Marcus Hunt
~ Elite 1000 Member ~
John Ruskin, 1819-1900 Author, Influential Critic, Philospher
"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little.
When you pay too much you lose a little money, that is all.
When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything,
because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.
The common law of business prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it's well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better."
This is a truism if ever there was one as I shall go on to explain.
Firstly, however, I wish to carry over an apology from the thread about Microscope Lighting. Unfortunately, my initial reply may have been misconstrued because, though this electronic media is a fabulous means of communication it lacks soul and expression and therefore becomes very subjective to the reader. This in turn seemed to mean that the English sense of irony went awry and was a negative attack on a simple question. It was not meant to be so, and to any of you who interpreted it as such, please accept my sincere apologies. I do however stand by my statement and I believe in 'freedom of speech' which means a negative viewpoint is as valid as a positive one and vice versa. To any 'newbies' or novices, please do feel free to ask any question whatsoever, no matter how dumb it may seem as there will always be someone in the Cafe who has an answer to it. My 'tongue in cheek' irritation was directed towards some of the replies to the thread not the questioner or any of the personalities. Again, if it came across in any way on a personal level it was not meant to do so and I'm very sorry that it may have been taken this way.
Anyway, back to the quote and my story which you may find helps you understand my thought process (especially when directed towards my reply on the microscope lighting thread)......
November 07, after many months of problems my compressor finally looks like it's about to expire it's final breath! It's a 5 year old Bambi unit with a 9 litre receiver that has been leaking oil since it's second birthday. Often, during the summer months, it'd run so hot the thermal cut out would kick in. I am not an engineer so I just soldiered on, living with the Bambi's idiosyncrasies. The little unit did it's best and as I bought it with my old GraverMax I figured the supplier must've sold me the right compressor to go with it.
Realizing that the replacement compressor would need greater capacity than 9 litres I started the research. After many hours on the web, shocked at some of the prices of higher end units, I did my usual and typed 'silent compressor' into eBay's search engine. Bamm! Up popped several decent looking units at very reasonable cost and yeah, that little devil on my shoulder chimed in, whispering in my ear "You'll save hundred's of pounds if you get one of these!" Money in PayPal account quickly transfers to the seller and a few days later I get my new compressor. It looked okay but I could tell corners had been cut and God only knew what shortfalls the thick layer of cream paint hid underneath. Not all that comes from China is of great quality.
It was all hooked up and ran very hot for a week. The stink of hot oil was awful but I just thought it was a running in period and it would get better. After 10 days a call was made to the supplier explaining the problem and also telling them of an oil leak where a small pipe was welded to the motor housing. 2 days later the motor seizes! Frantic phone calls take place and I find out where the importer is located and they agree to honour the warranty. So I drive 75 miles to see what they are going to do. They have no new units but offer to replace the motor which I agree to. 75 miles home again (that’s 3 hours total driving time) and I’m up and running again. Or rather the new motor seems to be struggling to get air into the tank and yes, it’s leaking oil from the same join as the last on did!!!! So another 150 mile round trip follows and I upgrade to the larger 2 motored model.
This time everything works brilliantly, a really sweet little compressor and….just a….trace of…OIL… leaking from some sort valve. I really cannot be bothered by now so decide to live with the tiny leak…..
2 months later the electricity trips out! Trace fault…it’s the bloody compressor!!!! Arggggh! Engineer has no ideas and suggests replacing start up capacitors. Promises to mail them…..3 days later they haven’t arrived. More phone calls and I end up driving 150 miles to pick them up. I get home and fit them…..you’ve guessed it….electricity trips out as it’s pressurizing…And then, there’s a tell tale trickle of oil that emerges from the same hole as two small wires do! Even I know electricity and liquid don’t go well together. The company have no more compressors and are expecting another delivery in mid March! This of course is no good to me and they finally agree to refund my money. So I do another 150 mile round trip to take the compressor back to them.
So far I’ve traveled around 600 miles (about $150 in gas, UK prices) and lost over 15 hours of work time in travel alone. Add the actual working hours lost by having to use the knackered Bambi and you can see how this financial loss soon adds up.
So what’s the outcome? Well, I decided to do what I should have done in the first place and I found a specialist compressor company only 16 miles away that supplies Sil-Air units that are made in Italy. They cost £200 more than the Chinese tat but I could have more than saved this money by buying the more expensive unit in the first place and not having the lost time and fuel costs.
I knew when I picked it up it was quality. Even the cardboard box it came in stated that. And when I took it from the box it just shouted class. It’s a 24 litre compressor with a 500 watt motor. It charges from empty to 10 bar in under 1 minute 30 seconds and kicks in between 6 and 8 times an hour with average cutting time and to get back up to pressure again takes less than 30 seconds. A fabulous piece of kit and it gives sound peace of mind.
So in conclusion, we all make mistakes and it’s important that we learn by them. Sometimes something that appears to be a bargain just isn’t. And following the old adage; if something looks to good to be true usually it is! I also learned that if it's your business, don't try and cut corners by being a cheapskate; in the long run it just isn't worth it.
