Definition of Hobby rating

[humblewood]

In the latest email from Axminster I notice that they define their Hobby Series of machines as suitable for 'Maximum use of 100 hours annually' (ie 2 hours a week). I hadn't seen the 'hobby' rating specified like this before.

Is it just me, or does that seem a pretty low expectation of the machines' potential use? Or maybe I'm just getting old...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I remember reading a long while ago that the very cheapest of B&D drills were designed to last for three hours. The theory being that a normal household might use a drill for five minutes in a month, to hang a shelf or a couple of pictures or similar, and that if the drill then lasted three years the purchaser wouldn't be upset, and would happily buy the same brand again - at £14.99 or whatever it was. Any use over and above that was bonus, and of course most did last way longer.
Unless you are professional or at least semi professional, there are very few tools or machines that come anywhere near to two hours a week use.

 

[AndyT]

It sounds about right to me. A bit surprising at first but I think it makes a clear and important distinction. Hobby tools are not what a tradesman would need. Tools for continuous production are another grade again.


A few years back Axminster used to publish a glossy review as a supplement to their catalogue and one article showed the differences between their different jigsaws. The hobby tools had plastic gears which were cheap to make but would soon wear out. All credit to Axi for being up front about this sort of thing.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

It may have come about by hard-headed attempts to maximise the market. The market for high-end machinery and power tools is limited to commercial users in the main, so to extend the market, manufacturers produce 'light industrial' versions at lower specs, and low price versions. The problem with the latter is that they have to be so cheaply engineered that their functionality sometimes becomes seriously degraded.

In the end, yer pays yer money and yer takes yer choice. On the one hand, it's easy to deplore low standards and built-in obsolescence. On the other hand, the positive result of the the 'value engineering' is that at least we have choices available. Not that long ago, it was either very expensive new kit or cheaper secondhand kit. There wasn't any budget new kit.

 

[JustBen]

I have noticed that since axminster have changed to the new colour system that the prices have increased significantly.

The same machines from last year that are now grey/blue have increased by several £100.

Is paint that expensive?

 

[AndyT]

I have noticed that since axminster have changed to the new colour system that the prices have increased significantly.

The same machines from last year that are now grey/blue have increased by several £100.

Is paint that expensive?

No, but I keep hearing news items suggesting that the Chinese are (quite rightly) less willing than they used to be to work for a few dollars a day making cheap goods for the west. It starts to look like the last 20 years or so - when the Chinese suddenly took over so many market sectors and changed our ideas of what things should cost - were a strange period, unlikely to be repeated.

It's sobering to look over old magazine adverts from 20 or 30 years ago and see how expensive tools and machinery were!

 

[marcros]

For me, the thing that puts me off most of the hobby machines isnt the expected use, it is the other bits. Wilst a couple of hours a week would suit me on most machinery, I want saws to cut accurately and repeatedly when I do use them. Unfortunately it seems that the spec has been reduced so much in order to offer them cheaply, then this isnt possible.

As for prices, all far eastern machinery has gone up drastically in price, from all manufacturers.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I have noticed that since axminster have changed to the new colour system that the prices have increased significantly.

The same machines from last year that are now grey/blue have increased by several £100.

Is paint that expensive?

I suspect this is more likely to be down to rising production costs in the Far East, perhaps combined with the requirement for higher standards of quality control also pushing up prices.

This trend has been ongoing for a few years. About three or four years ago, the UK foundry industry started to notice a trend of contracts returning from China. There were several factors - transport costs (castings tend to be heavy but lowish value), quality control issues (including several cases of sub-standard castings being delivered with obviously forged QA documentation), and a realisation by home customers (yes, there still are many, despite the doomsayers!) that it's easier to sort technical issues with a foundry thirty miles down the road than one on the other side of the planet.

There was always going to be a balancing-out of 'globalisation' as wage rates rise towards global averages in China. It's to be hoped the trend continues for a couple more decades. The good news for British engineering is that economic viability of manufacture in the UK will rise a bit. The downside for consumers is that there will be fewer dirt-cheap products about.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Quantitative easing and deliberately devaluing the £ has as much to do with price increases as anything imposed by China, if not more.

 

[humblewood]

Yes, definitely 'horses for courses' and 'you get what you pay for' etc. No problem with Axminster or hobby-rated tools in general, it just pulled me up to see the life expectancy in black and white I suppose!