Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/08/26/this-excellent-and-very-inexpe.html
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Are knockoffs really a good thing? Personally, I’m tired of Boingboing recommending Arduino and similar knockoffs. Yes they are cheaper, but why not give credit/cash to the original artist/developer?
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What abkut the last Dremel knockoff promoted here a few months ago?
I did buy a cheap one, from Canafian Tire, to get tge accessories cheap. But as I said the last time, these aren’t identical to Dremel tools. The part that holds the bit is different, so you can’t use the chuck accessory from a Dremel, but some things that fit this won’t work on a Dremel, like the gizmo that puts the bit at the end of an extension.
My real Dremel, rebadged with Sears name on it, stopped working last year after thirty years. The motor kept running, but not the chuck. Apparently a common failure, there’s a plastic coupler that wears out after enough use. I wonder abkut third party clones. I don’t like Amazon’s price for the coupler, but it’s cheaper than a new Dremel tool, and I’d rather get the real thing going than
Albert Dremel died 50 years ago, and his heirs sold the company in 1973.
He is said to have invented an egg counter that you strapped to a hen’s back. That’s something I’d like to see.
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Oh new rules! So…
knockoffs bad, amazon bad, amazon selling knockoffs bad, as we know (?)
Except
When original designer is dead and heirs sold out.
But what about the investors that paid up for dremel? Are they dead now too, or just fuck those guys anyway… cheap dremels woohooo!
I have the original Dremel trepanning expansion kit. Unfortunately, this cheap knock-off, while compatible, doesn’t have the grunt to get fully through my cranium. I get about 1/4” (6mm) deep and the thermal cut-off triggers. I’m on my 6th bore hole, have a throbbing migraine, and can’t reach release. 2 stars.
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No, just giving a literal answer to the question, “why not give credit/cash to the original artist/developer?”
I own Dremel-branded rotary tool, as well as other Bosch tools (Bosch now owns Dremel), because I have confidence in the quality and can afford the extra cost. However, I would have had no problem buying an alternate brand for a tool whose patent expired back when Eisenhower was President.
Dremel had his own ideas on this:
According to a newspaper article in 1968, Dremel often objected to being called an inventor.
“Inventors are complete innovators,” he would say. “They create things that didn’t exist before. I’m just an engineer. All I do is borrow an idea here, a part there, and build something.”
Arduino is an open source project, so there are no “knockoffs.” All versions of it are legitimately licensed by the original designer under the GPL.
Dremel is owned by Bosch, a company with €78.5 billion in revenue last year. Are we really going to worry about them and the “rights” to their acquired “intellectual property?”
I have a WEN band saw and I’m happy with it. It’s most likely a white label product like this rotary tool, Harbor Freight sells an identical saw.
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