Beaumont KMG

This sucks... I keep hearing bad things about the KMG. I purchased one and haven't had any problems though. I know a guy locally here that had to hoot and holler to get Beaumont to take back his shitty KMG. He then spent his money on a TW-90, which is what I would have bought it I had the money.

I hope you get it resolved.
 
sdemars said:
I bought it 4/22/2014.

It sat on my desk in my office since, I was busy setting up a CNC Plasma Cutting Shop.

If I had thought it would have been a problem I would have opened it all up and checked it out upon receipt.

I simply did a cursory check for damage.

VFD box was not even opened until today to peak in.
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It sucks that you've had a bad experience with all this. If you can't return it you could always try to resell it.

On another note, if the grinder has been sitting in a box on your desk for 5 months, I'm not surprised that there is some surface rust on it.
 
When it comes to grinding knives, so much of it is personal preference. You are gonna have to set it up and adjust it to your liking. There is really no way around that. I built myself a KMG clone and ill tell ya things didnt line up perfect and i broke off a few taps and had to move holes around and left out a few bolts...but it RUNS like a champ (for over a year now) b/c it is a good solid design. good solid design.
 
sdemars said:
I spoke with Rob this morning. He informed me that I am an anal a$$hole, & what difference does it make if your machine arrived with more rust than your lawn mower blade. I think our conversation went seriously downhill from there. I don't think receiving something that I paid over $2,500.00 for RUST FREE or with rudimentary level of fit and finish is asking a lot.

He also told me ALL that matters to them is how it runs. That aesthetics, fit & finish is for pussies . That the misfit pieces on the tooling arm receiver exist to save money and cut down cost of manufacturing cost. (Increase Profit) Again his answer to poor fit and finish was, “it cuts down manufacturing cost. He said he was proud of the fact that not one change or improvement has been incorporated to the machine in 13 years because it works & he did not see any reason to improve anything people were buying faster than he could make it. When I told him the "Contact Wheel Spindle" being made of a bolt wacked off with a dull hack saw, his comment was, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT?" I asked about the non-American Made Chinese bearings, his answer was, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT?" it works . . . I guess I expected more from a company with a nice store front and good reputation from previous sales. He told me his customers did not care about any of the things I was concerned with. Only someone anal as I would notice these things. Had I known I was going to have to do all this work I would have simply cut my own grinder on my plasma table.

My closing comments were a little ruder than his . . . Smile that is about all I got for my $2,500.00 . . .

My effort to resolve my KMG problems . . .
Steve
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Did he use those exact words , or are you paraphrasing like "disassembled" means assembled but needs the motor mounted ?




He did have pretty good support on the website to assemble and connect everything, but the new pretty website upgrade made that stuff impossible to find.
 
If you are going to be spinning those belts at max speed with alot of pressure it is going to have to be "solid". Those ceramic blaze belts absolutely require something at least as heavy as the KMG. If you price out the materials along with the motor and VFD you will find there is not much room for profit. Trust me that is what I did and I thought It would be smart to save a couple hundred bucks by building my own. A total PITA, I wouldnt do it again. I actually dont think I saved even 200$ nevermind the 30+ hours took me to fab it. Future competitors are unlikey to show up b/c for all the work in this stuff its not worth the slim margins. Thats what I think Nathan is saying, we are lucky to be able to buy anything like this made in USA.

The contact wheel spindle I am not as familiar with as I use one of Nathans platens. The belt hits two 2" aluminum wheels on either end of the platen. I use them cheesy bolt spindle things and even contact wheel grind with the bottom aluminum wheel and I was shocked to discover it works fantastic with no wear on anything but the pressed in 4$ bearings. Those are still holding up after about 80 knives profiled and ground.

sdemars said:
Trust me, if it runs & tracks I'll be happy . . . Regardless, it will be solid . . .

As for the "Contact Wheel Spindle"I'll have one machined locally to match the spacing that Beaumont has determined will work.
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As far as Beaumont Metal Works, that's his choice to run his business as he sees fit.

If that means poor quality control, makeshift non-uniform parts & outright rudeness to any customer who doesn't buy into his business model, he is only making a opening for a future competitor.

