The realities of tool ownership...

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Interesting concept but I’m not sure I’d want to hire out my tools every weekend. You can guarantee the tool you need would be on hire!
It’s not cheap either £7 a day for a £35 Bosch tool! ……although….any takers to hire a Domino for £200 for a day anyone?
 
Renting ladders as suggested is ok if you have a means of transporting them or are happy to pay the delivery charge. the downside is if you decide that you are going to paint the soffits on aparticular day and it then pees it down you have wasted the hire charge. If you have somewhere to store a ladder Gumtree etc is your friend.
like this on my local Gumtree
https://www.gumtree.com/p/ladders-handtrucks/extending-ladder/1409988148I thought about renting a long reach hedge trimmer to do our hedges but worked out that over the lifetime of using one it worked out cheaper to buy my own. then if it rains it waits till next week, and you dont have to do all the work at once if you own as opposed to hire

20 years ago I bought a 16 rung extending ladder for £80 new. The local hire shop wanted £47.50 per week to hire one. My chimney rebuild took six weeks instead of two because of the weather. Work it out. :) The downside being of course that you need somewhere to store the thing.
 
It would seem that most of us on here fall well outside the norm in needing more than 3 minutes a year of usage from our drills (I do have to wonder how they reached that figure, even my mum’s drill that she’s never used has had more usage than that) . Maybe the statistic actually refers to a drill bit and not the actual drill itself as most people capable of drilling holes have quite an assortment of bits but will do most of the drilling they want in quite a limited amount of diameters.
 
I think a drill is a poor example. Renting ladders makes sense.

Much more economic to purchase a drill rather than drive in traffic to the hire place every time you need one. And have to go back as you forgot a screw.

Would make more sense to borrow your neighbours drill every time. Not sure they’d be happy if it broke though.
Yes, what use is a ladder if you don't 'hire' it?!!:D
 
Saw this on the Northern Line last Sunday.

Plainly copywriters have no idea at all about the realities of tool ownership...

Made me think though. I can't even remember how many drills I have, but it's certainly *way* more than 2.8

View attachment 115656
Saw this on the Northern Line last Sunday.

Plainly copywriters have no idea at all about the realities of tool ownership...

Made me think though. I can't even remember how many drills I have, but it's certainly *way* more than 2.8

View attachment 115656



To be fair to the copywriter; he or she has got us all talking, got their ad reposted on this forum and got the brand noticed by more people as a result. They've done their job. Fat Llama (terrible name btw) rent all sorts of stuff by the look of their site, it's not just a tool hire co, so who knows, we may be renting a drone or a camera lens from them as a result.

Bad copy is copy that gets ignored. This has at least stimulated a debate.

For the record, I am a copywriter and I do own more than 2.8 drills.
 
my Mrs is a proofreader and copyeditor and owns no drills what so ever
 
I lived in Birmingham in the mid '70's, and had a mate (Doctorate in Metallergy) who worked for Lucas. I remembering him complaining that he had to research materials for distributor contact breakers that would work OK for just over a design life of one year. Just don't get me started on the design life of washing machine drum bearings...
 
I looked at the Fat Lama website. Interesting concept, zoom in to your local area, then do a search and it comes up with local people hiring out things, not just tools. I would have thought lots on here could hire out tools.

My concern would be liability, hiring a tool is completely different to lending it. Most tools can cause injury and how do you prove it was safe when you hired it out. I could not see anything on the website to cover this.

Fat Lama charge 15% of the hire fee to the lender, and 15% to the borrower.
 
I bought a B&D drill in mid 70’s, 1/2 inch chuck, two speed hammer drill. Used it extensively, you could remove the chuck and add on attachments like circular saw, jigsaw, sander, bench holder etc. I remember borrowing a circular saw attachment.

I used it extensively, hammer action went first, bearings rattled, had to rebuild the switch but when you pulled the trigger it went round and round. It ended up permanently in a bench clamp with a grind stone in it till I obtained a bench grinder. Threw it out in a house move.

