HF Icon Tool Storage - Huh?

It is a really crucial factor in buying anything worrying about support. But the way the whole market domestic or foreign the constant change and making things obsolete and can't get parts is pretty much at thing of the past. Not only HF changes suppliers so does Home Depot, Lowes etc. It's harder and harder to even find a place to buy truly quality tools. I've pretty much been buying old Makita's if I want quality. They at least seem to not change their models all the time and parts seem available. When I bought my Waterloo I also bought a HF 1/2" impact and 1/4" die grinder. I used both daily as a line mech and still have them and use them going on 40yrs later.

My first try at getting HF parts is a electric long nose die grinder that I've for over 10yrs. It has been used in two stationary machines, my radii cutter and stationary die grinder for the last 4yrs. Not everyday but used hard when I do. I bought a new one that is a different design so I didn't have to swap between the two setups. The old one quit the other day and it turned out it was the brushes. I couldn't believe after digging for over an hour I found the spare set of brushes, installed them and finished the project! Turns out the model has been discontinued and it has different brushes than the new one. :( I just ordered new spare brushes for my old HF die grinder after a long wait on the phone and it was $8 per set(I bought 2 sets) and they didn't charge me for shipping, such a deal!

Japan has laws requiring manufacturers to maintain parts support for a lengthy period after discontinuing an item which probably effects Makita. I have a specialized printer from Japan that was discontinued around 2011 and the company is still providing consumables, parts and repair services. Other countries have been discussing similar requirements often under proposed "Right to repair" laws.
 
I would love to see this happen. There is just too much planned obsolescence filling our land fills. Some bad designs that need to go away, but this improvement for the sake of just change alone is stupid. Don't get me started about printers! Talk about scams.
 
I would love to see this happen. There is just too much planned obsolescence filling our land fills. Some bad designs that need to go away, but this improvement for the sake of just change alone is stupid. Don't get me started about printers! Talk about scams.

Thread drift alert!!!!

Yes, right to repair laws are long overdue. It's one thing for manufacturers to offer repair services, or just plain build their stuff so it isn't repairable but when they try to tell me I don't have the right to fix something I bought from them it really irks me. I've been in the IT business since the days of doing board level repairs on expansion cards so it's near and dear to my heart.

I've also been on a crusade against cheap ink jet printers for several decades now. Finally laser printers (even color ones) are cheap enough that nobody should be using an ink jet unless it's for a specialized application. That printer ink in the little cartridges costs more than 20-year-old single malt scotch:oops:

Back on topic, I to have found replacement brushes for my harbor freight grinders at the back of a junk drawer on a Sunday afternoon when I just wanted to complete my project. Love it when manufacturers include replacement wear parts in the original purchase.:cool:

John
 
Yep. My 4 year old $600 washer just broke. $550 in parts and labor to repair it. It looks brand new and is now going to a dump.
Robert
 
Yep. My 4 year old $600 washer just broke. $550 in parts and labor to repair it. It looks brand new and is now going to a dump.
Robert
My 30 year old washing machine is still going strong, never had a problem with it. Cost ~$150 then. Get a used one... ;)
 
I asked a friend who sold washers at Sears (remember them) why our fairly new washer had started leaking while the old ones we had seemed to last forever. She said that's just the way it is now, something to do with front loading and seals, bearings. blah blah blah

The upside is the newer ones are far more efficient and actually clean your clothes much better. Buy one made in Korea, better built and no tariffs ;)

Cheers,

John
 
Yep. My 4 year old $600 washer just broke. $550 in parts and labor to repair it. It looks brand new and is now going to a dump.
Robert

I'm sure there must be some usable parts in there, maybe even turn the shell into a toolbox;)

john
 
It is a really crucial factor in buying anything worrying about support. But the way the whole market domestic or foreign the constant change and making things obsolete and can't get parts is pretty much the way of the world now. Not only HF changes suppliers so does Home Depot, Lowes etc. It's harder and harder to even find a place to buy truly quality tools. I've pretty much been buying old Makita's if I want quality. They at least seem to not change their models all the time and parts seem available. When I bought my Waterloo I also bought a HF 1/2" impact and 1/4" die grinder. I used both daily as a line mech and still have them and use them going on 40yrs later.

My first try at getting HF parts is a electric long nose die grinder that I've for over 10yrs. It has been used in two stationary machines, my radii cutter and stationary die grinder for the last 4yrs. Not everyday but used hard when I do. I bought a new one that is a different design so I didn't have to swap between the two setups. The old one quit the other day and it turned out it was the brushes. I couldn't believe after digging for over an hour I found the spare set of brushes, installed them and finished the project! Turns out the model has been discontinued and it has different brushes than the new one. :( I just ordered new spare brushes for my old HF die grinder after a long wait on the phone and it was $8 per set(I bought 2 sets) and they didn't charge me for shipping, such a deal!
Totally agree. That’s really where Grizzly shines. I’ve used Grizzly‘s excellent parts service to locate quite a few parts for Taiwan machine parts of an older mill of some obsolete import brand. Grizzly really does shine. Even for some older Craftsman stuff.
 
Yup, I use Grizzley for buying parts for my HF 9x20 and Enco RF-30. As maligned as those machines are there are a lot of them around with a lot of folks modding them so it's smart to provide parts IMHO.
 
I'm sure there must be some usable parts in there, maybe even turn the shell into a toolbox;)

john
or better yet, I think somebody used a shell to make a liquid abrasive blast cabinet. And also saw something about that the front loaders use a 3ph motor with a vfd to do the variable spin. That just begs being repurposed! I'm on my second front loader and while I love them my problems have not been leaking, it's been weird stuff like it wouldn't go into spin and it turned out the door lock was the problem! Found the way to diagnose on YouTube.
 
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