Cheap import tools and product liability (was: Violent Electric Drill Accident)

The recent thread "Violent Electric Drill Accident" got me wondering about places like Harbor Freight Tools and their product liability. The local store sells an amazing array of dangerous tools. We all know how shoddy and defective some of them are, and notwithstanding the "electric drill accident", surely there are many cases where a faulty tool hurts somebody. What I cannot understand is how they can run a store and sell, oh, angle grinders for $14.99, since they must be getting sued all the time. So much of their stuff is obviously dangerous, and I don't mean in the usual power- tool-requires-common-sense way, such as the toys they sell for children (100 lb go-kart with no effective brakes!) that you can't buy anywhere else because no American firm could survive the lawsuits. Does the Chinese mafia come to visit if you have a "problem"? Does anyone know how HF is organized and defends itself?

Reply to
Richard J Kinch
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Those are down to less than $10 this week! Time to stock up on stocking stuffers!

Jeff (Who confesses to being a loyal HF customer for his "hobby grade" equipment.)

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

Exactly why do you think these things are so dangerous??

Is it based on personal experience, or just the assumption that since it is a shoddy piece of shit it will also hurt you? Exactly what, for instance, is the angle grinder going to do to you? The wheel will fall apart due to wheel defects, maybe, but what does that have to do with the grinder? If you put a decent wheel on it, it's going to be fine. Maybe the gears with disintegrate, but then you will be even safer since it won't be turning.

Stirling.

Reply to
donald girod

Reply to
Steven Bliss

Richard, it feels odd being on the other side of a safety issue doesn't it. ;-)

jim ___ Have a home upkeep question? Try my help page. It's sort of an alt.home.repair FAQ.

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Reply to
jim evans

Has anyone sucessfully sued an out-of-business American tool company?

If I chop my hand off with my non-OSHA (no belt guard) 1954 King-Seeley table saw, who can I blame?

Do some research into why the US light aircraft industry collapsed overnight. The Chinese had nothing to do with it- it was all American lawyers.

-Carl

"The man who has nothing worth dying for has nothing worth living for"- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reply to
Carl Byrns

If you ever bought anything from Harbor Freight you would know that the instruction and parts manual that comes with a tool is more like a safety and maintenance manual; there is lots on what to not do and not too much on how to use the tool. If you follow the instructions, you are not likely to get hurt, and if you don't, well you were told, so the liability part is covered. I mean, does a company really have to tell you not to peas in your ears? Wouldn't you know not to leave the key in the drill when you turn it on? Most tool mishaps are due to operator error and carelessness and not faulty tools. Most of the time if the tool is defective, it just doesn't do anything and you cannot blame the manufacture when you get mad and throw it down and it bounces up and sticks in your groin.

BTW, Harbor Freight, at least at my store, will without hassle, replace any tool that you say won't work and if you return it in an original box they don't even ask for a sales receipt.

Maybe parents shouldn't let their kids drive 100 lb go carts, but then they let 5 and 6 year olds drive ATV when it is illegal for children to >

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

That's BS, Carl. I could undercut anybody in price if I sell garbage put together by slave labor.

Reply to
LBailey

Don't buy Chinese products.

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Reply to
LBailey

yea smell like rice

Reply to
mark Ransley

Cripes, if anyone had gotten electrocuted, the plaintiff's lawyer would have had a field day. No UL approval, I guess.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

Reply to
James Keene

That's near impossible to do with so many things these days. You'd be spending most of your shopping time trying to find a source of what you needed that

*wasn't* made in China.

Speaking of "dangerous tools": Two weeks ago I succumbed to temptation and bought one of those Remington pole saws (a lightweight 10 inch electric chain saw on a telescoping pole.) to help me trim back some of the tree branches which persist in seeking the open spaces over our backyard. (Because every other direction is blocked by more trees, those trees aren't dumb.). I'd been using one of those pull rope loppers, but some of the branches which I wanted to cut were too large for it.

Anyway, the pole saw worked as advertised albeit it's reach wasn't as great as I would have hoped for. But, the clamp which you tighten to lock the telescoping pole sections where you want them is pure s**te for the job it has to do. It's a plastic collet clamping on a shiny fiberglass pole. The collet is closed by a threaded plastic ring with a ribbed outer surface. Looks OK in principle, but it would take King Kong to tighten it enough by hand to keep those pole sections locked in use. And, the (rather crummy) manual which came with the product specifically warns NOT to use tools to tighten the clamp. Even with work gloves on I can't tighten it enough to lock it up.

