Cheaply Made Chinese Garbage

Status
Not open for further replies.

blacksmithden

Active User
Registered
Joined
Sep 2, 2013
Messages
218
I've been wanting a bigger, heavier vise since I broke my 6". Princess Auto (which is basically Harbor Freight North for us Canadians) has a meaty looking 8" and I've been waiting patiently for it to go on sale. Well...today was the day. I made sure I was in there a few minutes before the store opened to make sure I got one....which I did. I was pretty rushed this morning, so I didn't even look at it. Just got it into the back of my truck, and off I went. I opened it up this afternoon. WHAT THE.....The handle on this thing is TINY compared to the body of the vise. 3/4 of the length of the handle is so close to the body that I can't even wrap my hand around it without the back of my hand being squeezed between it and the vise body. Then, the kicker. I turned it upside down. Oh my....now I see why the handle is so small with such crappy clearance.

They don't want you putting any real torque on this thing. The threaded rod is only about 3/4" thick, and look at the pathetic omega shaped cast "nut" standoff that it goes though. That's what's holding all your pressure. It's about 1 1/2" long, and is stood off the bottom of the body by half a country mile. I thought to myself...well...it might not break until I get it mounted on the bench...but after that, life expectancy is about 2 minutes. Nope...this piece of junk is going back to the store. The woman asked me 3 times what was wrong with it. I told her that it just wasn't built heavy enough for my needs. Finally, after she asked me the THIRD time, I said fairly loudly "It's built like a complete piece of junk !" I guess she didn't figure it was good to have customers at the counter getting loud about their cheaply made Chinese junk so she shut up and gave me my refund. I was hoping they would have skimped on the jaw alignment...finish...whatever, and made the actual important parts heavy enough. No such luck. I guess I'll keep hunting around for a good, but cheap used one. They want over 600 Canadian pesos for an 8" Record in my neck of the woods. If I'm nothing else...I'm patient. My crappy 5" spare will do for the time being.

IMG_20160531_153954_zpsv8dieuj4.jpg

IMG_20160531_154024_zpsfd0hhd4m.jpg
 
one look and you can tell its junk
 
YEP Junk
But sometimes we have no choice.
I bought a drill press vise, only to break it while trying to secure a piece for drilling.(3rd use)
 
I'd seriously contemplate going out and buying the metal to make my own if I was willing to pay the $643 they want for an 8" record. I could probably make something far superior to any of the current offerings out there. Unfortunately, machining it out on my 8x30" vertical mill just isn't an option. It's just not up to a task of that size.
 
Don't they have the equivalent of Craigslist in Canada? Surely someone has an old vise they want to part with. I have lots of vises; one is a 4" Chas. Parker that weights 75# and the other is a 4" Wilton bullet vise. Cost for both was $150.00 ... in Hawaii! I find that used vises in good shape are much better deals nowadays.
 
I am not familiar with Princess Auto, but know Harbor Freight very well. There is one within two miles of my house. Ever since I started reading every word of ALL the reviews on the EXACT part number I contemplated buying, I have been happy with every purchase I have made there. The last thing I did not do that with was a vise. I read the reviews after I got home with it. The reviews were horrible. Opened the box and found a broken off jaw in the box. Tightened down the vise gently and the jaw fell off. LOTS of those reviews. So, I took it back in the unopened box. Your Princess Auto vise:
http://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/8-in-fixed-base-mechanic-s-vise/A-p8085755e
has only two reviews, both pretty bad. There would be 50-100 reviews here on a HF vise. HF is now listing how many stars items have in their ads. Worthless. Some people give it five stars and have never opened the box. Others give one star and have no idea what it is for or how to use it. Read every word of every review and you will know that product better than the store manager does.
 
Yes...we have both Craig's List, and it's more popular equivalent, Kijiji. There's a few 6" ones around, but nothing in 8" or bigger. You guys have it good down in the US with the abundance of product availability, both new and used. Here in Canada, our entire population amounts to that of the state of California, spread out over a huge land area.....and over half of that population is concentrated in 3 major cities. Unfortunately, I don't live near one of the major 3 centers. I'm in the capital city of my province, and we only have somewhere between 750 and 800 thousand people. Stuff does pop up now and again, and I'm constantly watching. One has to be patient and jump on stuff when it pops up if you live here. :)
 
Second hand record vice :) they last multiple lifetimes (so long as their not overly abused) i would send a spair one with a canadian friend flying back tomorow but I think it might work out bad in excess bagage costs. :-0

Stuart
 
Theres a thing you may notice about a LOT of Chinese made products and that is diminishing quality as time goes on. Many products with a country of origin that a possibly third world and just starting off suffer from a rough sort of quality standard.

As time marches on their products become much improved. Japan and Taiwan are great examples. China has a a decade plus to improve the overall quality of what they sell but the in the main quality has gone done not improved.

When many Chinese products are first w released the specs are good for dimensions , materials spec are the same and manufacture procedures seem good. and but as they say wait!

Down the track the following issues of the same product suffer from a whats now termed a quality fade. The dimensions of parts differ from originals, materials specs change and manufacture techniques are cheapened. All to save a few cents in each unit.

Irwin Vice grips are a good example. They took an excellent Brand name product and destroyed its reputation.

This is business culture dating way back and very come to overcome along with the corruption and lack of action by the central government.

I am not saying all Chinese stuff is like this but I like to know who made a product I am considering and do the they follow international quality standards like 9001/9002

Check out the book Made poorly in China by Paul Midler.Its an eye opener.

Oz
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top