Cheap Chinese Parts

As Oldman47 pointed out above, the Japanese did not start out manufacturing quality products for export to the U.S. I remember well the phrase "plastic jap crap". My mother's 1960 Toyota Corona was a tinny little box, though far better than the Simca that preceded it. The Chinese are following a similar trajectory. There's a reason that Japanese companies are building manufacturing plants in China and elsewhere. The companies making quality will survive and grow, those making crap will adjust or fail.

 

Yep. Japan had a rough start. They were also recovering from some of the worst destruction of a country maybe in the history of the world. Let me ask this...did we start buying their products because they were cheap, or because they were quality (once their manufacturing segment got rolling)? Nobody buys China goods because they are the best quality.

I mentioned culture also. I don't know of another country that holds honor in as high of regard? An honorable person takes pride in their work. I respect that. I don't see it in China. Just produce produce produce...quality is second tier to production.

I'm not going to tell anyone they shouldn't buy the knockoff China goods, though I wish folks wouldn't.

This subject hits close to home for me as of recently. A harbor freight moved into my town last year. The company I have worked at for the past 15 years now has to compete with $5 socket sets. How are we supposed to do that? We stock as much domestic product as we can. Some things simply aren't made here anymore after being forced out by the clones and knockoffs. We are not going out of business or anything, but we would sell more products without the HF across town. My employer is a three generation family owned outfit, not some faceless corporation. Will the Harbor freight pay their employees what I make? Not a chance. Are they active in the community? Nope. Do they support American manufacturing jobs? Nope. Just a vacuum sucking money from my community.

Spend your money as you please, but please also understand the underlying implications of that spending.

 

Guys be practical...on a MS180c-290 are you going to throw oem money at it???

The answer is no if your time is worth anything...and the fact is they will still last homer the homeowner years until he straight gases it...

 

Quality control. ..as we say sucks there. I have the same pair I assume on my 650. There the big dogs. I have put a pretty good bit of leverage with them even useing the 32" bar. Even muscleing a dull chain through a few cuts so that I could finish what I was doing and not have to swap chains. There holding up fine so far. But you probably cut more wood in a month than I do in a few years so maybe in time I could have a problem?

 

I see your point but many of us or actually all of us have a budget. My budiet only allows so much. So I either go without, have to borrow or rent what I need. Since we're talking tools. I would much rather buy my own set of deep well lifetime warrenty HF sockets (for $20)than Mac, Snap-on, MatCo, craftsman (doubt there American anymore), or anyone else American made for ($65 to $100).

I was watching 1/2 breaker bar tests on youtube. The guy that the big 3 tool truck brands, and a HF. The big names cost like $99 to 140. All had lifetime warrenties. Had similar finish length, weight, handle, and could apply similar torque. The HF one was $12.

I would never be able to afford a $100 breaker bar . But I can a $12 one.

 

I was admiring the piston & cylinder I received from Huztl for the 272xp upgrade to my 61 Rancher when I noticed this.



Of course, that's just where the casting was made. The machining could have been done in Upper Freedonia.

Farmertec: The Power of the Generation
??

 

You realize they copy everything from an original. So if the original was made in Italy their copy will have that since they made the cast from a part. It's made in china. Farmertechnically is china, that's the brand Huztle sells. I have emailed those folks before.

Just like the rim sprocket I bought says Oregon on it. I don't beleive it to be genuine oregon part just that they copied an Oregon part and cast it and they just left the American on it cause they don't care a bit about property rights or copyright law.

 

Well, I'm glad you all have had good luck. I bought some 200T fuel lines from Farmertec i.e. Huztl and installed one. First, it was too long and had a kink when I attached to carb so I had to do some trimming. Started saw up, ran fine. Two days later tried to start it, wouldn't start, got to doing a little digging, pulled fuel cap off and turned saw on its side to drain gas out and the fuel filter came out with the fuel with what appeared to be black tar. The entire fuel line turned to a melted mess inside the tank in two days. I sent them a message through eBay asking for a replacement and they never responded and blocked me as a buyer. So, it's all OEM for me from here on out. When the OEM parts dry up, I'll turn my pile over to someone else. No more Chicom saw parts for me. Also, if I'm looking to buy a saw on Craigslist or wherever, if I see a Chicom clutch cover, it's a red flag for me that it probably has more Chicom under the hood. That's just my opinion, and you know what they say about those....

 

That's crazy they blocked you. I have had several items they have gladly refunded or sent replacements?

Did you use ethonol fuel , maybe it was a bad batch? I have at least one that I know I have had on a saw for 2 years , but I run all non E fuel.

 

I always run E free fuel in my saws. It's all good, they can keep it. It's rare that I have to buy a part anyway, I have a couple parts saws laying around, and I get Stihl and Husky parts at dealer cost. I feel better knowing my stuff is OEM anyway if I'm going to sell it.

 

Yea I'm not saying you have a huge loSS just was real strange.

If you wanted china stuff there are plenty of China vendors as well as us sellers selling the exact same stuff.

This is just another example of their totally random quality control.

 

I know that everything they make is a copy of somebody else's original. However, it is not possible to simply make mold of an original part and start casting parts from that. Molten metal shrinks as it cools, so a pattern for a casting must be larger than the finished part. Anyone with welding experience is familiar with shrinkage (as is George Costanza).

"Pattern maker’s shrinkage
Pattern maker’s shrinkage occurs after the solidification process when the casting is cooled to room temperature. This phenomenon is due to thermal contraction. A shrinkage allowance must therefore be factored into the design at the start of the process. The pattern is made larger than the desired casting to compensate for this type of shrinkage. The shrinkage allowance varies by the type of metal but the pattern may need to be as much as 2.5% larger than the original part. Furthermore, different parts of the casting may require difference allowances. So, judging these allowances requires skill and experience to ensure a high-quality finished product."
Shrinkage in sand casting

To have the identification marks in the casting, they must take the time to machine them into the pattern. I'm not saying they couldn't or wouldn't do that, it just strikes me as unlikely unless they are going to be sold as genuine.

 

Labor in china is probably like $0.30/hr. It wouldn't cost that much more. And if they sell several dozen more cause of that name they put in there there probably even with the time it cost to do anything extra. There selling them anyway think, but maybe someone is on the fence and sees tthat and buys it cause it's there?

I don't know, but my guess is that there made in china on the original molds or something they could of picked up cheap over there??

Anyway, Seinfeld is one of my all time favorite shows.