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Tool There is a difference even in the cheap stuff.

Tool
DPittman

DPittman

Ultra Member
I have a bad habit of throwing my dial testers on the floor and as such, I have never been able to justify buying a top quality expensive brand.
I have bought various different cheapos from wherever I could and well, for the low price they have been mostly acceptable.

I have found that they have varied on how well they were finished off, mostly in the areas of the dovetails.
I just recieved my latest "big splurge spending" on a "premium" larger faced dial test indicator from Ali Express (Shahe brand) and paid under $40 for it. I am very pleased with it so far and will be disappointed when I drop it on the floor. The dovetails ate the best I've had so far although an Accusize one was a second best. The movement is very smooth. I only had one other cheapo that was not smooth.

In the pictures I have a fake "Mitutoyo" "made in Japan" and the new "Shahe" brand side by side. Both were ordered from Aliexpress and I believe I paid well under $20 for the fake Mitutoyo.
You can notice the difference in the dovetails. Also interesting is the little red dots that are on the front and back of both indicators. On the Shae branded one I can see it is an actual adjusting screw/mechanism but on the fake it is just an empty red dot with an empty hole behind it.
Both indicators claim to be jeweled. I took the fake apart to see if I could identify such but I could not. It may be because theyvare so small and I don't know what I'm really looking for (at the movement points) but I'd bet there ain't nuttin there. I have not taken the cover off the Shahe one and won't until I drop it a few times. The Shahe indicator also has a "red jewelry" type tip. I don't really know what real ruby looks like but this tip is clear glass like under magnification.
The fake Mitutoyo was probably my worst quality of the cheapos I've owned.
I'm happy so far with my new large face Shahe indicator. Ignorance is bliss.:)
20221214_163947.jpg
20221214_164035.jpg
20221214_164106.jpg
 
I've purchased a lot of different items off AliExpress over the past few years.
From rifle scopes and clothing to machinist tooling all manner of various things.
Overall, I've been really impressed. I've only had a few small issues which have all been dealt with very satisfactorily.
You need to be realistic about your expectations of quality vs price, but it's allowed me to purchase many items I wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise .
And if you do break something (I drop things constantly) it doesn't sting nearly as much as a high priced version. YMMV as they say.
Ken
 
I just ordered two of these ............


I use them to check flywheel runout when I build Vtwin crankshafts .

IVJK5021.JPG
Assembly starts by lining up the two flywheels in a fixture ............ then

The assembly goes between centers to check runout , some further tweaking .
Truing flywheels.JPG
Shown is a pair of short indicators , I need the 2" travel dial indicators to gain some clearance
 
I bought a vernier calliper a while back, the type with a gauge intead of a digital readout. The graduations were about 2-3mm out over the length of the calliper. That is the only problem I've ever had with Chinese tools, just about all my tools are Chinese.
 
toglhot said:
I bought a vernier calliper a while back, the type with a gauge intead of a digital readout. The graduations were about 2-3mm out over the length of the calliper. That is the only problem I've ever had with Chinese tools, just about all my tools are Chinese.
Click to expand...

I think that the proximity to the source allows aussie tool distributors to pay a lot closer attention to the quality of the product they buy, and to much more easily return obvious garbage. I have seen that it makes it much easier to get less popular equipment models... such as a 12 x16 lathe
 
Some of the lathes available in Australia are absolute rubbish. I've had five lathes, The first being a 9x20 back around 93. The worst lathe was an AL-250. I bought it because the specs were good and the supplier had a good name: geared head, powered cross feed, etc. As it turned out, it was the biggest piece of crap I ever bought: the capacitor exploded sending fragments all over my shop, the sight glass fell off leaving a pool of oil on the floor, The motor was underpowered so top gear was virtually useless. If you added just a little too much oil to the headstock, the motor didn't have enough power to turn the chuck. The gearbox was so bad I couldn't change gears, so had to pull it apart and finesse the shafts for it to work. And the fit and finish wa absolutely abysmal. I think I had it for all of a month before I sold it and bought another. There were anumber of complaints about the lathe on different forums, similar to mine, but still the supplier sells them???
Unfortunately, I had to buy it sight unseen, as there is no supplier where I live that kept small lathes in stock. I didn';t have a problem with that, as I'd bought quite a few tools and a couple of lathes off them before without problems. I buy most of my tools on ebay through Chinee suppliers and manufacturers, they are 'mostly' great to deal with and will bend over backwards to peae you. Not so much with Aussie suppliers on ebay, they are terrible to deal with, carry very little stock and do not respond well to complaints.
 
