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There's not just "building cheap", there is "building specifically to make things expensive to repair". Three years ago the main bearing in my washing machine

There's not just "building cheap", there is "building specifically to make things expensive to repair". Three years ago the main bearing in my washing machine broke down. Found a detailed video on Youtube for repairing the exact same machine, started disassembly. 45 minutes in, I discovered that in my machine that was a couple years newer than the tutorial, Bosch had plastic welded shut the drum, so you had to replace the entire thing. Replacement part cost went from $20 to $180 IIRC. Adding insult to injury, the flange in question had the bolt holes and locating features for the gasket still present.

mytailorisrich 7y ago
It's not necessarily to make things more expensive to repair. Often, making things easy to fully take apart increases manufacturing costs. So there needs to be a trade off. Because of competition on prices, prices points, the fact the break downs are relatively rare. the priority is often to squeeze manufacturing costs.
- baq 7y ago
  and that's where regulation is especially helpful: in a race to the bottom situation, it moves the bottom up a bit.
- petra 7y ago
  Some of those changes are note very expensive. often times reliability is compromised for minor savings. The question is that of marketing. Can we make a marketing page that shows an easy to repair washing machine - and shows us that over 10 years, if we do the repairs ourselves - we'll save some money ? And the hassle of replacing to a new machine often ? At least some segment of the population, the DIY'ers may buy such machines.
Freak_NL 7y ago
I've repaired my then seven year old LG washing machine as well two years ago. The rear drum support had apparently developed a fault, and was nearly torn in two by the time the funny noises came and hinted at the need for repairs. The Youtube videos were a great help, but even though the part I needed was available, all the steps along the way to getting the part and fixing the machine made it clear that this was not a process aimed at consumers with the ability to repair such a machine. The manufacturer chose representatives in each country it sold machines in were you had to buy the part (at €100 with shipping not cheap, but acceptable), but the serial numbers never really matched exactly, and the model I had always had one extra letter left unexplained, making buying the part a gamble. The part fitted and the repair did work perfectly, even though I had to order the stainless bolts I needed to replace the worn originals from somewhere else (a web shop with a sensible interface). This device was seemingly designed to be repaired (or at least not prevent it), but documentation and lack of sensible part numbers made it harder then it needed to be. Interesting experience though, it feels good to extend the life of the machine by a few years this way.
kube-system 7y ago
> Bosch had plastic welded shut the drum, > the flange in question had the bolt holes and locating features for the gasket still present. That sounds like classic cost-savings methodology. They found a cheaper way to attach two parts while keeping the same tooling and reducing parts-count. What would have been suspicious is if they had kept the expensive features and welded it shut. Cheap is often not maintainable as a side-effect. That doesn't mean it was the primary goal.

mytailorisrich 7y ago

It's not necessarily to make things more expensive to repair. Often, making things easy to fully take apart increases manufacturing costs. So there needs to be a trade off. Because of competition on prices, prices points, the fact the break downs are relatively rare. the priority is often to squeeze manufacturing costs.

baq 7y ago
and that's where regulation is especially helpful: in a race to the bottom situation, it moves the bottom up a bit.
petra 7y ago
Some of those changes are note very expensive. often times reliability is compromised for minor savings. The question is that of marketing. Can we make a marketing page that shows an easy to repair washing machine - and shows us that over 10 years, if we do the repairs ourselves - we'll save some money ? And the hassle of replacing to a new machine often ? At least some segment of the population, the DIY'ers may buy such machines.

Freak_NL 7y ago

I've repaired my then seven year old LG washing machine as well two years ago. The rear drum support had apparently developed a fault, and was nearly torn in two by the time the funny noises came and hinted at the need for repairs. The Youtube videos were a great help, but even though the part I needed was available, all the steps along the way to getting the part and fixing the machine made it clear that this was not a process aimed at consumers with the ability to repair such a machine. The manufacturer chose representatives in each country it sold machines in were you had to buy the part (at €100 with shipping not cheap, but acceptable), but the serial numbers never really matched exactly, and the model I had always had one extra letter left unexplained, making buying the part a gamble. The part fitted and the repair did work perfectly, even though I had to order the stainless bolts I needed to replace the worn originals from somewhere else (a web shop with a sensible interface). This device was seemingly designed to be repaired (or at least not prevent it), but documentation and lack of sensible part numbers made it harder then it needed to be. Interesting experience though, it feels good to extend the life of the machine by a few years this way.

kube-system 7y ago

> Bosch had plastic welded shut the drum, > the flange in question had the bolt holes and locating features for the gasket still present. That sounds like classic cost-savings methodology. They found a cheaper way to attach two parts while keeping the same tooling and reducing parts-count. What would have been suspicious is if they had kept the expensive features and welded it shut. Cheap is often not maintainable as a side-effect. That doesn't mean it was the primary goal.