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Thread: How many good tools get thrown away?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2007
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    Wellsboro, PA
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    How many good tools get thrown away?

    Sanding a few nights ago with my Bosch RA sander and it cuts out (no power) a couple of times (I thought it might be the cord) and then it finally quit. Dead. Darn it all because I really wanted to get something done.

    So, play with the cord a little to no avail and then decide to tear it apart and see what makes it tick. Found a loose wire coming out of the switch. On closer examination, I see the "spade" connector that plugs into the switch has burned off. The sander is about 12 years old.

    Next dilema was to get the rest of the connector out of the switch. No room to get needle nose pliers in and nothing much to grab anyways. I was finally able to pry the piece out. Now to find a replacement...

    Found the part on toolparts something or another .com for $1.44 (that was for the 5 inch wire with both connectors. $8.99 shipping!!! If it had been $11 bucks with free shipping I might have bought it but for some reason I hate paying $9 bucks for something they could stick in an envelope for .44 cents. Yeah, I know, handling fees too...

    Anyways, I starting searching for a connector on the 'net and was coming up empty. Stopped at a couple of local hardware stores and a Radio Shack - zilch. Finally stopped at an electrical supply house. They didn't have the right part but had one I thought I could make work. I had to flatten it (if was round to begin with) and ended up soldering the wire after I crimped it. A little more flattening and bending with pliers and I was able to "make it fit".

    I plugged the rest of the wires back in their correct locations, tightened down the terminal screws for the incoming power cord, put the covers together, plugged it in and gingerly pulled the trigger. It worked!!! Cost me nothing but a little time.

    I used it tonight on some maple and it performed just as I expected.

    I just wonder how many good tools get thrown away for such little problems.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Lawrence, KS
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    594
    On your next quest for a funny little connector:

    www.digikey.com
    www.mouser.com
    www.newark.com
    www.alliedelec.com
    www.jameco.com
    Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

  3. #3
    I once tossed a Mercedes when the wipers became too worn to clear the windscreen to my satisfaction.

    Shame, I really loved that car..... Well, toodle-ooo... I'm off to the club.




    Answer... lots.
    .
    "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning".
    Robert Duval in "Apileachips Now". - almost.


    Laserpro Spirit 60W laser, Corel X3
    Missionfurnishings, Mitchell Andrus Studios, NC

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    LA & SC neither one is Cali
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    30 or so years ago you would open up a tool and poke around to fix it, today tools are built NOT to the repaired, in many ways they are disposable. This is even more true with electronics. I would point out that much of this manufacturing approach is for the bottom line, this is a double edged sword for us, we get tools at much reduced prices, but those of us who use tools enough to wear them out have to buy tools more often.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    St. Jacob, IL.
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    Earlier this week a customer saw the Dremel tool I was useing. He asked me how old it was as he haden't seen one like it in years. I told him I couldn't remember for sure but I think I bought this one in the late 70's or early 80's. He thought I didn't use it much but I told him I use it every day. I repair it when it needs it. He looked at me like I was NUTS and said a new one is less than $100.00
    I wondered to myself who's really nuts here. I've spent probably $100.00 or less over the years keeping this one in good shape.
    Thanks,
    Bob Warfield

  6. Damn the connectors.. Solder the thing on next time.. You'll never ever need to worry about it coming off again.

    The ONLY reason for those connectors is to make it easier for people to put them together on an assembly line.

    Everything is disposable these days.. After all, how many TV repair shops do you see around?

    Not that they can NOT be repaired.. It's just rare that someone ever thinks to have one repaired these days.

    Regardless, it's very sad.
    Last edited by Scott Hildenbrand; 01-23-2010 at 12:47 AM.

