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Re: (ET) the tools discussion
No it wouldn't explode. Just blow the fuse inside. Or even a pc trace
that emulated a fuse. So who cares at $3.00?
While here, answering another one. Have bought perhaps a dozen of these
meters for myself and other people and check every one against one of my
good ones. Sometimes the least significant digit is off one or a couple
on a range or two. Don't matter with what we do with em. Mostly the
question we have is " Have I got volts?" or "Have I got continuity?" Who
needs double decimal accuracy for that? If you do need it, buy a good
meter. And guard it with your life.
Incidentally, never leave a digital meter in the direct sun. The sun
will heat up the display which will turn all the sectors on and read all
8's some of em turn all black. Usually when cooled off they will be OK
again.
Dave
Weymouth MA
On Sat, 10 Feb 2007 21:15:27 -0500 "Bob Murcek" <rmurcek geisinger edu>
writes:
> Forgive me if someone pointed this out already, but a key point in
> the
> story below is that a cheap tool almost caused injury. When you
> think
> about it, there are very few tools, perhaps only tiny ones to which
> you
> don't apply much force, that WON'T cause an injury accident if they
> fail
> while being used. Even cheap meters. My bet would be that these
> would
> physically explode if you accidentally went to measure line voltage
> when
> the meter was set to a current range.
>
> >>> "David Roden" <etpost drmm net> 2/10/2007 4:43:36 PM >>>
> In spite of my father's admonition, many years ago I did buy a few
> cheap
> tools, thinking as David Robie does that I wasn't going to use them
> frequently. I soon discovered a few things about them.
>
> 1. They never work as well as good tools, even when new. Things
> don't
> fit
> right. They don't have the power they should. They're not sharp or
> smooth
> or even as they should be. They don't fit the hand well. They make
> the
> work harder than it needs to be.
>
> 2. Even if you think you'll use the tool just a few times, a few
> years
> later
> you often discover that you've used it *more* than a few times. You
> realize
> this when you're in a hurry and the d**m thing breaks or quits.
>
> 3. Don't even bother trying to fix it. Spare parts aren't
> available.
>
> In the last post, I alluded to a cheap strut spring compressor.
> Here's
> the
> story.
>
> Many years ago I ordered some strut cartridges for my VW from
> Recycled
> Bugs
> Inc. (remember them?). I was planning to rent a spring compressor,
> but
> the
> order taker sold me a cheap one, saying it wasn't top quality, but
> was
> "good
> enough to use every 5 years."
>
> As soon as I opened the box, I knew I'd made a mistake. It was
> cheap
> Chinese junk. They were grainy cast metal. But I was trying to
> change
> the
> struts, it was late on Saturday, and I didn't want to try to find a
> rental
> shop still open (this was before the chain auto parts companies
> started
>
> renting tools). So I tried them anyway.
>
> I got the spring on one strut compressed, all right, and got the new
>
> cartridge installed. Then I went to loosen the compressors, and
> found
> that
> one of the castings had cross-threaded. It was seized up.
> Couldn't
> loosen
> it to finish the job.
>
> For a while I thought I was going to have to cut it off, and was
> trying
> to
> figure out how to do that without releasing the spring and killing
> myself.
> I had about decided I'd have to wait until Monday, borrowing a car
> to
> get to
> work. I'd rent a *real* spring compressor to release the tension,
> and
> just
> remove the cr***y one and dump it in the trash can.
>
> Fortunately, I was able to free it up by dousing it with penetrating
> oil,
> chucking it in the vise, and applying a piece of pipe on my breaker
> bar. In
> retrospect I'm lucky it didn't break, sending bits flying
> everywhere.
>
> I rebuilt the other strut the following weekend, and rented a proper
> spring
> compressor for it. Lesson learned. Never again have I bought a
> cheap
> tool.
> And come to that I don't think I ever bought anything from RBI
> again,
> either.
>
> To bring this back round to the ET : many of us are still using 30
> year
> old
> tractors because they were built well. That's one reason we like
> them,
> or
> at least one reason I do - they're not cheap disposable tractors
> like
> the
> ones sold at the home stores. ETs' price tags weren't small when
> new,
> but
> they're quite affordable now.
>
> Just as a 30 year old ET is likely to outlast your neighbor's new
> Toro
> from
> Home Depot, a good used hand or power tool (bought from Ebay if
> necessary)
> is usually a better deal than a new cheapie purchased from HF.
>
>
> David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA
>
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