Review on 3/4 HP Heavy-Duty Shop Fox W1671 Mortising Machine by Jeff Strutz

I had a problem with the gas spring's plastic ball socket breaking when trying to snap it onto the steel ball. I emailed Shop Fox about it and after they requested all sorts of information, I haven't heard back from them. It's been over a week now. Don't expect much support. As a comparison, Bench Dog's router table arrived with a broken part and the company sent the replacement 2-day air with no questions asked (except address of course).I decided to buy my own ball and socket connector and ensure it was all metal this time. The threading is 6mm on both male and female. If yours breaks, this could be a consideration for you. Instead of snapping these on, you have to screw them on though, which takes slightly longer to install. I'll upload a picture.The 1/2" chisel it comes with is pretty bad. I recommend the Premium Grizzly chisels that are made in Japan (around $40 each).Other than that, the machine looks good and operates as you'd expect it to. I'll remove a star due to bad customer service and having to buy my own replacement parts on a brand new machine.Update: As of Nov 8 2016, I still haven't gotten an answer from Shop Fox about replacing those socket joints for the gas spring. It's a good thing I was able to fix the issue with a generic part. The metal ones I got on ebay are working perfectly.Another note.I have been using one of the Japanese-made premium bits from Grizzly and it's been cutting so incredibly smooth with minimal pressure , that I thought they were all like that. Yesterday, I tried using the included bit for the first time and wow, what a difference. It was horrible. It barely cut (even after some sharpening) and I had to push down very hard. I'd throw that one away and get one of the Japanese made ones from either Lee Valley or Grizzly. It's a HUGE difference.