The legislation comes into effect tomorrow, the focus seems to be on domestic appliances like washing machines and fridges. As it designed to cut down on electrical waste does it extend to other electrical goods? I am thinking of the likes of power tools, though the better manufacturers do have spares services but others like Screwfix?s Erbauer brand are impossible to source spares or even get repairs.
Richard
IIRC the regulations also apply to welding equipment (AIUI a long story in the EU), dishwashers, and electronic displays.
But bear in mind they also mandate availability of spares etc for /professional/ repairers so some makers may have barriers to consumers.
But it doesn't necessarily mean that the spares or repair is cheaper than scrapping and buying new.
I would think health and safety might have an issue with a home repair kit for a microwave. Brian
No indeed, when your Samsung whatever starts to misbehave odds are that power supply capacitors need replacing. So labour costs will be the killer not the bits themselves. I had this with a sub woofer made by Edis. A friend replaced the bridge rectifier which was really too weedy for the job, but Edis wanted half the cost of the unit. Brian
I was thinking of it extending to laptops, where the processor is soldered in. It would be so easy to change a socketed device.
Is cpu failure common.
I would have thought not. USB sockets, hinges, cases, disks, most of which you can get replacements for.
The type of repair that even the manufacturer's service centre would do in that case would be, at best, a motherboard swap.
One of the problems with spares is that you need to make them (which costs) and provide somewhere to store them (which also costs). A once well known company which made Fire Engines (Dennis) went bust because of the amount of capital tied up in spares.
Hopefully that would apply some evolutionary pressure so that:
a) unnecessarily-custom parts are replaced by common ones. Making every model in the range use the same part means that you have fewer parts to store and a higher turnover of them. Even better if it's a part you can buy off the shelf from many competing suppliers.
b) manufacturers invest in 3D printing and similar 'build to order' parts. Or if they won't they are forced to hand over the design files to someone who will.
Theo
I once had a freezer fail just outside the warranty period with compressor failure. I wrote to the manufacturers to say this was a 'pure disgrace' and they offered to pay for the compressor if I paid for the labour, which turned out to be a very fair settlement.
Can you 3D print metal? I thought it was only plastic (and wedding cakes).
Not failure, but upgrading.
Sadly, to stock spares for any length of time is a very expensive process. Given the way new models arrive so frequently.
Would it make sense to double the cost of a new drill to make sure spares were available for a reasonable time?
If it were a profitable thing to do, most would already do it.
Except that a socketed device is not only larger but more prone to faults.
I had a soldered in CPU repair on an Acer laptop. Where the soldering was the fault. Was done years ago, and still working.
Even if (when?) the regs are extended to laptops it would be for discussion whether they should mandate sockets for CPUs. I'd guess there are arguments against in terms of reliability and size. If (as I expect) very few people upgrade the CPU where it is socketed then the benefits to them would be outweighed by even a very small increase in the failure rate.
Cf there's no requirement to make processors in displays available and replaceable with commonly available tools.
I have some of these sculptures
They're 3D laser sintered steel powder, then soaked in bronze.
It wouldn't take a lot for all (say) 18v drills to take the same battery fitment. Then you could pop down your local shed and buy a single battery that would fit any 18v drill. The shed would stock fewer lines which sell in greater volume, and multiple competitors in the market would lower prices. What's not to like?
Often designs are churned for stupid reasons (eg 'price promises' - you can't buy it cheaper than we sell it, because they make a special version just for us), and a pressure to not do that would be advantageous in terms of repair.
Theo
Don't see any major tool brands queuing up to join Bosch
just "minnows" who have a couple of battery products and don't want to get into being battery suppliers.
As for battery powered pushchairs, WTAF?
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