Couple of observations

[Brian Gaff (Sofa)]

Way back in the mists of time, I had a wolf Drill. Ran on the mains and was not exactly the most powerful drill, no bells and whistles. However when things did go wrong, the construction was so simple that one could remove the back and say change brushes, even take the whole armature out and replace it if you were minded, and spare prices were reasonable. Somehow this ethos of make things repairable seems to be a thing of the past at least for domestic devices. Is it just profit that is the driving force or could it actually be made the same today and the company still turn a profit without over pricing the spares, or maybe today's owners are considered too thick to actually do such jobs now?

Also, I saw a spoof of a possible email of the future. Dear customer, this is your new Philips Toaster here, the intelligence has noticed that you have not emptied all the crumbs out now for 25 cycles of use. It will be disabled if the toaster is not cleaned within the next 24 hours, and this could limit your warranty if it should fail. Thank you for buying Philips.

I'm guessing this is only a few years away now. Brian

[tabbypurr]

A few years ago (vaguely) I saw new basic drills on sale for £5 I thin k it was. Spawn of the devil or some such brand. I gather they lasted moder ately well if not used.

1. What would it cost to get an old basic Wolf repaired?
2. Since only diyers are in the market for basic drills, and only when dirt cheap, who these days would pay to repair the old Wolf? The market doesn't exist.
3. It's only a tiny percentage of folk that repair their own electrical/ele ctronic stuff that would even consider repairing it.
4. Since the parts market is tiny, parts prices would have to be so high to avoid loss that no-one would buy them.

Reality is there is room for lots of people to learn to repair electrical/e lectronic stuff & make a living doing so. But once again govt policy blocks them: they can't get hold of the goods from tips.

Being badgered by new purchases is now quite common.

NT

[Andrew]

In those days, hammer drills did not exist, so electric drills for DIY or light trade were only used for drilling relatively soft substrates, or intentionally into the mortar course.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I remember my first power drill. Cost about a week's wages. Same thing now, perhaps a couple of hours of a living wage.

[charles]

My first drill was Bridges. It last as long as the 2 B&Ds belonging to a colleague.

[John Rumm]

I find with the more "pro" oriented tools, parts are generally available and the tools are serviceable. (I had to replace an armature on my Makita SDS - easy job, and £26 for the part).

Back in the days of Wolf (when it was a real maker and not just a "brand") the investment (in real terms) to buy the drill would probably put it firmly into the pro category these days. So not much has changed in that respect.

What has changed is the availability of *really* cheap tools, where price is the key and only factor.

I would guess its already happened. Plenty of cars will snitch if you go over the service interval by too many miles!

[T i m]

My mates grassed him up re his top speed and how many times he had braked hard. ;-)

This was after putting the good headlight out because he didn't change the other (failed) one quickly enough?

Oh, and then made him limp home because he hadn't told it he had changed the cam belt. ;-(

Cheers, T i m

[Brian Gaff (Sofa)]

Yes I can well remember the first hammer attachment for my d drill. It seemed to consist of a cam with a sudden drop off. Talk about crude. Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa)]

Does anyone else keep on feeling the shake of a hammer drill for some time after you have stopped using it?An ordinary non hammer drill for a jig saw worked quite well for me for many years but the circular saw attachment was lethal. The pillar drill stand worked well enough though. Sanding well yes, but what a heck of a mess that makes.

Incidentally, I never said I still had the Wolf mentioned, I just remembered it with some affection, a bit like Vactric Vacuum cleaners that one could reverse and use to spray paint, normally everywhere you did not want it as well as where you did, but heck, what a novelty! Brian

[T i m]

Yes. These days power tools (possibly only when used 'professionally') should comply with some maximum level of vibration (Hand Arm Vibration) and you can get anti-vibration gloves you are supposed to wear if the tool isn't up to spec to minimise it (or anyway etc).

I think it's a combination of vibration levels plus exposure time etc.

Cheers, T i m

[T i m]

Brian is blind. What is your excuse?

Cheers, T i m