ECN Forum Forums Photo Discussion Forums Photos for General Discussion Cheap power tools

Paulus,
Welcome to ECN, mate!.
I see that you are in Christchurch, NZ.
Hi from down the road.
Fact of the matter here, is they put vents on power tools here to let the smoke out, not the air in.
Mark (e57), is darn right in his post, pretty much the world over, there is a market for these throw-away tools.
I, as an Electrician, used to attempt to repair tools like this (only on a very slow day), but 90% of the time, you'd open the case up (once you'd got the Security bits) and find components you couldn't even work with.
Solution, close it back up and send it back to the owner.
Problem is these days, there is a ready market for "disposable" power tools, mainly the weekend DIYer.
Also, there are people that give a note on the tool "Do not repair if price over $XX, please advise"
I was taught as an Apprentice Electrician, to Buy Once, Buy Well
Problem is the DIY market is bigger than us Tradesmen buying power tools, it's only a matter of time before the same manufacturing processes are used, for our tools.

Yep, these sort of tools are certainly intended to be consumable. Even though the initial problem was just the switch (standard size, cost 79 pence for a replacement), most people would have just figured they'd got their year's use out of it, toss it in the trash and go buy another one. These things only get repaired (if possible) these days when it's for family and friends.

By the way, I forgot to mentioned the plastic clips holding the brush springs which you can see in the second pic. It seems they have some sort of ingenious automatic release system in them so that you only have to look at them cock-eyed and they fall off sending the spring across the room.

You can never get the dozens of stupid little parts to stay in one place while you fit the two halves back together. Then the wiring, why must it ALWAYS get trapped between the 2 shells? And the blasted screws! One of then is certain to drop 3 feet to the floor, with not the slightest provocation and totally vanish. Then, contrary to all the Laws of Motion of the Universe, it transports itself 45 feet to the other end of the shop, behind a cupboard. But somewhere in the world there's a production line where a smiling deft-fingered operative is assembling one of these things every 10 seconds, with her left hand, while holding jolly conversations with her workmates!
Why me, Lord, why ME?

Good call fellas,
Paul,
Even them brush-holders look cheap, most power tools I've opened up have the wires feeding the brushes entering from the ends of the holder.
Alan,
You are darned right about the small bits from tools.
I find that an old egg carton works wonders so that you can group the thousands of screws that come out of these little buggers.
Also you can use the carton for something to bite when the Damn thing won't won't fit back together!.
All that and Mr Owner want's the thing fixed economically. GRRR

My local Woolworths store is selling drills and angle grinders for $14 bucks NZ. Thats $7 U.S. and 5 pounds U.K. You can't possibly manufacture decent power tools for that money ! !

I bought a Rigid 14.4 volt cordless drill and have been nothing but happy with it. Payed $150US for it, one of the major reasons I bought it was because of the 3 year "no questions asked" warrenty. I have put it through the mill, dropped it off a ladder 6' up onto a cement floor and it still works just as well as the day I bought it. Whats sad is that my friend bought a "China" 18 volt cordless from a import tools store *cough*Harbor*cough*Frieght*cough* for 40 bucks, right now it sounds like the gearbox is on its last leg, battery wont hold a charge, and doesnt even compare to my Rigid in terms of tourqe or power. Whats even sadder? He only bought it 2 months ago for basic home repair stuff.

[This message has been edited by bensonelectric (edited 04-08-2005).]

paul
Just realised: this motor runs on rectified dc with those diodes? Is this connected to that 'universal motor' thread posted some time back?
Alan

Not sure which thread you're refering to, but I didn't have another one in mind specifically when posting this.

And yes, the permanent magnet motor with rectifier struck me as an unusual arrangement too.....


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 04-09-2005).]

Paul
Thread was posted by splitzapper in the Electrical T&A Forum 01 21 2005.
So, "I put my thinking-head on.", as Worzel Gummidge used to say, and surmise that the motor would be series wound dc: speed is effectively controlled by the load. For a polisher, you'd get very high speed when lightly running a mop over the work, and vice-versa. Only vaguely connected with the above thread, and spitzapper never did get an answer to a rather vague question.
alan

Still had the 'thinking-head' on; I'll bet splitzapper was considering using a universal motor (from a drill?) and a dc source ( batteries?) for a project. Let me guess- an electric bicycle? a DIY powered lawnmower?
NOT a good idea, safety-wise.

Alan