Total Super Bars and Light & Tough...What would you like to see

That 404 is what gets me.... I'm going to need bars for my 7910.

 

What are some sizes and mounts you would like to see? I will suggest whatever to tilton.... Some of these bars I am going to order on my own though.

 

Spreadsheets are for chumps. If you use a spreadsheet you might as well be using a picture of an old fashioned printed page. Talk to your software provider about using a database instead. I use MS Access at home to develop and then use data that needs a good lookup capability. It is not an internet type of software but there must be something similar you could use on line. For me, data entry is easy. I set up a data entry form that just lets me enter data using my own custom labels and it just puts the results where they are needed in my various database tables. As an example that would mean go to the data entry form and choose K095 from a list of 8 or 10 possible configurations, then choose 24 inches from a list of typical bar lengths. After that just choose from .050, .058, .063, etc. from another drop down list. Somewhere on the form input the brand name, model name and part number you want to use as a reference which makes your entry a unique entity. When you want to use the data you start by filtering on perhaps fit, which finds all of the K095s. Then you input length into the result and find all K095s with say a 24 inch length. If the list is short a person could just choose but if you need to filter more have it ask gauge, brand, model number, model name etc. to narrow the list more.
Removing a data entry can be done easily when a particular bar is no longer available and adding a new one means a single entry on the new data form. If a manufacturer creates a new model you just add that model once to your drop down list and are ready for data entry of all examples of that model. For each model bar you could include a text entry with the manufacturer's description of its characteristics and just link that description to the model name in the database. That means only one time entry to get the description to show up any time you want when that model is being displayed.
You know what they say, when your only tool is a hammer everything looks like a nail. I feel the same way about spreadsheets. They are used way too often for database or even simple text functions.

 

The 28" stihl in 063" would be good. I doubt they'll want to do 32 and 36 any way.

 

would everything 32" and down being .050 and 36" .063 suit most everyone?

 

It probably would most. I'm probably in the minority wanting .063 since it oils better for milling. That I can use 404". I have 404 in 21-32" bars.

 

Jon1270 and Oldman47 i will have you know i just spent the last 4 hrs trying to figure out how to build a database and failed....searched for ms access to try it on there and realized my $200 office purchase a couple years ago was a waste of money because it didnt include it.

So the question is....will purchasing ms access($100) and building my database in it result in something i can easily load to a website? I asked questions about this to the company doing my website and they didnt seem to know/want to do it. quoted some ridiculous price and i left it at that. Now its sounding like something that is fairly easy but time consuming for a person familiar with such things provided all the data is in front of you to fill in the data fields. Maybe the company doing my website just doesnt want to do it...building the basic website was a package deal with the Partsmart contract, but last i talked to them i didnt even have a start on a complete list of bars, mounts, brands, models(to be honest now that i type that i can understand why nobody would want to touch this project) so maybe that is the reason they declined.

 

No, MS Access is not a web tool. I got a good bundle cheap because my employer wanted everyone to know all about MS products so they could use them at work. I use it to organize things like a list of over 1000 movies on my DVR backup drives or book lists or even my investment transactions. It is a very handy tool once you learn to use it but as you say it does not come in the basic office package. I am thinking your software person would likely know of a good on-line type database and could help you by creating one that does what you need to do. Learning to set up a true database is not something you will do quickly. That is why I suggested you get someone else to set it up. Once it is set up properly, updating the data is easy as can be.
People who find it easy to set up a database may not be easy to find because so few people actually use them. That is also why MS does not package it with basic versions of the Office software. The basic set up that you likely need would be a breeze to write using Access but as I said that is not a web type or on-line type tool. I used to set up common databases for multiple users on a LAN when I worked at a large utility but that is not like setting one up to use on line.
If you decide to hire someone to do your database, start by defining the structure such as needing a table with just manufacturers, another table with model names that can link back to the manufacturer, a table that has a list of sizes and a reference in the model name table to which sizes are available for each model, etc., etc. I would guess you will end up with 8 or 10 reference tables and a data form for order entry along with other data entry forms for you to add models to a brand or add sizes to a model. Defining the basic structure in ways that allow you to compartmentalize the data into unique lookup tables would make getting what you want much quicker and easier. Note: when it comes to database setup, quick and easy for the programmer means lower cost to you. Other tables you will want are customer reference tables so that you can go to any customer and look up what they have ordered or the customer can review their "cart" to verify they like what they have ordered. Once you have a firm paid order just use the customer data to print the mailing label and route the order content to your shipping folks to fill it and ship it. For a returning customer, once they type in the name you could even use the data to ask if they are the same person so they don't need to type in addresses etc.