Mods- if I say “domestic” versus “off shore”, is that generic enough to stay out of “politics”? It’s not a political issue, I think, but my point is more buying choice from country of manufacture

I use chains as part of trucking, I can source domestic chain fairly easily. I’ll skip any chain prices as that’s not the point here. I cannot source chain hooks, without being forced in two directions. I can buy off-shore for $5-10 each, or I can buy domestic from ONE company for $20-30 each. The domestic company has some old stock at some stores but new orders are 4-6 months out for filling for anything else

Yes, there is a difference in the cheap stuff

For shackles I can choose off-shore, Taiwan, Norway, USA, etc, it’s only on chain hooks I’m getting cornered

It’s equally as frustrating buying old stock still stamped “Canada” as the country of manufacture, c’est la vie, knowing we used to produce them here
 
Chicken lights said:
Mods- if I say “domestic” versus “off shore”, is that generic enough to stay out of “politics”? It’s not a political issue, I think, but my point is more buying choice from country of manufacture

I use chains as part of trucking, I can source domestic chain fairly easily. I’ll skip any chain prices as that’s not the point here. I cannot source chain hooks, without being forced in two directions. I can buy off-shore for $5-10 each, or I can buy domestic from ONE company for $20-30 each. The domestic company has some old stock at some stores but new orders are 4-6 months out for filling for anything else

Yes, there is a difference in the cheap stuff

For shackles I can choose off-shore, Taiwan, Norway, USA, etc, it’s only on chain hooks I’m getting cornered

It’s equally as frustrating buying old stock still stamped “Canada” as the country of manufacture, c’est la vie, knowing we used to produce them here
Click to expand...
When you say chain hooks, do you mean the end hooks or the ones that hold the cross chain to the side rails. We got a batch of the cross chain ones a while back where 1 in 10 or so would crack when crimped. Don't remember the country of origin, but they were a work out compared to most. They prompted me to make an air powered set of pliers from an old front brake pot....
 
DPittman said:
I have a bad habit of throwing my dial testers on the floor and as such, I have never been able to justify buying a top quality expensive brand.
I have bought various different cheapos from wherever I could and well, for the low price they have been mostly acceptable.

I have found that they have varied on how well they were finished off, mostly in the areas of the dovetails.
I just recieved my latest "big splurge spending" on a "premium" larger faced dial test indicator from Ali Express (Shahe brand) and paid under $40 for it. I am very pleased with it so far and will be disappointed when I drop it on the floor. The dovetails ate the best I've had so far although an Accusize one was a second best. The movement is very smooth. I only had one other cheapo that was not smooth.

In the pictures I have a fake "Mitutoyo" "made in Japan" and the new "Shahe" brand side by side. Both were ordered from Aliexpress and I believe I paid well under $20 for the fake Mitutoyo.
You can notice the difference in the dovetails. Also interesting is the little red dots that are on the front and back of both indicators. On the Shae branded one I can see it is an actual adjusting screw/mechanism but on the fake it is just an empty red dot with an empty hole behind it.
Both indicators claim to be jeweled. I took the fake apart to see if I could identify such but I could not. It may be because theyvare so small and I don't know what I'm really looking for (at the movement points) but I'd bet there ain't nuttin there. I have not taken the cover off the Shahe one and won't until I drop it a few times. The Shahe indicator also has a "red jewelry" type tip. I don't really know what real ruby looks like but this tip is clear glass like under magnification.
The fake Mitutoyo was probably my worst quality of the cheapos I've owned.
I'm happy so far with my new large face Shahe indicator. Ignorance is bliss.:)
View attachment 28922View attachment 28923View attachment 28924
Click to expand...
I think the name of the Mitutoyo fake says it all: Mi turd gd!
 
140mower said:
When you say chain hooks, do you mean the end hooks or the ones that hold the cross chain to the side rails. We got a batch of the cross chain ones a while back where 1 in 10 or so would crack when crimped. Don't remember the country of origin, but they were a work out compared to most. They prompted me to make an air powered set of pliers from an old front brake pot....
Click to expand...
The end hooks

My tire chains are from Norway, they’re a lighter setup but the design is better than the old heavy’s. The cross chains are more of a diamond pattern

https://www.qualitychaincorp.net/product-line/trygg-commercial-truck-scan-trac-dual-triple
 
Chicken lights said:
The end hooks

My tire chains are from Norway, they’re a lighter setup but the design is better than the old heavy’s. The cross chains are more of a diamond pattern

https://www.qualitychaincorp.net/product-line/trygg-commercial-truck-scan-trac-dual-triple
Click to expand...
Nice looking chains...... We had a hard time getting end hooks one winter, but I think that was a management issue. I wound up making a quick little jig and we heated up some round bar with a torch and made a batch...... Same said management was some kinda pissed off that I solved his "supply" issue. Was an interesting relationship we had going there for sure......
 
I have used the crimp-on x-chains on the trucks (always carried spare x-chains and pliers, never went without them) but when I run the grader the x-chains had a simple hook with a large button on the end that was just twisted through the side rails and x-chains were easily changed in 10 seconds ...much better system that pinch ends.
 
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