Bosch grinders now made in China

[mart]

I bought a new Bosch 115mm (blue-professional) angle grinder this week. When I checked it over and tried to fit the guard, I found that the guard could not be used in “all positions”( unlike my old Bosch grinder) and was fixed in one position as far as I could tell. Also, there was no quick release catch for the guard like there is on my old grinder. Instead there is an allen screw.

I looked at the writing and spec and was shocked to see the words made in China. On closer inspection, and after comparing both machines the new grinder looked cheap & nasty. I took it back to the place of purchase and obtained a refund. Not sure what to get now but am looking at Makita.

Does anyone know if Makita have a colour range to determine the professional machines from the DIY ones like Bosch do?

 

[mike os]

all makita stuff is "pro", "site" is their HD diy range

 

[oilcooled :)]

i coulde be wrong mike but i thought makita was the pro range, and maktec was the cheaper version of makita for diy?

 

[blenkie1]

We use Metabo and Makita 5" grinders in our workshop and can recommend them both

 

[mike os]

i coulde be wrong mike but i thought makita was the pro range, and maktec was the cheaper version of makita for diy?

... you are quite right...maktec is their DIY stuff... site is someone elses DIY ....

 

[ATO]

Site is rebadged Makita as sold through Screwfix

 

[jimi_boom]

I hate to break it to you but your wrong about the guard positioning.

The guard is deisgned to be moved towards the blade before rotating to the deisred location, you are right about the alen key situation though, i bought the same grinder about 5 months ago and found that it was a bit of a pain until i realised how the clever little mechanisme works.

It is deisnged to only go on in one position but if you pull the tabe into the groove it will then lock in any position.

And i hate to break it to you but not many power tools are built in Europe any more most are made in the wonderfull world of China, and whats worst is Black and decker own 60% of all power tool manufacturers.

 

[SirDick Diodenob esquire]

I am the not so proud owner of two angle grinders , one a Bosch stamped made in PRC which cost me nearly £40 and one I bought from Makro under the Budget brand name claiming to be made in Germany on the lable and costing £5+vat and this came complete with a spare set of motor brushes which the Bosch unit didnt . I honestly cant tell the difference in how good they are but there again I am not a professional user so wouldnt be pushing them to the limit . The Budget grinder has a prominent message in the instructions ' We wish you a lot of fun with this tool ! ' the Germans have a different sense of humour but its got me wondering what do they mean by having fun with the grinder ?

 

[Mikey D]

Not all the bosch blue ones are made in china , i have a new (well 6 months old) made in germany one . it obviously depends on which model you have .

The maktec one are made in china to makitas spec , the Site (screwfix ) ones are rebranded Maktecs

cheers mike

 

[mart]

I hate to break it to you but your wrong about the guard positioning.

The guard is deisgned to be moved towards the blade before rotating to the deisred location, you are right about the alen key situation though, i bought the same grinder about 5 months ago and found that it was a bit of a pain until i realised how the clever little mechanisme works.

It is deisnged to only go on in one position but if you pull the tabe into the groove it will then lock in any position.

And i hate to break it to you but not many power tools are built in Europe any more most are made in the wonderfull world of China, and whats worst is Black and decker own 60% of all power tool manufacturers.

I did not actually mention the specific model and there are a few 115 Bosch models. As Mikey D says, NOT ALL Bosch grinders are made in China. Unfortunately the one I dropped on was made in China. If I find one with the type of guard I prefer, that is German built, I may go for that. Otherwise it will be a Makita.

 

[yarpap]

Hope this doesnt become another "show us your" shed tool box welding set etc..but
Bosch GWS8-115....8 months old made in Germany
BoschGWS-20-230h..10 months old ...made in Germany...bloody heavy!!
Makita9527nb.....about 4yrs old...made in shock horror....England
Makita hp162 ..drill ...made in....England

all in industrial use every day, you pays your money...

Dave

 

[Mikey D]

Yea Makita have a factory at Telford , recently extended as well i believe

 

[yarpap]

its good to see made in England on something!!

 

[mike os]

its good to see made in England on something!!

