Leaving aside the question of whether it's a good idea to buy tools from
China, who inevitably must go to war with us and now holds American
military men hostage, some of the tools they sell are downright
dangerous. I think this is because of greedy purchasing agents in
America, and a lack of technical understanding on the part of some of
the people doing the reverse engineering on the American tools shipped
to China to be copied. A couple of examples I've seen include cast iron
substituted for steel plate on a hydraulic press, and the change from
air-over-oil to just plain air on a service station jack. I'm also very
suspicious of the jack stands I see, good quality steel forgings are
required here rather than iron or even steel castings.
I work in the iron foundry business, and was asking a State Department
official how they could make castings so cheaply, when Chinese labor
costs are several dollars a day. He replied that normal labor costs are
indeed several dollars a day, but in China the foundries are run by
prison (slave) labor. Slave labor; and using the low-grade pig made
during the Great Leap Forward, when Chairman Mao was turning China into
the world's largest iron producer by installing blast furnaces at grade
schools as patriotic projects, doesn't inspire my confidence in their
castings.
John A. Hern Jr. 1900 Millview Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83814
mailto:hern@nidlink.com Dipl.Ing. Mechanical Engineer
Foundry: http://www.hernironworks.com
Greyhounds: http://www.greyhoundpetsinc.org
Personal: http://www.happygreyhound.com
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