was there for more than an hour learning how to adjust the squeezer, dimple, rivet, drill out bad rivets, etc...
There are a number of cheap(er) sources for some tools, but customer service is where it's at. What a great guy. He even had "olde phart" advice on how to get my wife involved in the building without boring her or pissing her off. They've got my business from now on...
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