cheap v's expensive?

[woodbutcher]

talking to my local tool supplyer today and he said that the local college had just replaced all their machines with far eastern tools because they were cheaper to run and the spares were easy to come by unlike the british made machinery that they were replacing it seams like the tiawanese are takeing over. :shock:




woodbutcher.

 

[Paul Chapman]

the local college had just replaced all their machines with far eastern tools because they were cheaper to run and the spares were easy to come by :shock:

Sounds like a decision taken by the accountants rather than the people who use the machines :roll:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Gary]

the local college had just replaced all their machines with far eastern tools because they were cheaper to run and the spares were easy to come by :shock:

Sounds like a decision taken by the accountants rather than the people who use the machines :roll:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

Too true, maybe they sold all the old ones on ebay and are still in pocket. :lol:

 

[DomValente]

And where is this college that is dumping all these Brit. machines ? :wink:

Dom

 

[Scrit]

......the local college had just replaced all their machines with far eastern tools because they were cheaper to run and the spares were easy to come by unlike the British made machinery that they were replacing........

And just what spares do they actually need? In the last six years I've gone through (not mentioning the CNC router) five flip-over stops, about half a dozen rules, six or seven drive belts, several sets of planer cutters, the usual array of TC tips, and three or four bearings, loads of pin router collets, some relays, fuses and several contactor sets....... Of these the only "difficult" bits were the flip over stops (Altendorf) and the rules (Altendorf and Sedgwick) which took on average 10 days to get hold of. Everything else came "off the peg" from engineer's merchants, electrical wholesalers and the like. Yes, break a casting and you can have problems - but even cast-iron can be welded or recast and machined (good apprentice/trainee project there)

Makes me wonder if there's not a bit of eother "back pocket" activity going on, or just some stupid "we've got the budget, if we don't spend it we'll not see it again" mentality at work. Either way give me a maintained 40 year old Wadkin BZB bandsaw over a new equivalent Chiwanese piece of junk any day.....

Scrit

 

[woodbutcher]

hi

paul and scrit i think that this is a case of years of underfunding by the governments of late the machines were probably 1950's if not earlier and because of eu intervention do not meet standards.

dom its henley college.

gary they were probably sold for scrap knowing this type of institution.
thank's for your replys.


woodbutcher.

 

[Scrit]

Late 1950s or no the machines would have needed to bu updated following the 1974 Woodworking Machinery Regs and the 1998 PUWER legislation. As the full strictures of PUWER came into force some time back I still cannot understand why it would not have made more economic sense to refurbish rather than scrap machinery

Scrit

 

[DomValente]

Because.....

Makes me wonder if there's not a bit of eother "back pocket" activity going on, t