search has limited intelect

[Jon]

Thanks DIYSwede; your point is valid though MeJasonT. There are multiple search engines across the site, and there's a 3-character lower limit for the forum search engine. There are ways around the limitations with advanced search syntax and some tricks, but yes, providing a unified and more complete search engine is on my list.

One trick I can recommend for all websites is to circumvent the site's particular search function by using advanced Google search syntax. For example, play with these queries in Google:

Site-restricted search:
site:homemadetools.net cnc

Site-restricted search plus url restriction:
site:homemadetools.net inurl:forum cnc

Site-restricted search plus url restriction, plus subtracting urls containing "tags" (Google over-indexes these)
site:homemadetools.net inurl:forum -inurl:tags cnc

Note that the inurl: syntax works because our forum pages all contain "forum" in the url. In fact, this is common enough with all forums that you can do this trick:

inurl:forum cnc

You can also play with this custom Google search engine I put together, to search only machining forums: Search 12 machining forums at once