It lasted a lot more than 3 hours. Perhaps the 1980’s policy lead to its demise, from one time market leader.
Picture of drill model (not the actual one) attached 915910D9-77A9-4351-A201-5255465CEF0A.jpeg

I still have exactly the same model bought to drill into concrete lintels in my first house so 48 years old. Think I've had my moneys worth. Still used occasionally. Yes my hammer action broke too. Mended myself care of Cambridge Instruments model shop circa 1976. So
 
think the general idea of B n Decker was dont use a bearing when a bush will do.....then they didnt have fancy self lube plastic, I bet it's what would be fitted if they did....and they couldnt'd buy Chineseium at the time....
pretty much that was the only make available apart from Wolf at the time I left for California, 50 years ago.....
tooling over there was a revelation.....Makita, Skill sidewinder saws etc.....even nail guns...proper affordable compressors and we wont get into machine and automotive tools.........
ALL available for the DIY brigade should u wish....
Most of the probs with brit stuff is the management.....just build it good enough to get away with it......
Ford could build a Transit world beater to take on Sprinters should they wish....
and I won't mention those idiots in the past at Triumph / Norton....
over n out.......hahaha....
 
and I won't mention those idiots in the past at Triumph / Norton....
over n out.......hahaha....
Some years ago, a friend of mine was looking to buy a new house. His wife liked the look and location of a house in Meriden. My friend was not so keen as it was near the Triumph motorcycle factory. They visited the house and bought it. It was located on the site of the factory.
 
A lot of effort to design a component to fail purposely over just throwing in the cheapest part they could that would do the job for a while.
This is very true, a large company I worked for had many test facilities for what was termed durability testing amongst others and if a component report suggested a longer life cycle than was required then it was immediately subject for cost saving, could be reduction in material, level of temper or a weight reduction program, anything to save money otherwise it would be over engineered and unwanted cost.
 
This is very true, a large company I worked for had many test facilities for what was termed durability testing amongst others and if a component report suggested a longer life cycle than was required then it was immediately subject for cost saving, could be reduction in material, level of temper or a weight reduction program, anything to save money otherwise it would be over engineered and unwanted cost.

A very sensible policy really, no need to over engineer something and waste time, money and resources. Only problem comes when it's such a reduction in lifespan as to make the product not fit for purpose. Hitting that sweet spot is a real skill, probably the best at doing so are car manufacturers, a modern car is a near perfect balance of durability and economy.
 
Another problem with hiring out tools is that unless you know the person well you do not know in what condition the tool will be returned. If you need breakers, mixers and paddies mopeds etc there are plenty of places to hire, but for us in woodworking I doubt if there is a market for mitre saws and drills.
 
It would seem that most of us on here fall well outside the norm in needing more than 3 minutes a year of usage from our drills (I do have to wonder how they reached that figure, even my mum’s drill that she’s never used has had more usage than that) . Maybe the statistic actually refers to a drill bit and not the actual drill itself as most people capable of drilling holes have quite an assortment of bits but will do most of the drilling they want in quite a limited amount of diameters.
I’m not so sure, at approx 10seconds a hole, thats 18 holes a year. I‘ll bet I drill hundreds of holes a year, but step son probably does 4 or 6 In a year. His drill will be ‘as new’ if sold in ten years time. 🙂
 
Most drills sold are probably of such terrible quality that they only last a few minutes of use......

My power tools tend to be used until the commutator is worn out. Those blasted sprouts have quit selling spare commutators separately.......... and without a new commutator is is not worth the effort to rewind a burned out armature.......

Ny favourite hate objects at the moment are the designers who use non standard bearings in angle grinders........ A professional grade angle grinder only lasts a few years before the bearings fail and then it cannot be rebuilt as the propriatory parts cost more than a new angle grinder.
 
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