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Warfield View Post
    Earlier this week a customer saw the Dremel tool I was useing. He asked me how old it was as he haden't seen one like it in years. I told him I couldn't remember for sure but I think I bought this one in the late 70's or early 80's. He thought I didn't use it much but I told him I use it every day. I repair it when it needs it. He looked at me like I was NUTS and said a new one is less than $100.00
    I wondered to myself who's really nuts here. I've spent probably $100.00 or less over the years keeping this one in good shape.
    Thanks,
    Bob Warfield
    He's probably used to paying someone to fix his tools, that's what the look was for, you "exceeded" the repair cost in his eyes when compared to the cost of just a brand new one. And we wonder where the disposable culture comes from.

  8. #8
    One thing about electronics today is that it doesn't fail like the early TV and radio sets. I worked as a TV technician in high school and we had a LOT of TVs and radios come through the shop. Picture tubes used to only last a couple to four years. They were all tube sets and got really hot from the tubes.

    And fixing one of those sets was not cheap. I'm sure some people paid at least their purchase price in repairs, and the sets were fairly expensive.

    Those early sets had to be designed to be repaired because they failed so often.

    Electronic devices fail today, but most of them do not. We throw them away because they become obsolete and not because of the cost of repairs (like the old TV and radio sets).

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bob Warfield View Post
    Earlier this week a customer saw the Dremel tool I was useing. He asked me how old it was as he haden't seen one like it in years. I told him I couldn't remember for sure but I think I bought this one in the late 70's or early 80's. He thought I didn't use it much but I told him I use it every day. I repair it when it needs it. He looked at me like I was NUTS and said a new one is less than $100.00
    I wondered to myself who's really nuts here. I've spent probably $100.00 or less over the years keeping this one in good shape.
    Thanks,
    Bob Warfield
    I hate the new disposable tools mentality and world. It's getting harder and harder to buy quality. That's only a real $100 if you don't count your time. If you are pro, and could be billing instead of fixing, might not make sense.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Hildenbrand View Post
    Not that they can NOT be repaired.. It's just rare that someone ever thinks to have one repaired these days.
    And even rarer for someone to actually repair it themselves... and what's really sad that we've all but lost that mentality AND skill set in this disposable we live in.

    Mike

  11. #11
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    central PA
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    I think another point on this issue is the relative cost of the tool compared to the cost of labor. If you spend two or three hours of your time (or someone elses), how much does it really cost you to fix something?

    I agree with everything that has been said, but I think it's more economics than anything else.

  12. #12
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    Nov 2003
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    Malvern, PA
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    Who'd want to fix an old TV today when the LCD's are getting so cheap? I've got an old 31" Sony sitting in the corner for two years since I haven't gotten anyone to help me move it.

    Picked up a Foley 1"x42" belt sander on stand by trash cans driving home one day. Think it was something in the switch that was the problem.

    A lot of the newer plastic tools seem pressed together in ways that you can't get them apart without shattering them.

    Rich

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by M Toupin View Post
    And even rarer for someone to actually repair it themselves... and what's really sad that we've all but lost that mentality AND skill set in this disposable we live in.

    Mike
    Mike is right, I think. Most people have no curiosity and/or are afraid to try. They don't watch "How its Made" on TV. If a piece of equipment is used for a business, economics enter into it as well. I haven't taken a tool to be repaired in ages but assume hourly repair rates are at least $40/hr. probably more. $40 in parts and an hour's labor is most of the way to a new tool in a lot of cases.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Henderson View Post
    One thing about electronics today is that it doesn't fail like the early TV and radio sets. I worked as a TV technician in high school and we had a LOT of TVs and radios come through the shop.
    HA! My dad had a monster of a 27" console COLOR TV in the living room. Got it in '71-72.... The B/W portable sitting on top got more viewing time than the console did!!!! Wow, color sets were bad back then.

    Anyone remember the techs "De-gausing" the tube???
    .
    "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning".
    Robert Duval in "Apileachips Now". - almost.


    Laserpro Spirit 60W laser, Corel X3
    Missionfurnishings, Mitchell Andrus Studios, NC

  15. #15
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    May 2008
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    Milton, Ontario, Canada
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    I'm a firm believer that one mans trash is another mans treasure, (I'M usually the other man) but it is getting harder and harder to get parts for certain things.
    Regards
    Pete

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