Quote:
Originally Posted by JC-jetro  Pat,
I hope mine has a better faith than yours  I'm usually very careful operating my tools and hardly abuse them if I can help it. I had an industrial Craftsman drill/driver that was working fine only the battery died and replacement battery was more expensive than what I paid in the first place. I ended up making it corded and used it for several years parking it next to my work bench at home. Any how the switch on it died and I did a postmortem autopsy and took the gear drive mechanism out and it was Chinese made. I needed something at the farm and I was at HF and bought on of their drill/driver 1/4 of cost of craftsman battery, out of curiosity I partially opened it and wouldn't you new, under Hf facade I had exactly the same drive mechanism. On Dewalt and Milwaukee, I went to Graingers to pick up a new driver for the guys at work. I work for the feds and "buy American" is what we try to abide buy, the guy at Graingers told me the Milwaukee is Chinese made same as Dewalt and not recommended for purchase, I asked him is there anything you have in your catalog with the same spec that is American made and he promptly said no. So I bought the Milwaukee. I think the quality is still good and material has not changed much only cheap Chinese labor is used and abused. Can't blame the Chinese, I blame the greed here in U.S that for "more fist full of dollars" they ship all the jobs out.
JC, |
JC, Check back with me in 30 years to see how my HF tools have lasted. I have some Milwaukee tools (Corded 3/8 reversible drill and a Sawzall) that are over 30 years old and going strong. Drill is way more powerful than my geared down Black and Decker 1/2 inch so I put a 1/2 inch chuck on it and it just keeps on drilling. I suspect these tools are not Chinese.
Did you watch the Olympics? Notice all the new construction in China. They have to have tools that work OK to do all the building they are doing. I strongly suspect they have higher quality tools than we see at HF. HF quality is set by the HF folks here in the US. The Chinese just build what is ordered. You want junk, order junk. Cheap sells real good.
Pat