 

Oldman47 I am the software person for my shop. Finding a tech guy local to fix my issues proved impossible so I have been handling everything since opening my shop. The few local guys that do this stuff just do it on the side and take forever. I waited a couple months for the guy to come setup my network, when my computer crashed and the motherboard burnt.... I waited 2 weeks before I gave up waiting and figured out how to get my hard drive functioning again so I had access to my QuickBooks.

Only reason I even have excel is because that is the format a couple distributor use for price files on special deals so I had to have it for opening the sale listings.

Jeffgu offered to help but I'm not wanting to take advantage or add work to someone that already has their plate full... I'm also so used to figuring everything out myself and doing it that it becomes tough to ask for/receive help

 

Sorry to hear that. I spent years learning how to really make good use of the features in Access and I suspect it could take that long to learn to effectively use another software platform for a database. I actually spent 2 years getting my "replacement" up to speed before I retired because I didn't want to leave the company in the lurch. A very simple database is easy to build but once you start doing "fancy stuff" it can get away from you fast. Unfortunately what you can learn in the beginner courses at your local community college will not even be up to the level that I consider very easy stuff. That replacement I trained took so long because she was taking those courses and simply got to what I considered pretty basic in the third and fourth semesters. Some of that was because their focus was not on the things I thought were important to understand but by the third semester she was teaching the instructor as often as she was learning from him. I had gotten impatient and taught her many aspects of the software myself.
As far as Excel, MS Access has a direct import feature you can use with Excel tables. It will adopt the titles from your Excel file as data labels and does a decent enough job of converting data. There are a few funny glitches like Access using "-1" as a symbol for the "yes" text in Excel but that is not hard to deal with once you know the translation.

 

small mount .325 .050 in 16 and 18 light and tough are ordered. supposed to be here end of next month.

small mount 3/8 050 24 light and tough are ordered

K041 16" .325 050 light and tough is ordered.

i will have some stihl mount 36" 3/8 063 bars available next week.

there is a list of other bars they are considering bringing in based on recomendations/requests but they havent decided yet on just what they will start stocking.

 

ford150, I have friends who are into web support and design for careers. I'm sure they'd do what you wanted for an acceptable price.

Sometimes it is a lot cheaper to invest in someone in the know versus investing your own time and money to get in the same room as those that know. Knowledge requires an investment of time and money. You gotta determine whether the money you spend is worth more than that investment of your time and money required to axhieve that know how. It's been a costly and painful road for me to arrive at that realization too. Don't do me to yourself.

God Bless men.

 

I spent a few hours playing around and gave up. New site is just going to have a sort feature by bar mount. I can do that on my own in the backend of the website very easily. It will require people to know their bar mount to easily find the list of bars available but that is probably a good thing as it should weed out some of the troublesome "homeowner" sales

 

T088ZK2===K041 16" .325 are going to be $68.....for the first couple weeks i will have them on sale but havent decided on a price yet
T369FK4===K095 24" 3/8 .050 will be priced identical to the other 24" light weights....$88.95.
still not sure of a arrival date but figured i would let everyone in the pricing.

 

A little bar porn......20" 3/8 .050 K095 is in and weighs almost a full 2 ounces less than a sugi

 

Why must you tempt?! Just spent a wad on herbicides and stuff. ....soon.

 

$75 shipped for the next week or 2 then they will go to normal price of $75 plus shipping.

 

I've gotta get rid of some old bars so I can plausibly claim to need one of these.

 

Just took a count of total bars that i have in stock....171 with another 75-100 on backorder