CNC equipment now days is cheap and most of his parts are stock steel sizes and off the shelf hardware.
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Rob avoiding your calls? Makes sense really, I would do the same thing. Who wants to talk to the person who has typed this thread? Right off the batt you go and misquote Nathan in the early parts of the thread. (Yes, he never called you stupid, but that is my opinion.) Now, you've shown us that you are an exagerrator, I throw out everything else you said as bullshit! I don't believe any of your rant. I certainly don't believe Rob talked to you like you said. What we have here is an eye dee ten tee error.

You want to know why posts in this area are down? Its morons like this schmuck that chased them off.

Ooooooo I nicked my pinger on a burr. Geez. Good luck with knifemaking.
 
Fiddleback said:
Rob avoiding your calls? Makes sense really, I would do the same thing. Who wants to talk to the person who has typed this thread? Right off the batt you go and misquote Nathan in the early parts of the thread. (Yes, he never called you stupid, but that is my opinion.) Now, you've shown us that you are an exagerrator, I throw out everything else you said as bullshit! I don't believe any of your rant. I certainly don't believe Rob talked to you like you said. What we have here is an eye dee ten tee error.

You want to know why posts in this area are down? Its morons like this schmuck that chased them off.

Ooooooo I nicked my pinger on a burr. Geez. Good luck with knifemaking.
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:thumbup:
 
sdemars said:
Please read the entire thread and you will have all your answers . . .

I have no intention of regurgitating it to all the Beaumont KMG Koolaid Drinkers . . . and according to Rob there are plenty.

According to him I'm just me being unreasonable by not being happy with what I received as a piece of "quality equipment".

Steve :-)
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I'm not a kmg koolaid drinker.
I own other grinders.


I did read the whole thread, you could have answered the question already with less effort than that post.


I'll ask again.


Did he Explicitly call you an asshole and a pussy, or are you inferring and embellishing ?
 
I don't really think it's fair to make the claim that it came to you rusted since you didn't open the box for 5 months(or whatever).

Also, be sure that Rob has probably been watching this thread for a while now. Word gets around fast when you're dealing in a specialized market. I know it's hard to do right now, but try and put yourself in his shoes. Would you want to help someone who was launching an all out assault on your livelihood? It takes years to build a reputation and minutes to get it torn down. I am NOT saying that the issues your having aren't very real, just that you might want to have made every effort to handle them through Rob before throwing down the gauntlet here. Once you do that, you're kind of cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Is it just hyperbole or did he really call you a pussy/asshole? That needs clarification.

There's nothing worse than plopping down thousands of dollars of hard earned money for a high-end piece of equipment, being really excited about getting it, and then receiving something that falls short of expectations. Trust me, I've been through it(with $5000+ pieces of equipment) and I know, it's infuriating. In situations like this it's not good to suggest people are cussing/calling you names if they're not. A lot of makers here know the perils/fragility of building a reputation. That's why I think you might be sensing resistance here, not because people are fan boys of KMG.

I will be watching this thread as I'm in the market for a new grinder and the choice has been narrowed to KMG and Wilmont. Hope your issues get worked out.

ETA: Come on man, cut finger from a burr? Perhaps knife making isn't for you.
 
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Giant thumbs down to all of this recent childish name calling and finger pointing BS here in ShopTalk!

What happened to this place? Way too much drama around here lately IMHO.

No chance there is a better way huh?

Anybody else notice the full moon? Dunno, maybe the Golden Rule is hiding on the other side.

Irrelevant reader here moving on now.
 
Forums and emails are a funny thing in that something you write can rear up and bite you if what you wrote is open to interpretation (I know I've fallen victim once or twice). The count and JG mentioned it, and artistic license is never a good thing when calling out someone's livlihood. Hyperbole? I think so. You lost my trust in your wording when you wrote that Nathan called you stupid. We should all think twice and take a moment (or days) when reputations are involved.

I understand why you posted what you did but, especially in this business, always try and go out of your way to deal with a vendor directly. Could he have read or heard what you wrote before you talked and been less than kind to you on the phone? Probably, but since Rob has always been very nice to me on the phone I tend to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Whine and cheese?
 
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...oh please move this to whine and cheese... *malice* ;)
 
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