Majacraft

So I got my new wheel all set up! She is a beauty. I will have pictures to post later.

When it first arrived, I was so excited. You would think it was Christmas and I was 8:

I open the box and start pulling out pieces. Wheel, check, pedals, check...miscellaneous handle part, check.
I start putting the pieces together, because damn, I want to use it right away! I had just sold my Joy, so I was absent a wheel to spin on. The directions are pretty good, and I am doing OK with the assembly. That handle part, must be connected sometime...but there aren't any holes in it for screws...oh well.

So I continue, everything fits together like a dream. I get her almost completed, look ahead in the directions...and notice, no handle attaching. I look at the handle again, wtf!! I think it is broken. In fact, looking closely, I can tell it is broken. It should be part of the main shaft, as one piece.

Sadness.

My first thought was, damn, I already put it all together and I want to use it! So I finish. Then I go and email Klaus from Crown Mountain Farms (where I purchased it from). Please please advise I write to him.

He checks into it and Majacraft sends out a new handle. It was a very bad thing for me to have put it together though...as soon as I saw the damage (ie. when I was removing it from the box) I should have stopped then and taken it to the post office for inspection. Majacraft could have claimed insurance on the wheel because it broke in transit. But stupid me, I went and put the thing together, so no insurance. They still send the piece though.

Last night I finally get the replacement part...and a dowel rod...
On the rod it says: "conduit removal tool" -- what?!?

So I start taking the wheel apart, and I see it. In the middle section where the base shaft connects with the handle a pvc pipe is inserted to keep the two pieces together and to allow for a bolt to go through there. I push the dowel rod into this hole...no luck. This thing is in there good -- hopefully not permanently.

I find my hammer and check out the hole. This is not going to be fun...I really don't want my replacing this part to result in me breaking the thing with overzealous hammering. So I start...
The dowel is not very sturdy...it starts chipping from my off center hammer strikes. It also starts to splinter around the end next to the pvc pipe. In fact, it starts to shape its self to go INTO the pvc pipe! And the pipe has moved, maybe 1 mm.

At this point Hubby is concerned...he thinks for sure I am going to do more damage than not. He is not very happy with Majacraft.

Eventually, the pvc pipe is out enough that I can grab it and yank it out. Success!!! Slowly I begin reassembling the wheel. Everything is going very well. I get the wheel attached, the pedals, the flyer head...

There is another bolt hole at the top of the handle shaft (the new piece). This is the last part I have to do. This sets the tension for the flyer head part, keeps it in place and allows it to be loosened and re-situated. I go to put the bolt through...and realize that it doesn't push all the way in. Looking, I note that the bolt has a square part next to the head...this keeps it from turning and allows tightening of the bolt. I look at the hole, I look at the bolt again...the hole is round, the bolt is square...

I am trying my hardest to get a square peg into a round hole...sigh...

The wood is hard, I cannot simply push this bolt into the hole. I get out my trusty hammer again. By this time Hubby is freaking out, he is positive that I will break it if I try hammering this thing in. He is also very disappointed as I point out that the original part had the square already cut out of the hole, and inserting the bolt was easy peasy. -- Why didn't they do this to the new piece they sent me?!?

Anyway, I managed to get the bolt in enough for me to tighten it on the other end. There is a small gap, but its not bad. I might at some point try again to get it in all the way. So at this point she's up, functioning and looking beautiful, handle and all.