So, after a few seconds of use, the handle at the bottom of the pole, which contains the saw's trigger switch and it's safety unlock button, twists around relative to the chainsaw bar at the other end of the pole until I'm turning my hand and wrist into a pretzel trying to operate the switch, and by then my grip on that handle is far from stable. Now, I think I'm smart enough to know when to quit when this happens, but it sure seems like an inadequate design to me, and there's something about the warning not to use tools to tighten the clamp that makes me think the manufacturer must know that too.

I Googled around and found that several other people had the exactly the same complaint about this product in their amazon.com product reviews of it.

An email a week ago to the "manufacturer" (DESA) has produced nothing but a question asking me if the collet part was turning relative to the pole it's attached to, and I immediately responded that it wasn't that, but the collet "jaws" themselves which were slipping on the pole they were clamping. Nothing has been heard from them since then.

Before someone suggests I drill a few holes right through both pole sections in several places and stick a bolt through them to fix the pole length where I want it at the time, let me point out that there's a coiled electrical cord running up through the pole, so that approach won't be as easy as it sounds.

I think I'll just return the darned thing to Lowes this weekend. Don Foreman tipped me off about "High Limb Chain Saws" (A few feet of chain saw blade between two ropes that you toss over the limb and "shoe shine" back and forth.) I bought one, and it works great, and reaches a LOT higher that that electric pole saw.

Jeff

-- Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Success is getting what you like; Happiness is liking what you get."

Reply to
Jeff Wisnia

Double insulated tools don't need a third wire, even on 240V. The only possible problem (if it was double insulated) would be if there is a code problem with connecting a 3 pin plug to a 2 wire cord.

Reply to
Ian Stirling

True. If the tool was actually double-insulated to meet UL requirements. If it wasn't approved, we don't know. They might have used any number of substandard materials. Or maybe it's fine, just they have not spent the $5K to get the approvals. I've seen both situations.

*Surely* it's not permitted (by UL or CSA) to manufacture approved tools with FAKE 3-wire cords.

I'd look at it and assume the exposed metal bits were supposed to be grounded/earthed, safer than double-insulated in some situations.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

Reply to
Spehro Pefhany

Is this a regional in store sale? I have seen many references to the $14.99 angle grinders and out of curiousity I visited our new local Harbor Freight. The least expensive angle grinder was a 4.5 " unit for $39.95. They didn't seem to know anything about $14.95 units. Where do you find them?

Reply to
George

As have I, and on 240V, it's a lot more fun.

You might, but is it actually prohibited?

Reply to
Ian Stirling

I don't want to make this a bash Chinese post because they merely exhibit the problems of an emerging economy as did Japan, Taiwan, India, etc. And I have scored some tremendous quality bargains in electronics and hard tools. Along the way I learned how easy it is to get fooled. Best to look for a product with a big name brand as they might be checking the quality more. I have seen radio knobs secured with paper, tools with no heat treating, lead paint, razor sharp edges, color that comes off on hands or anything else, and the very amusing directions that are often included. I consider it a challenge to inspect the products and determine the value. The Chinese watch that I am wearing cost fifty cents while a new battery for my old one cost $3. I don't expect to get hurt by it because if I do catch it in the $15 hammer drill it will rip apart before I do.

Reply to
Tomcat14

I have one of those pole saws. It works great. Sounds to me like you were trying to manually saw with it. Let the chain do the work. If it is sharp and properly tensioned, you don't have to exert any great force to make it cut, and the telescoping clamp won't slip. Mine tightens up just fine with hand effort, but if the pole is as "shiney" as you say, you might try taking the shine off with a bit of sandpaper. That'll let the fingers of the collet grip it better.

But in keeping with this thread, I'll relate one incident with respect to the pole saw. You *cannot* step out of the way quick enough to avoid the limb you were cutting *directly* over your head. Fortunately I was wearing my hard hat. Now, for limbs which are so high I'd need to stand directly underneath to reach them, I use a ladder, off to one side, so I can reach

*over* and cut the limb instead of reaching *up* to cut the limb.

Gary

Reply to
Gary Coffman

How good were the dissidents at assembling power tools?

If they were really good, I'd be upset. But if they were doing crappy work, then I couldn't much care.

Gary

Reply to
Gary Coffman

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