I wish to amend

... on something of decent quality"

 

[cookie munsta]

I use makita and i can't say that i ever checked but I'm pretty sure that mine wasn't crafted in blighty, however mine would be the same but being made in SE asia i got a 5" and nine" for just under 500 skippy's and I like. both are smooth operating quality and I'm happy with them. when makita stop spinning change bushes and go again.

 

[TechnicAl]

Ironic isnt it
Makita made in England
Black and Decker made in China

Nissan and Toyota and Honda made in England
Rover made in China

I think that says more about Management than anything else

 

[scott0031]

its good to see made in England on something!!

I guarantee you they may be assembled here but the vast majority of the parts if any at all will be made in the uk. They will still be made in china, Asia, or east European. All you need for a made in England badge is for the item to be assembled here. Even a bolt holding two plates together is entitled to have a made in England badge when all the parts are from abroad.

We simple cant or struggle very badly to make anything at a cost in this country due to fuel, rates... you know the score


Kind regards,

Scott (ward eng)

 

[mike os]

nope the reason we struggle to make anything decent is because 99% of uk businesses are run by accountants and they can see a greater "profit" in making it in china...

so your say £100 grinder, approx UK man cost say £20-25.00max, profit is still 3x man costs by the time it is sold at trade, & you get a 40% "discount" off trade meaning on a cost of £25 they "only" make a ****** huge profit.

but if they make in china at £10 and still sell for .......

Bear in mind that when you see the price you pay.... the mats supplier has made 100% profit, the manufacturer has made at least 100% profit the wholesaler has made 100% profit and the seller has made a decent profit... yet half the time you end up with cheap foreign crap.... ( occasionally you end up with decent foreign crap..its not the foreign bit its teh accountants)

If I worked like this your 2 storey extension would cost about 500k

 

[cookie munsta]

Ironic isnt it
Makita made in England
Black and Decker made in China

Nissan and Toyota and Honda made in England
Rover made in China

I think that says more about Management than anything else

over here. Honda japan made, accord euro. rest thailand. toyota most japan, I don't know if you get different models. nissan japan or SE asia or at least what we get.

 

[scott0031]

nope the reason we struggle to make anything decent is because 99% of uk businesses are run by accountants and they can see a greater "profit" in making it in china...

so your say £100 grinder, approx UK man cost say £20-25.00max, profit is still 3x man costs by the time it is sold at trade, & you get a 40% "discount" off trade meaning on a cost of £25 they "only" make a ****** huge profit.

but if they make in china at £10 and still sell for .......

Bear in mind that when you see the price you pay.... the mats supplier has made 100% profit, the manufacturer has made at least 100% profit the wholesaler has made 100% profit and the seller has made a decent profit... yet half the time you end up with cheap foreign crap.... ( occasionally you end up with decent foreign crap..its not the foreign bit its teh accountants)

If I worked like this your 2 storey extension would cost about 500k

You are basing that on assumed figures. yes accountants do run a lot of businesses these days, but what do they look at? Figures! those figures being cost of manaf against outlay and running costs so there fore they are looking at those cost in the uk compared to abroad. comes down to what i said.

The ones that make the least profit are the manufacturers, they are the ones that have the huge expense of the machinery design, tooling, development, prototyping. Then jigs and fixtures for assembly to mention but only a few. It takes years and years for new product line to be profitable for manufacturing companies and its a very long term investment, its not uncommon for those outlays never to be recovered fully.

You do understand that here in the uk we can not even buy the raw materials for the price an item is produced in say china. That's including finishing packaging and importing and being sold with profit. So.........................

Over the years i have re-worked many parts, jobs that have been made in the far east. Parts that have been designed and sent to china to be produced. The jobs are wrong and need re-working. The customer nearly falls over backwards when you tell them the cost of putting the parts right with the response, " that's twice the price i paid for the entire parts." That comes down to one thing only the price you need to charge in the uk to survive. I'm talking about trying to earn a half acceptable wage and not profiteering from it.



I didn't find your argument that easy to follow, so forgive me if i have misunderstood.


Kind regards,


Scott (ward eng)