Cheaply Made Chinese Garbage

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Wow seems I can edit all posts , everybodys

You're not alone.

I'm this will be fixed soon!
 
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I tend to avoid stores like Harbor Fright and Princess Auto-Return like the plague. In fact, I avoid most stores when it comes to buying tools. Unless it's so unbelievably cheap that I can't ignore it, I don't like having any tool or machine shop device that was made in China on my property! I find that I'm far better off scrounging at yard and estate sales for stuff that was made in the USA or Canada. Farm sales around here seem to have a lot of good old indestructible tools like vises and compressors. For instance, I've never owned a new air compressor in my life. I've had four different ones, they've all come from from farm sales, and were well used, and I got years of trouble-free use out of every one of them. in fact, I gave two of them away years ago to people who are STILL using them.

Hope this helps.

best,
T2
 
There are quite a few vises still made in the USA. Yost, Some Wilton, I believe some Palmgren too. They have them on Amazon at reasonable prices. Not cheap, but very reasonable.
 
qualitymachinetools said:
There are quite a few vises still made in the USA. Yost, Some Wilton, I believe some Palmgren too. They have them on Amazon at reasonable prices. Not cheap, but very reasonable.
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Our problem here is 95% of the stuff on amazon.com doesn't ship to Canada. We have amazon.ca to work with instead....much high prices, and much less selection....just like the stores up here. LOL.
 
blacksmithden said:
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. :)
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Ha ha 2 drops of wee came out I laughed that hard over the small 750 thou people!

Our nearest major center is 6 hours drive from me it has under 200k people. Our biggest city in our state is 12hours drive!
The prices are also double and our dollar is less than 3/4s. You are not alone.
stock pile your cash and order from the US in bulk. Or just cop the frieght costs and costs for decent equip where you have too. Every time i buy cheap it costs me more, every time the disappointment in the item and myself for buying it is more. I feel your pain.
 
I got a couple of responses from Princess Auto via email, about my review. LOL. They also removed my review from their website. I'm so glad I copied and pasted it here. I'll remove the Canadian Tire part, and see if they find another excuse to axe it. If they do, then you can be assured that they're doing it with all the reviews, and you can't believe a thing you read on their website. As it is, it's a pretty weak excuse for deleting a review instead of just blanking out the other company's name. Anyway....here's what they sent me.




June 6th

Hello. Thank you for taking the time to review our product.


Unfortunately, we cannot publish it to our website as you mention a competitor.


I have however, forwarded your comments to our Buyer. In the interim, if you are not satisfied with the quality of the vise, you may return it for a refund if you wish.


We apologize for the inconvenience.


Regards,



Estelle Paquette,

Customer Service Representative

Représentante du service à la clientèle

====================================
Princess Auto Support/Soutien technique

Princess Auto Ltd/Ltée
Box/CP 1005
Winnipeg, MB R3C 2W7
Toll Free/Sans frais: 1-800-665-8685
Toll Free Fax/Télécopieur sans frais: 1-800-265-4212
E-mail/Courrier électronique: answers@princessauto.com



And today, June 8th


Hello.


Our Buyer has responded:



For the serious user, they need to buy either our Pro.Point or Wilton vise, the Pro.Point and only the Wilton Tradesman vise are 70,000 PSI, drop forged. But unfortunately both these are 6” vises. (8507873 and 8660839) The Wilton one is American made vise



Additionally, there will be a new line of Powerfist vises in stores in the future that are much better than the current assortment, much stronger, but they are still hobbyist vises.



Thank you



Regards,



Estelle Paquette,

Customer Service Representative

Représentante du service à la clientèle

====================================
Princess Auto Support/Soutien technique

Princess Auto Ltd/Ltée
Box/CP 1005
Winnipeg, MB R3C 2W7
Toll Free/Sans frais: 1-800-665-8685
Toll Free Fax/Télécopieur sans frais: 1-800-265-4212
E-mail/Courrier électronique: answers@princessauto.com


EDIT: Ok...I removed the name "Canadian Tire" from my review and reposted it. We'll see if that flies. LOL.
 
IF YOU PAY ENOUGH(!) you CAN get a decent Chinese vise. I bought a FORGED STEEL Chinese(Great Wall brand) vise back in the 80's from Wholesale Tool. I think it was $80 or $90.00. It is not going to break because it is FORGED STEEL,not cast iron(which comes in many grades from China:decent to crappy). There is a VERY similar vise sold under an American name(Rigid),but they want several times what I paid. I saw a big steel workbench at the junkyard for $75.00,and it had a Rigid vise on it. Terrible orange color! No where as nicely painted as my vise. I thought about buying it and just taking the vise off,but I have plenty of vises already. Back to the story:This vise has an unusual and good way of adjusting the play in the sliding member that is part of the moving jaw: The sliding part has 2 precision ground 45 degree flats on it,on either side. There are 2 adjustment screws that you can turn tighter or looser. A good vise has very little play in the movable jaw. With this vise you can achieve that.

The whole vise is really great quality,and has a very smooth,nice paint job on it. The Chinese can send satellites into space,and are fully able to make whatever quality level the importer wants. Look at all the televisions,computers and cell phones! Unfortunately,a lot of people want something for nearly nothing. That is where the problem REALLY lies: Lack of discriminating customers who actually know better and demand better. This is why places like Harbor Freight flourish. I will buy acid brushes and twine there,and nitrile gloves(HALF of what Walmart wants!),but not a lot more.
 
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There is a positive note to the cheap Chinese stuff; if it weren't for the cheap Chinese stuff, a lot of us would not have a lathe or a mill. There is no way I would spend $12,000 for a new Southbend lathe just for hobby use but I did talk myself into spending $2,000 for a chinese one. I don't expect to pass this on to my grandchildren but it might last long enough for my son to use it for a while.:)

In the meantime I am learning some new skills and enjoying the journey.
 
I have to agree that China "can" produce quality goods. It's the North American consumer that's driving the dollar store grade junk market. If we weren't buying it, then the company buyers wouldn't be ordering it. I'm just as guilty as the next guy, but I've drawn the line with some stuff. This vise was one example. My lathe was made in China and my mill was made in Taiwan. I agree with you HBilly1022 that I probably wouldn't be in the machining hobby right now if it wasn't for the cheaper Chinese import stuff. If you're willing to work within the limitations of anything, then you can make it work. The question is, are you willing ? My lathe and mill are good enough for what I want to do 99% of the time. My vise however....that I need to take a beating and a half when necessary.
 
I agree BL. I've had many issues with my lathe and some with my mill. I tolerate them because I am not willing to spend a lot more to be involved in this hobby. The lathe in particular is of poor quality IMHO and I have come to accept that, for now. But there is a big difference between poor quality and junk. I also won't tolerate junk and it gets taken back or not purchased when it is spotted in time.

I've got a relatively old vise in my shop that I'm sure is chinese and I've been a little rough with it. The jaws aren't parallel and sometimes I can't get the head to lock tight enough to stop it from turning. But for what I do it is OK. I recently found another smaller vise I had in storage for years and started using it on my small welding table. I noticed the jaws were parallel but until this thread I didn't realize it was actually a quality vise. It is a Record vise.

I like Princess Auto but they do sell some junk and you have to watch for it. My favorite thing about them is their return policy, at least at our store. My experience with returns has been excellent for the few things I have returned.

I think a decent used vise will be a lot easier to find than a decent used lathe. Good luck with your search.
 
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