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Nebraska is one of eight states in the US – including Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Wyoming, Tennessee and Kansas – seeking to pass "right to repair" legislation. All eyes will be on the Cornhusker state when the bill has its public hearing on 9 March, because its unique "unicameral legislature" (it's the only state to have a single parliamentary chamber) means laws can be enacted swiftly. If this bill, officially named LB67, gets through, it may lead to a domino effect through the rest of the US, as happened with a similar battle over the right to repair cars. These Nebraska farmers are fighting for all of us.
Big agriculture and big tech – including John Deere, Apple and AT&T – are lobbying hard against the bill, and have sent representatives to the Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska, to spend hours talking to senators, citing safety, security and intellectual property concerns.
John Deere has gone as far as to claim that farmers don't own the tractors they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for, but instead receive a "license to operate the vehicle". They lock users into license agreements that forbid them from even looking at the software running the tractor or the signals it generates.
Another article on the topic at Techdirt.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Thursday March 09 2017, @01:45AM (3 children)
There is a strange place where you can still get "right to repair" tools:
Harbor. Freight. Tools.
Yes, the butt of jokes in Mad Magazine and Saturday night live. They do sell plenty of junk, and their stores make K-Mart look up scale. But some of their shit is actually pretty good once you get it set up and tuned. You will find heavy duty features like cast iron tables and induction motors at lower price points.
And almost all of their tools have parts diagrams and replaceable parts. I have ordered replacement parts from them several times and sometimes for tools that are several years old.
I purchased this bad boy [harborfreight.com] about 15 years ago and still have it. It's manual [harborfreight.com] contains the full parts diagram. If something breaks just call them to special order a replacement.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 09 2017, @04:31AM (2 children)
Most HF stuff is cheap Chinese junk. The Chinese though basically made everything right to repair. They did that because everyone else does. If you don't you go out of business. Just keep in mind most of their power tools are junk.
I use them all the time as most of my projects are one offs. I do not need the best tool. I just need the tool. I usually save a lot because many times that tool will not be used again for several years if at all. If I use something all the time I start with the junk stuff see if it works out. If not I buy the best one I can find. This has the nice effect of optimizing my spending. Many times I can blow out a tool and buy 3-4 more of them at HF vs a name brand one.
But you get what you pay for... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKB-zDJghZ0 [youtube.com]
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Thursday March 09 2017, @03:24PM
This isn't completely true. Most HF hand tools (wrenches, sockets, etc.), in particular, aren't Chinese, they're Taiwanese, and they're very high quality. They're a lot better than the Crapsman junk these days (which is made in China from what I've seen). And they have a lifetime warranty. According to a mechanic I met a couple years ago, he prefers the HF hand tools to Snap-On, because it's so much cheaper, and the quality is about the same these days.
But you're right about the power tools; they're not that great, but serviceable usually for one-offs or light usage.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Thursday March 09 2017, @11:38PM
I go news for you. Practically all power tools are made in China, and most of them are cheap junk too. I replaced my 10 year old HF drill press with a larger and considerably more expensive Delta model (also made in China), and which I hadn't. That little benchtop was a beast. The hand-tighten chuck never slipped, and I was only able to stall the motor once - while drilling a 3 1/4" forestner bit into walnut. The POS Delta chuck was worse then useless. Regardless of how tight you tried to make it, even small bits would slip and strip. I eventually bought a replacement hand chuck (also made in China) that was like the one on my old HF drill. Still not as good as it stalls more but at least the drills don't strip.
Try ordering a replacement set of armature brushes for your Dewalt (also made in China)
That saw I linked to? I bought it for a one off project in 2002. I probably need to take it apart and clean it, but with the parts manual it makes it a lot easier to put together.
While all power tools are made in China, it is pretty easy to find top quality US made hand tools at reasonable prices.
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