Woodpeckers v benchdogs T-square

[BigDean]

You snuck that one in after I posted, perhaps you're a lost cause

Ha ha.

 

[RJM]

I have a 600mm Chinese one, and it is as accurate and square as I can measure. Cost less than £30 delivered. I also bought a pocket one that I keep on me at all times, and that is also square. I personally don't like paying for the name etched onto a product.

You’re not just paying for a name that is marked on it. Let me guide you though the process for making a stainless steel t Sqaure. The handle has to be milled from a billet of aluminium. Our design takes 28mins for op1 and 2. The stainless steel blade is laser cut from a sheet of 1.5mm 304 stainless steel. We get from this sheet 1mx1m 13x610 and 8x410 blades. This takes about 1.5hrs and half a bank of nitrogen. We then machines each blade in the mill to ensure the blade is square and has a diamond cut edge. This is then checked. On the cmm. It is then glass beaded to give it a Matt finish which also makes the number more visible. The laser process for the markings take a further 40 mins to complete. We the. Process this though our arku. Which is a flattening machine. So the man hours to make one t square is about 3-3.5 hrs per square. I can also give you some figures on what is required to make these.
Laser cutting machine £35k , milling machine £56k. Glass beaded machine £15k flattening machine £120k laser marking machine £18k. Yes these also make other products but it’s still the investment just to cut stainless steel tools. Not forgetting staff wages and electricity bills which were recently £6500 per month along with other costs of buildings, insurances etc. so when we price it we have to do this at the cost of what it cost to make not by any profit we can make. I have invested time and effort into making these tools here in the uk and we can’t compete with Chinese products but we try our best to have good products that will last the time. I hope this sheds a little light on the issues any western manufacturer faces when comparing with Chinese which pay $3.50 per hour and have cheaper electricity and machinery