15 Dec
2011
15 Dec
'11
8:05 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shoppa, Tim" <tshoppa at wmata.com>
To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 10:12 AM
Subject: Re: Cheap Chinese electrolytics - a plague - Re: TV -> D-Sub
converter possible?
On 12/14/2011 08:29 PM, Toby Thain wrote:
The problem is engineering tools got better and better so the fudge factor
needed to make sure the part lasted as long as it was designed for got lower
and lower. Metal use dropped as plastics got stronger, so parts get brittle
with age instead of lasting forever. Things like this are done to make parts
cheaper to compete better (basically to squeeze more profit out of
something), so we have items designed to fail after the warranty expires.
The cheaper something is sold for the shorter the warranty needed so by
design things become cheaper and disposable.
I've "field repaired" at least five
units in this way, giving them a
happy rebirth - The rest of the monitor lasts a lot longer than the
stupid capacitors do. Building in obsolescence like this should be a
crime that puts people behind bars.
If they had successfully built in obsolescence, then all the parts would
fail at the same time.
The US big 3 automakers to their credit did a pretty good job with this
for a long time. Yeah, cars in crashes still had good parts to pick over
in a junkyard, but by the end of a cars natural life there really wasn't
an awful lot left to pick over.
Not that I'd wish a 1974 Dodge Monaco on just anyone :-)
Tim.