Poor Quality Equipment

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Rowley

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Back in the day we used to have Presco or Boulton fittings, Corofil Woodall Jacks, Boddis Ginwheels, SGB Cuplok, Kwikform Kwikstage etc etc...

Does anyone else find it frustrating that Hire & Sales companies like Generation etc have flooded the marked with cheap rubbish and driven high quality companies like the above either out of the game all together or into a shadow of their former selves? Even Mills couplers have gone now because people want cheap cheap cheap with no regard for the job.

Some of the kit we get now is so thin and badly made it's bordering on deadly, very frustrating.
 
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I agree , you can feel the cheap Indian steel in the components and even the tubes of today are well inferior . I am sure an SGB or mills 21` weighed a lot more than they do now . I can only imagine there must be a standard all components must meet but as you say Rowley they do feel poor quality .
 
It's not just the steel, it's how thin and light everthing has got too - seemingly all purely to save money. Even base plates are now basically tin foil. Don't even get me started on pressed fittings and transoms where the ends arn't lined up because the welding jigs are crap!

One big concern is the orange ladders, well they are now galvanised - they are now so thin that they really bend if you are over 10 stone. I don't see how they can pass EN131, in fact they simply cannot.
 
I know that 21's used to be a lot heavier............these days your Granny could hemp a Longun with this Indian Shight.....:D

.......and as for Doubles.......the Drop Forged Burton's Little Giant was unbeatable...!

LittleGiant.jpg
 
I was lucky enough to see the Mills Couplers being made in Dudley by HF Shaw, which is now a housing estate :sad:

Scaff tube now seems to be 3.2mm thick instead of 4mm only i very much doubt the 3.2 is high tensile like it should be.
 
Rowlley

Got to agree there is some very sub-standard component parts in circulation.

Many are badly finished which gives rise to laserations on the hands and gouging on the tubes---the gates are ill fitting when offerd up to the tube---the threads are susseptible to bolt creap and the washers have little to no malability and compress to the state of un-Servisable.

I tend to salvage/aquire sprung steel and droped forged from end of contract sales.
 
the firm i work for is all the old stuff the 21s are heavy when new boys start there lucky to pump 2 up .one bucket of fitting is like lifting a ton
 
scaffy dooooo---your a tryer M8---keep it up you'll get a start yet---keep kickin at the door m8
 
may i just point out that i totally agree with what you are saying in this topic , but a reputable company should have quality control which should include ensuring all supplies are to a certain standard, you cannot blame the people manufacturing this stuff, the people to question are the people buying the stuff
 
I do not blame the Manufacturers---many of the Scaffolding Companies go for the cheap and chearful option, a through away cost affective away culture, in many cases it is economicly viable to spent around 60 pence for a Double Coupler to be in Service a few times then quarintiened that to spend more on a Quality Coupler that will give many cycles of Service. This in turn feeds the Foundries of India and China which in turn adds to Global Warming and indeed increases the Carbon Foot print of the Scaffolding Orginisation which repeat buy. Furtheremore, the Quality of some of these components could be a contributory factor and a precourser to unforseen occurances which could be detramental to the Reliability, Integrity and Stability of a Structure.
 
spot on garry my good man , has most of you noticed that before the recession it was all health n safety this , enviroment carbon foot print that , and now its all mainly very quiet on many things that people were shouting their mouths off about.
back to the kit topic i can understand some companies that do lots of building works or types of work where their kit is just constantly used , abused, lost , contaminated etc etc and where major design , heights or loadings arent an issue buying cheaper kit as in their eyes it prob has life expectancy of 12 months anyway wether its £10,000 or £20,000 they spend but any company doing work where kit should be easily looked after should always buy quality
 
superscaff75 said:
may i just point out that i totally agree with what you are saying in this topic , but a reputable company should have quality control which should include ensuring all supplies are to a certain standard, you cannot blame the people manufacturing this stuff, the people to question are the people buying the stuff
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Problem is that business dictates that items it wants to purchase are made to a price....Making an item to the price they want to pay is akin to parting with your first born!

Trying to explain the reason for the death (in court etc) of someone's loved one for the sake of profit...I find unappealing!

Never compromise on quality...go bust first!
 
Just to let everyone know - we (Presco) are currently producing the Band and Plate to the original drawing spec and we also do a 5mm thick base plate (just like the old days :) However, we have been forced down the road of economy engineering some products - such as the 4mm base plate which we also supply, due to market demand for the cheapest deal - and as the old saying goes - you only get what you pay for...And it seems there are a vast amount of firms out there who shout about quality and standards...but when it comes to paying the price associated with it - the other cheek gets turned.
 
Welcome presco the way i see it is we would all love to have the best kit available to us but if you get a double for £1 then you aint gonna pay £2 somewhere else , if you can do twice as much work for the same money then your profits go up.But the cheap fittings dont last the nuts tend to be of a milder steel and they tear there threads real easy, making the fitting useless and probably costing us more in the long run.
Why does it cost more for an English fitting made in England then a cheap one made in India when you consider the transport costs etc Sheffield was one of the greatest steel manufactures in the world at one time .
 
welcome presco - ah well regardless of price presco are my favourite fittings if that makes you feel any better , we still buy them off beaver i believe they are supplied by yourselves
 
Ti's good to here Scaffy Thank you for the continued support! Beaver are our main distributer in the UK.
 
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Whats minimum order for custom marking as the last few container loads we brought we got in direct from india
 
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