B&D urban myth?

[Oraclebhoy]

I own two B&D drills, a hammer drill with a fancy push button to lock the chuck (it broke after a month so now use a spanner to stop the Chuck spinning ) complete garbage.
And a old metal cased drill that’s older than me, it’s mounted in a basic drill press and is 100% reliable, gets used all the time. Great bit of kit.
So I would say the newer stuff is not built to last.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'm sure when i was with Elu / B&D they said 3 hrs too for B&D consumer early 90's. Don't have anything in writing to back this up, just remember that being a figure - and it made sense at the time. Industrial grade of course designed for far longer - they had B&D pro also at the time - they were pretty solid.

The black and grey Proline was excellent stuff.

 

[Jacob]

The black and grey Proline was excellent stuff.

Actually it was a Proline drill which packed up early. I'd forgotten the name. But it was a nice design. Luck of the draw.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

... I only recall one dud failing early, a B&D "professional" drill, neat design, up-market grey and black not like the cheapo orange ones.
But non of them did anything like the work I've done since with a Bosch GBH sds

I had a green Bosch for years, I gave it to a friend when I upgraded to a GBH sds .......... which burned out in a couple of years with very little use.

 

[Doug B]

I had a green Bosch for years, I gave it to a friend when I upgraded to a GBH sds .......... which burned out in a couple of years with very little use.

You must have been unlucky Phil I still have a GBH & it’s been thrashed remorselessly, I used it for years with my 4” diamond core cutter which is over twice the size core it’s rated for.
I've never been a Bosch fan its not a brand I particularly like but the GBH was recommended to me by the owner of a hire shop, it was the only brand of SDS at that time that they would hire out.

 

[Jacob]

You must have been unlucky Phil I still have a GBH & it’s been thrashed remorselessly, I used it for years with my 4” diamond core cutter which is over twice the size core it’s rated for.
I've never been a Bosch fan its not a brand I particularly like but the GBH was recommended to me by the owner of a hire shop, it was the only brand of SDS at that time that they would hire out.

I thought I'd wrecked mine when it jammed and there was a horrible grating noise like gear wheels smashing themselves. But it carried on working - I'd discovered that it had a protective clutch. Hasn't happened again.
Ditto with the big Hilti I owned. I thought low gear was wrecked but it was the clutch, preventing the drill from twisting my arm off!

 

[robgul]

B&D drill from 1970 still going strong - lots and lots of use with 2 self-build cottages in the 1980s and loads of conversion work in the 90s - demoted to use my cordless in about 2012 but I do keep a countersink bid in it for quick use.

 

[OldWood]

One thing that I have heard is that the kits of electric drills that many organisations sell are made down to a price and that they do not have the life span of the top level item on its own.
Rob

 

[Cooper]

I can't add any statistics about B&D, as I bought a Bosh and still use it, at least 40 years ago. (Argos was the best deal then). However I would have thought this forum would be the place that settles any urban myths like this. There must be some facts, in all the experience listed above, that can establish the truth.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've never been a Bosch fan its not a brand I particularly like but the GBH was recommended to me by the owner of a hire shop, it was the only brand of SDS at that time that they would hire out.

The hire shop I used gave up Bosch for Makita as it was more reliable.

This is why when answering posts regarding reliability only recent usage is relevant. I have have professional Bosch stuff 30 35 years old that's faultless - but that doesn't mean current, ten or twenty year old stuff is/was.

 

[Jonty]

I have two silver aluminium cased B&D drills mounted on two B&D wood lathes. My dad bought one for me when I was 14. I bought the 2nd one including lathe with all the fittings in an auction for £1! I’m 75 now and they’re both going strong. Admittedly they don’t get an awful lot of use now as I have a shopsmith unit, but I’ve used them a lot over the years for small jobs like replacing chair legs and braces. No idea as to the total hours, but a lot more the 30 & some for two hours or more on the trot.

 

[artie]

I have often wondered.
What percentage of the manufacturing cost of an item, lets say a hammer drill, goes into the materials?
And is it worth making a tool from the absolute cheapest or near cheapest material.

On the other hand if you make a million units, a million pennies saved adds up.

 

[Doug B]

I thought I'd wrecked mine when it jammed and there was a horrible grating noise like gear wheels smashing themselves. But it carried on working - I'd discovered that it had a protective clutch. Hasn't happened again.
Ditto with the big Hilti I owned. I thought low gear was wrecked but it was the clutch, preventing the drill from twisting my arm off!

I’m sure my Bosch was the same as yours, it certainly looked alike & had the same case I seem to remember, I’m guessing mine‘s 15+ years old now.
I know what you mean about the grating noise from the clutch, it regularly cut in when using it for coring.

 

[disco_monkey79]

ironically & not doubting what you say as I remember them being rubbish but my old dad bought a Power Devil mower donkeys years ago, he died in 2010 & the GLW has been using it since then to mow our lawn & it’s still going strong, she’ll be gutted when it finally gives up the ghost.

I don't doubt you either - the decline of brands has been remarked on by various people in this thread. Long may it continue to mow!

 

[peter-harrison]

So the consensus seems to be that I can go on telling my story, but substitiuting 3 hours for 10 minutes!

 

[HappyHacker]

I have been told a number of times by various people who should know that the cheap pressure washers are designed for a life of about 10 hours. Which does not sound much but as most are used for a max of 15 minutes occasionally they can last for at least a couple of years and therefore be out of warrantee.

I have had a couple of B&D drills in the dim and distant past (> 50 years ago) and they were OK if you treated them gently. My father burnt out a new one while using the saw attachment. I had two Bosch drills about 45 years ago, the first one broke in a week and was replaced under warrantee, the second worked for many years and had a very very hard life, I eventually chucked it out when the play on the front bearings was very excessive.

I broke the gear change yoke on my more recent battery Makita drill after a couple years of business use, a replacement required a complete new gear box despite it being a simple bit of plastic that had broken so I sold it cheap to to a mate as a single speed drill.

What I have noticed though is that drill bits make a fantastic difference. A customer was helping me by drilling holes in a concrete panel, he had a decent battery drill and was struggling, I gave him one of my Bosch masonry drill bits and he was no longer struggling

 

[redhunter350]

I have not read all the posts but 10mins the OP refers to is most likely the duty cycle i.e. 10mins per hour or 16.66% duty cycle. Most motors welders or other electrical equipment has a duty cycle but of course industrial machinery/motors are designed to run continuously but even then not at full load, under load they too have a duty cycle --- just my opinion ! John

 

[Lefley]

All companies do this. They make money on selling or fixing. If it lasts forever they cut there own throat. Ie. my in-law is a head exec at General Motors. All parts in a car must last 97 percent of the time 6 months past warranty. After that they want it to fail as they make money in parts not the whole new car. If a part is indestructible they will not use it. It is re tooled so it will fall into those parameters and fail.

 

[TominDales]

Interesting blog. The market is so competitive these days that things have to have a design life to compete on cost vs Chinese etc, so 3hrs seems about right for the average DIY. I was given a B&D 2 speed hammer drill for my birthday in 1978 with a piller attachment and one for a small sharpening wheel. I used it for hours and hours and still have it 40 years later, gone through many a cordless one and my two Dewalts cordless have had to have new chucks, but they are light and powerful. Horses for curses I supose.

 

[johnnyb]

black and decker must have had manufacturing plant in the UK as I've had a b and d angle grinder for many many years and its second hand!
says made in England.