Really bad construction quality, or is it just me?

[Sceadwian]

They usually pot the windings with stuff that is just a pain in the butt to get rid of.

 

[Hero999]

I've only done it once before, it's pretty easy to do.

If I find a simlar transformer again I'll do it and post pictures if you like. The trouble is not all wall wart transformers are that poor, most have the laminations strongly bound together with resin.

 

[Sceadwian]

Yeah, those are the ones I'm talking about Hero, I've given up after trying to take a couple apart, just wasn't worth it for what you could get out of it to me. I don't think I've ever run across transformers as poorly made as the one in the pictures above t hough, and I've seen some bad soldering jobs before, but nothing THAT poor. Most of the stuff I've ever bought from china, are cheaply but generally well put together, and I make a habbit of disassembling EVERTHING I buy that's made in china to give it a once over visual just out of curiosity.

Despite AG's rampant slamming of chinese manufacturing methods by large and far they're done in factories (even if they are crude) with at least half assed equipment. It's cheap cause they don't have to worry about safety issues or paying their workers more than a quarter a week =P

 

[killivolt]

Side Note:

I have taken many transformers apart. Where the welds have been a pain to get apart what I've found is if I take a hammer to it.

Laying it on it's side where the weld is I repeatably hit it and turn it over and back again until the weld is released and it just pulls apart. Once done it's pretty easy to put together with some industrial Super Glue.

I like to use a slower cure type that I've found at hobby shops.

 

[tcmtech]

I just split the welds with a Dremel and cut off wheel on the small ones. Even a hacksaw with a fine pitch blade works well on most.

If you are looking for enameled copper wire for a reasonable price find your nearest motor rewind shop. they will happily sell you any gage of wire they have from their bulk spools. At only a few dollars a pound for brand new stuff its worth it!

 

[killivolt]

I just split the welds with a Dremel and cut off wheel on the small ones. Even a hacksaw with a fine pitch blade works well on most.

I've done that one. I promise mines faster.

If you are looking for enameled copper wire for a reasonable price find your nearest motor rewind shop. they will happily sell you any gage of wire they have from their bulk spools. At only a few dollars a pound for brand new stuff its worth it!

I didn't even think about this either? I like it.

 

[Thunderchild]

To be fair I saw a similare level of quality soldering in a control box plug the other day for a military application done in the UK !

 

[tcmtech]

To be fair I saw a similar level of quality soldering in a control box plug the other day for a military application done in the UK !

Unfortunately I too have seen that level of bad manufacturing quality used in high end American made products and equipment far to many times. Not just in electronics either. The customer pays for the name not the product.

 

[Reloadron]

To be fair I saw a similare level of quality soldering in a control box plug the other day for a military application done in the UK !

It's one thing to see poor quality in a product destined for the commercial world. It is entirely another thing to see it in a product destined for military use. Not that a defective coffee pot will matter in either world but in some applications like safety of life or safety of flight (not to mention warships to include submarines) I would like to believe quality standards are met in both worlds.

Ron

 

[Hero999]

Just because the product is British or US made it doesn't mean the PCB is.

It's possible that the whole thing is put together in the UK but the PCB is made in China.

 

[Sceadwian]

I would find that comment highly suspect Thunderchild, can you substantiate it? There is absolutely no possibility of a floating solder blob like that being called or accepted in a military product, no way no how.

 

[Thunderchild]

It's one thing to see poor quality in a product destined for the commercial world. It is entirely another thing to see it in a product destined for military use. Not that a defective coffee pot will matter in either world but in some applications like safety of life or safety of flight (not to mention warships to include submarines) I would like to believe quality standards are met in both worlds.

Ron

Well I'm afraid to delude you, luckily this is only an air conditioning system (designed by our top cowboy) with the control box assembly subcontracted to a company I've come to call Kemp destructions ltd because I never thought it possible for them to smash £ 150 worth of military grade switches when we only paid them £ 100 for the 2 hour job of assembly and for them to actually have the guts to try and claim on the carrier and then tell us to get stuffed when the carrier told them the same when they know full well that they wreked them during assembly/packing

I beleive that our radiator packs for the engines are are slightly better than this, we certaily do a better job than our usual supplier in the UAE who haven't learnt to solder yet (got some nice cross section photos once of core to tank "seam" with practically no solder and then we wonder why they last 6 months - comercial job luckily)

 

[Thunderchild]

Sceadwian

The soldering was shoddy should do the job but not impressive, looked like it had been put on with a trowel, it will be used just have to see if the MOD kick it out - probably not

 

[Reloadron]

Well I'm afraid to delude you, luckily this is only an air conditioning system (designed by our top cowboy) with the control box assembly subcontracted to a company I've come to call Kemp destructions ltd because I never thought it possible for them to smash £ 150 worth of military grade switches when we only paid them £ 100 for the 2 hour job of assembly and for them to actually have the guts to try and claim on the carrier and then tell us to get stuffed when the carrier told them the same when they know full well that they wreked them during assembly/packing

I beleive that our radiator packs for the engines are are slightly better than this, we certaily do a better job than our usual supplier in the UAE who haven't learnt to solder yet (got some nice cross section photos once of core to tank "seam" with practically no solder and then we wonder why they last 6 months - comercial job luckily)

No problem as you didn't delude me. I also admit I don't have a clue what inspection criteria has to be met in the UK or how their quality acceptance procedures work for what parts and services. However, I am somewhat familiar with how things work with the US Military (government) as to QC & QA procedures, source representation and the like. I also know the penalties for "cheating" and providing sub-specification parts and services. That is especially true of things I mentioned that involve safety of flight and life in critical systems.

Again, I have no clue as to how things work across the pond so I really can't comment on how things work in the UK.

Ron

 

[Hero999]

I used to work for a company which undertook contracts for the MoD and if any of our suppliers provided us with anything that shoddy, we'd send it back.

 

[Vizier87]

Apart from bad technical features, their technical description is in English which is most probably Google-translated from the traditional Chinese and mass produced with the same grammatical errors fit for a series of Engrish.com material. (Shudders) I am sooooo going to laugh my ass off when I drop by another Chinese electrical outlet, although I'm a Chinese myself.

 

[Thunderchild]

I used to work for a company which undertook contracts for the MoD and if any of our suppliers provided us with anything that shoddy, we'd send it back.

obviously I don't know what line of work you were in but I think from an MoD perspective we are not a vital supplier as its air con units not anything drastic, the damaged parts we received were repaired but at our cost, their works manager made it a very personal mission to ensure justice was not done and my company are a bunch of quality whimps when it comes to stuff like this so we paid and the stuff got repaired but they continue to not impress. my thoughts as a quality inspector are known but I don't make the decisions. we do not supply the Mod directly so we are sort of buffered by the companies we supply to. As far as I'm aware thetre have been no major issues but I don't like the way of working, it make a mokery of my job

 

[audioguru]

The soldering was shoddy should do the job but not impressive, looked like it had been put on with a trowel

Hee, hee, hee, hee. That is an excellent remark.
The person doing the soldering used to work in cold concrete.

 

[Thunderchild]

quite, it looks like their idea of assembling a plug is use a 100W iron and solder thats 2 mm thick !

Chinese made stuff is often refered to as the benchmark of what is rubbish but frankly I don't hold out much hope for UK made stuff either, when we are trying to keep costs down to compete and people get ever more lazy because they are allowed theres not much hope - but looks like I'll have a job for life

 

[AllVol]

Whatever happened to Underwriters Laboratory (UL) approval, as well as the Good Housekeeping seal? I remember these labels on nearly all appliances years ago.

Haven't really thought about it until reading Ron's experience.