I can shed light on both areas....the platen and the shipping outside the U.S. Rob designed and built the platens from specifications I created and asked him to build for me. (the one he made for me was the first one) He made and sold those platens for some time....the reason he stopped producing them was because of the time factor involved in setting up and reprogramming his CNC equipment to produce the platen/platen parts, which essentially equated to 3 days of down time in his shop, changing over from making grinders, to platens, and back to grinders. We discussed it, and I asked Rob if he would have any misgivings about me offering plans and/or the platen. His response was "I wish you would." You see, he did not want to produce them any more, and I understand why.....he was loosing money making them. Rob is no different than most of us....he's a "one man" shop, and from a production standpoint, can't afford to offer "one offs".....which is essentially what the platens were for him. I actually have a wide variety of choices for the platens.....from plans to finished platens, listed on my website.
Concerning the shipping, Rob took a serious beating on a KMG that he shipped to Europe. He shipped it, the customer refused the shipment when he discovered that there were import fees and tariffs...which Rob had told him about.....and refused the shipment. It got sent back to Rob, who took it in the shorts for shipping costs both ways, as well as the other associated costs.....in short it ended up costing him a bundle! That's why Rob stopped shipping internationally. In this case, one bad egg spoiled the whole thing for everyone who is outside the U.S. That might seem trivial to some, but again, remember that Rob is just like most of us....a one man shop.....something of that magnitude can hurt you badly....and although I know it's a bummer for those wanting a KMG who are outside the U.S., I can also see and understand it from Rob's perspective.
Both of those scenarios are aspects everyone might not like, but you have to put yourself in his shoes, and respect the choices he made for the sake of his business. I still get calls from folks who are upset because Rob won't ship outside the U.S., but it is his business, and he has to do what he must for it's sake. Personally, I'd love to see him shipping worldwide, and wish he would....but in this case, it's "once bitten, twice shy".
