ICBMs Launched, Part I

If one learns from one's mistakes, I learned a giant lesson on what not to do on eBay.

Now what?

A couple years ago, I got an egg beater drill that I thought was just great.  So great, in fact, that perhaps I should see about getting a hand-cranked drill press. I think what I really wanted was a post drill, but there is no way one of those will fit in my shop.  The next best idea was one of these table-mounted thingies.

In retrospect, it really was a good idea. Next step -- eBay!

Bad idea.

I found three likely candidates, and not knowing anything about them, thought it would be neat to have one.  So I bid a low price on all of them hoping I might get lucky with one.

Here's where I learned something important:  Never do that.

I won all three auctions.  They all showed up, and I wondered what I was going to do with them.  Then, upon closer inspection, I realized none of the three were complete.  Two of them were missing the beds, and one had a bed that was broken.

So I did what any other pack-rat tool collecting wannabe would do:  I put them in a box, stored them and forgot about them.

Then, the other day I read a post by the Alaska Woodworker.  He actually wanted one of these things, and lamented in his post that someone beat him to one that he found for sale.  In his defense, the one he wanted was complete, and probably worked perfectly.

To make a long story short, I contacted him, and he agreed to take them off of my hands.  It was nice to see them in the mail going to someone who might be able to get them running and perhaps used.

When these Inter Continental Boring Machines arrive at their destination, I am hoping the Alaska Woodworker will post Part II of this series, documenting either his rehabilitation of these magnificent tools, or his drive to the dump to dispose of junk sent to him from half a world away.