"It's unwise to pay too much, but it's unwise to pay too little.
When you pay too much you lose a little money, that is all.
When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything,
because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.
The common law of business prohibits paying a little and getting a lot - it can't be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it's well to add something for the risk you run.
And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better."
This is a truism if ever there was one as I shall go on to explain.
Firstly, however, I wish to carry over an apology from the thread about Microscope Lighting. Unfortunately, my initial reply may have been misconstrued because, though this electronic media is a fabulous means of communication it lacks soul and expression and therefore becomes very subjective to the reader. This in turn seemed to mean that the English sense of irony went awry and was a negative attack on a simple question. It was not meant to be so, and to any of you who interpreted it as such, please accept my sincere apologies. I do however stand by my statement and I believe in 'freedom of speech' which means a negative viewpoint is as valid as a positive one and vice versa. To any 'newbies' or novices, please do feel free to ask any question whatsoever, no matter how dumb it may seem as there will always be someone in the Cafe who has an answer to it. My 'tongue in cheek' irritation was directed towards some of the replies to the thread not the questioner or any of the personalities. Again, if it came across in any way on a personal level it was not meant to do so and I'm very sorry that it may have been taken this way.
Anyway, back to the quote and my story which you may find helps you understand my thought process (especially when directed towards my reply on the microscope lighting thread)......
November 07, after many months of problems my compressor finally looks like it's about to expire it's final breath! It's a 5 year old Bambi unit with a 9 litre receiver that has been leaking oil since it's second birthday. Often, during the summer months, it'd run so hot the thermal cut out would kick in. I am not an engineer so I just soldiered on, living with the Bambi's idiosyncrasies. The little unit did it's best and as I bought it with my old GraverMax I figured the supplier must've sold me the right compressor to go with it.
Realizing that the replacement compressor would need greater capacity than 9 litres I started the research. After many hours on the web, shocked at some of the prices of higher end units, I did my usual and typed 'silent compressor' into eBay's search engine. Bamm! Up popped several decent looking units at very reasonable cost and yeah, that little devil on my shoulder chimed in, whispering in my ear "You'll save hundred's of pounds if you get one of these!" Money in PayPal account quickly transfers to the seller and a few days later I get my new compressor. It looked okay but I could tell corners had been cut and God only knew what shortfalls the thick layer of cream paint hid underneath. Not all that comes from China is of great quality.
It was all hooked up and ran very hot for a week. The stink of hot oil was awful but I just thought it was a running in period and it would get better. After 10 days a call was made to the supplier explaining the problem and also telling them of an oil leak where a small pipe was welded to the motor housing. 2 days later the motor seizes! Frantic phone calls take place and I find out where the importer is located and they agree to honour the warranty. So I drive 75 miles to see what they are going to do. They have no new units but offer to replace the motor which I agree to. 75 miles home again (that’s 3 hours total driving time) and I’m up and running again. Or rather the new motor seems to be struggling to get air into the tank and yes, it’s leaking oil from the same join as the last on did!!!! So another 150 mile round trip follows and I upgrade to the larger 2 motored model.
This time everything works brilliantly, a really sweet little compressor and….just a….trace of…OIL… leaking from some sort valve. I really cannot be bothered by now so decide to live with the tiny leak…..
2 months later the electricity trips out! Trace fault…it’s the bloody compressor!!!! Arggggh! Engineer has no ideas and suggests replacing start up capacitors. Promises to mail them…..3 days later they haven’t arrived. More phone calls and I end up driving 150 miles to pick them up. I get home and fit them…..you’ve guessed it….electricity trips out as it’s pressurizing…And then, there’s a tell tale trickle of oil that emerges from the same hole as two small wires do! Even I know electricity and liquid don’t go well together. The company have no more compressors and are expecting another delivery in mid March! This of course is no good to me and they finally agree to refund my money. So I do another 150 mile round trip to take the compressor back to them.
So far I’ve traveled around 600 miles (about $150 in gas, UK prices) and lost over 15 hours of work time in travel alone. Add the actual working hours lost by having to use the knackered Bambi and you can see how this financial loss soon adds up.
So what’s the outcome? Well, I decided to do what I should have done in the first place and I found a specialist compressor company only 16 miles away that supplies Sil-Air units that are made in Italy. They cost £200 more than the Chinese tat but I could have more than saved this money by buying the more expensive unit in the first place and not having the lost time and fuel costs.
I knew when I picked it up it was quality. Even the cardboard box it came in stated that. And when I took it from the box it just shouted class. It’s a 24 litre compressor with a 500 watt motor. It charges from empty to 10 bar in under 1 minute 30 seconds and kicks in between 6 and 8 times an hour with average cutting time and to get back up to pressure again takes less than 30 seconds. A fabulous piece of kit and it gives sound peace of mind.
So in conclusion, we all make mistakes and it’s important that we learn by them. Sometimes something that appears to be a bargain just isn’t. And following the old adage; if something looks to good to be true usually it is! I also learned that if it's your business, don't try and cut corners by being a cheapskate; in the long run it just isn't worth it.
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