Cheaply Made Chinese Garbage

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The Chinese have the ability to produce top notch products but importers demand less quality cheaper products because of competition. I take into consideration my skill level, a well made expensive tool wouldn't necessarily make my projects come out better, and because quality costs I may suffer from a lack of tooling to do a specific job which can effect project outcome too.
 
Trying to find parts for my Rung Foo 45 style mill, shows the differences. Mine had no name on it any more, so I looked at parts lists from every company that sold such a thing. Grizzleys has roller bearings on all the shafts, Harbor freight had two different ones, the early one from the 80 I think, had bushings on most of the counter shafts, and the lead screws. The later one have bearings I forget the other makes I ran across, but I remember some had plain table gibs, and some had tapered. I ended up taking mine apart, and getting the numbers and/or measurements from the bearings and seals before I could order them. Also, some had 3 phase motors, some had 115/230 volt, and mine is just 115 volt.

Point is, they will make a product to what ever specs the purchaser wants. Even items that you think are the same, can vary widely in quality.

Companies like Harbor freight, order stuff by the truck/ boat load, When they are almost sold out, they order more maybe from the same place, maybe someone else. Quality from each order can, and does vary widely.

Buyer beware.
 
My issue with the chinese stuff is that, down here (in orstraya), it has got to the point that there is no other options. Everything is cheaply made but not necessarily cheaply priced. The saturation of the market and the consumer driven pricing means that the better quality brands are not even on offer, but you can pay top dollar for the varying quality levels of chinese made items.
The place i used to live has no tool shops left except the mega chain stores. They may have one Starret caliper or such locked away in a glass cabinet but by the pricing i dont think they want to sell it, its just there to drive the price up on the "high end" chinesey caliper. There are very few options. I have to mail order most things now because not one place locally sells anything decent. My spending on my hobby is out of control i think!.... my wife knows it is! Most times i will go with out rather than buy poor quality to satisfy an immediate need, which brings its own frustrations.
 
dlane said:
Don't feel like the Lone Ranger, Craig's list or feebay for me , Enco if nesasery
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I look on Craigs List most everyday--but I can go to a retail store and buy most of the listed stuff around here almost as cheap and it would at least be new.
I am amazed at the asking prices of some stuff here. Sometimes there is a descent deal but not often.
 
blacksmithden said:
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.

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blacksmithden said:
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
Click to expand...

IMG_20160531_153954_zpsv8dieuj4.jpg

IMG_20160531_154024_zpsfd0hhd4m.jpg
 
Most cheap stuff is junk especially if it comes form China, Indonesia and India. Those countries do produce some good stuff, but is the exception rather than the norm.

The big discount house like Harbor Freight and Bunnings here in Australia, while they all sell some good stuff, they do carry a lot of junk for the gullible. If you want quality do your research and check the product out before buying, That is why I have ordered my new lathe from Taiwan rather than accept the chinese junk, sure it will cost me 50% more but I know it will do what I want and I expect it will last quite a long time probably outlast me, and the local importer will stand by me if I have a problem. These days Taiwan is up there with south korea not far behind japan but still quite a bit cheaper.
 
Here is a Tungsten grinder I made, $35 total into it. $15 Harbor freight angle grinder, and their diamond wheel that comes in a set for another purpose . I've sharpened hundreds of tungstens with it...when the grinder dies I've got 2 more spares above the shop and extra diamond wheels which are diamond both sides. $35 for a dedicated Tungsten grinder is cheap. I wouldn't try to actually use this grinder for grinding...i'm sure it would die fast, but in this light duty application it works well.

I recently bought this tool chest at HF , it great...especially at $189 http://www.harborfreight.com/tool-storage/tool-carts/five-drawer-service-cart-95272.html

I bought this drywall Scaffold at Harbor freight, I cut the top of the legs off at 34" high, flush with the top of the plywood, I added another layer of 3/4" plywood .
I basically repurposed it as a rolling work surface/work table. It's very solid and I do all kinds of projects on it. I can roll it in the driveway to paint, I can roll
it around as projects and work flow change. It's solid. I know drywall and spray foam guys that use it. http://www.harborfreight.com/heavy-duty-portable-scaffold-69055.html

Although I built a more robust cart for my TIG machine, 300CF and water cooler, their MIG cart is not bad at all, carries a MM 211 and a 150CF just fine .
For light duty, rolling across my garage, sometimes out to the driveway it's plenty good enough and holding up well.
http://www.harborfreight.com/welding/welding-accessories/welding-cabinet-61705.html

Most of their power tools I would not buy. Their sanding discs and wheels are not good.

Usually I hear what's good there by word of mouth, or a couple trusted youtube fabrication channels I watch.

I get china 1/4'' Tungsten Carbide die grinder Burrs on amazon , $18 for 5 , they hold up same as $12-$20 a piece burrs .
Took a chance on one set , went back and bought 3 more sets .

I wish I knew how to shop amazon and ebay for milling accessories. I'm a complete noob with that, but hope to learn fast for the sake of my wallet !
 
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