On Dec 29, 8:37 am, Cydrome Leader wrote:
wrote:
On Dec 28, 4:45 pm, Cydrome Leader wrote:
wrote:
On Dec 24, 1:08 pm, Gunner Asch wrote:
On Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:05:23 +0000 (UTC), Cydrome Leader

OK, I think we are in broad agreement, just arguing about detail
And I agree whole heartedly with your sentiments re buying (and
keeping jobs) local, but the choice is becoming increasingly difficult
to make.

Disposable electronics? - I used to have a nice small business fixing
things, my remaining customers are "old timers" like myself who still
have the mindset that something should, with maintenance, last 20
years,,,,,totally out of sync with modern times - it will be
interesting in the years ahead as the generation that is used to "junk
and replace" equipment has to cope with hard times....fine if your in
the loop, have an income to support it, but.......



The $20 4 inch Chinese angle grinder is superb, you will get a year or
two out of it, and if it gets knocked off from the back of your truck,
no big deal. At that price, you have 3 or 4 of em loaded with
different disks - saves time and effort. Ditto with most of the rest
of their power tools, a lot of contractors here are using the Chinese
mitre saws for the same reasons.

are they better, or just cheap and diposable? Another recent thread here
mentioned angle grinders with slugs of metal in place of bearings.

Yep, cheap and disposable, and built with sufficient accuracy to be
able to do the job. Was speaking with the carpenters who built the
back deck on my house - I was surprised they were using a Chinese
mitre saw rather than a Hitachi, Dewalt, etc. They explained that the
Chinese one was a third the price, lasted as long, and it didn't hurt
so much if the apprentice wrecked it or it got stolen from the back of
the truck. They do use Dewalt cordless drills, at 5 times the price of
the Chinese ones, because, in a professional, all day application,
they are superb and WORTH THE MONEY. And when the Chinese start
putting decent batteries in theirs, then the situation will change
rapidly, no doubt.



Hell, I like my clothing to fall apart after 3 washes too. Disposable is
great. long life bulbs? scratch that, I like using photographic bulbs
rated 3-4 hours wherever I can. Just throw them away and get new ones.

Agreed, especially with boots - hate breaking them in, hate only
getting a year out of them. But I don't have a choice, the local brand
I used to buy has moved to China, while I was happy to pay twice the
price of the Chinese ones, and so were a LOT of other people, the
company management was more interested in "return to investors" and
their own fat bonuses.
Our last factory that made light bulbs closed a few years ago - bloody
hell, what sort of a so called advanced western country cant even make
its own light bulbs? - something is grossly wrong/totally mad here....


not mine, for other people that prefer the 100% off-shore labor and
diposable lifestyle, until their job is finally obsolete, I'm sure it's
all chinese stuff.




Speaker are all from the 90s and made here. Amp is made in the USA in the
1990s, even the electrolytics in are from here. If it blows up, great,
it's made to be repaired, not thrown away.

So, getting on to 20 years old - and are you REALLY sure where the
drivers in your speakers were made?



Is it all made here, no, but a reasonable effort was made to support
manufacturing here in the USA. It's also nice that the quality is high on
lots of these products, so I don't need to throw them away ever 6 months
because they wore out. You have to be rich to buy all your stuff back over
and over again, hell why not just lease everything from the bank of china
instead?

No disagreement there - but again, its all getting old, could you
replace it with good quality localally made gear?


They put more men into mining disasters and kids in collapsed schools
than into space.

So? - whats that got to do with high end electronics and
manufacturing?

It means you're dealing with people who don't care about quality or
safety. Safety is a form of quality for people. If your people are not
important, I can't imagine how important the products you make are.

Is this sorta like the banking system? - may not kill people, but do a
lot of damage - is that socially responsible too....

you really think that people who can't make building that can hold their
own weight care about the quality of export products?

Nope, why should they - its called "having a job", and if the silly
Westerners will buy crap, so be it.

judging from $20 angle grinders with fake bearings, you (or whoever)seem
to want junk, and nothing else. I suggest leasing everything if that't the
case.

Never had a cheap angle grinder with fake bearings - why would they
bother, they have modern hi-tech bearing factories - maybe a retailer
screwed them down so much they compromised?. And, if it stuffs up, the
retailer replaces/refunds it, and writes the cost off against tax.
They get crushed and thrown in the dump bin for landfill. Same with
even contemporary Japanese electronics.

You mentioned a 1998 Sony CD player, know them well. Surprised it
hasn't needed a new laser block by now, Sony are OK as the replacement
blocks are relatively cheap, and the quality of the rest of the unit
makes it worthwhile to do it. My Philips CD player died after 15
years, searched through the used gear shops till I found a Sony that
used a KSS210 laser block. Couldn't buy a new CD player, (except as
part of a "system") - every salesman tried to get me to buy a DVD
player, as it also plays CDs. (High end "golden ears" audiophile stuff
excepted - have trouble with the bull**** factor)

My wife bought a Yaesu FT60r hand held dual band amateur transceiver -
I looked at the box, it was made in China. Was surprised, but
shouldn't have been.

Regards,

Andrew VK3BFA.