what happened to USA quality....huot drill cabinets

rivett608 · Nov 1, 2003

I decided to clean up my shop a reorganize a few things this weekend....so I went down to my local machine shop supply folks and bought 3 of those HUOT cabinets for drills (#'s, A-Z, fractions)........they say made in USA but 2 of them are welded so they are twisted....this makes them not stack so well and if that didn't look bad enough they didn't even get the labels that list the sizes on straight.........I would think if your customers (those in a machine shop...who else needs these) do precise work you would try to sell them something nice.......I sure hope machine tools and more important things in the shop are made better these days......almost everything in my shop is old and I rarely buy new stuff (except for cutting tools, etc.) .....I sure hope this is not the way US industry is going.....I like to buy American, and I'll even pay more but they have to put out a quality product......interesting thing was my local place, which is pretty small had a better price than the big mail order folks and no shipping.......

morsetaper2 · Nov 1, 2003

I just recently bought some Huot drill boxes for work and they are just fine. Since you bought them local, why not exchange them? Or contact Huot customer service and bring the problem to their attention.

Unfortunately with competition from China, US companies have to cut corners, yet keep quality high. It is a fine line to not have to cross. You should give them a second chance. it would be the "right thing to do" as an American.

Ox · Nov 1, 2003

I have the big drill cabnet that has one drawer for each - fractions, letters, and numbers, and then also has a big drawer on the bottom for misc or oversized. I like it. It is fairly lightweight, but seems strait, and it isn't like a toolbox that I am in all day long. Those sepperate little drawers would seem to me to be too light and actually be daffycult to work with - unless maybe they hook together?

I have thought about getting something like this for endmills, but in all honesty, I don't use too many diff sized mills anymore since I rarely doo tooling anymore. ???

Sorry for your luck on this item!

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

JRIowa · Nov 1, 2003

Everybody makes a bad part! Sometimes they get out to the field. The difference between a good company and a great company is how they handle customer service. Having dealt with irate customers, I do not hesitate in calling customer service myself. If the problem is not resolved, them I like to tell the rest of the world about it.

Give them a chance to fix it and then tell us how they did.

JR

rivett608 · Nov 1, 2003

the problem does not appear to be shipping damage and I do plan to take one (the worst) back monday and contact HUOT....so we shall see

Ox · Nov 1, 2003

Everybody makes a bad part! Sometimes they get out to the field.

You, quite obviously, are NOT an ISO or QS auditor!

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

CCWKen · Nov 1, 2003

Yep, even I can remember when Rigid made a good tool. Seems they've moved their power tool building to Tiawan. 14" cutoff saw lasted one week.

I had to go back to using my three year old Harbor Freight cutoff saw.

JimK · Nov 2, 2003

I have stayed away form Huot drill drawers because they are mede out of metal that I think is too light of gauge.

They are supposed to be Right, if yours is warped, simply take it up with the one who sold them to you. They sould give you replacements.

The best tool storage, short of the Vidar and Lusta cabinets, that I have found are the IBM card cabinets.

They are of super heavy construction and they lend themselves well to storage of both long or short tooling.

The only drawback is the double-insert drawers made to take two rows of 7 3/8in. wide cards.

I am about to ask my sheet metal contractor to bend up some replacement inserts so that I have a set of drawers 15in. by 27in.

I can than partition them off as I need.

The drawers are strong enough to support any weight that can be put in the space. The drawers lock in place when closed so that the cabinet doesn't tip over when one heavy drawer is opened.

All my tooling is stored this way now, the new inserts will just help me oragnize better, especially with the organizing of my drills.

Sadly, cards went out a long time ago, and it might be difficult to find the cabinets now.

rivett608 · Nov 2, 2003

JimK I've enjoyed many of your posts in the past......I AGREE with you on the IBM cabinets......I have one (about 5 feet tall) it must hold tons of tooling.......I have made wood inserts for the drawers....some with sliding trays for bits, etc......and racks so collets can stand up....even 5c's.......I think these are some of the best cabinets....I might even prefer them over a friends new listra's....but I did want the little cabinets for drills......since they will sit next to the drill press...

NAMPeters · Nov 3, 2003

I recently purchased a Huot master drill cabinet and must agree that the construction is light for an industrial application but it will do fine in my shop, other than that it is a nice unit. JimK the IBM style card cabinets are still used for microfilm cards which are IBM cards with pictures. So watch those auctions.

J Tiers · Nov 3, 2003

How are those cabinets set up? I assume they have a section for each drill size, but I don't know the capacity of them. How many per size do they hold?

I have a lot of drills, and in some of the more common sizes I have many of each.

Also, are they set up in a way to only hold loose drills? or would there be room if smaller sizes were in the suppliers envelopes?

Thanks for any info

JRIowa · Nov 3, 2003

Ox,

No, I'm not an auditor! But as long as there is a human element in manufacturing, you are going to mistakes. We are an ISO certified company and have so many other restrictions to follow because of the pressure retaining parts. We have ANSI, ASME, ASBM, CSA, DIN, EPD, DOE, etc., etc.
(you should see the stuff we do for a nuke plant!)

It doesn't happen often, but every now and then, one of the demon parts gets through. We have proceedures to deal with that and we follow them.

JR

rivett608 · Nov 3, 2003

well I returned the worst cabinet with no problem....even the dealer was a bit disapointed in the quality...and will be sending it back.... I also understand that we all make mistakes....but it seems such a drain on our time to have do deal with sloppy work by others....and I wouldn't expect much if the workers were in some foreign land making pennys a day....however these came from from the US were according to the dealer their folks are well paid.......anyway J Tiers, these have a space for each size that looks like it would hold at least a dozen drills......many more for the smaller sizes....it would have been nice if the had given some common sizes like 1/4" a little more space....also on numbers and smaller fractions there is a space at the back of the drawer for some packages....now we'll just see if I can learn to put the drills back after I use them....my wife doesn't think so.....I think it must be that same gene that causes one to leave drawers open.....

Ox · Nov 3, 2003

J Tiers:

Like I said I have the three (actually four) in one setup, which was just posted a cpl posts up as a "Master" unit. Each "file" (?) will hold at least one full package quantity of that sized drill. The smaller sizes may hold many package quantities. There are also extra files in each unit that I will put standard sized SM drills, or even overruns. The drills will generally be loose in their respective files. However, I have many packs of 1/16" drills in the 1/16" file. It fits, and is much easier to get out out of the package than trying to get that little fart out of the file, and I don't have giant hands either! (But wait, what does that say about my...... ?

)

Like I said, in the master unit there is a fourth drawer on the bottom that is quite ;arge and will hold big tools and drills still in packages.

I like mine, but I only use it as storage of new tools. I doo NOT work out of it! I have one of the Huot drill indexes in the toolbox that hold one of each of the three catgories. The mater unit work great for me and for the $ I think it is good. I fully agree that another $15 investment in heavier guaged material wouldn't have hurt anyone and I would have been happy to pay an extra $10 for it.

I would never buy a toolbox that I am in and out of all day long made this cheesy tho.

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

5thwheel · Nov 4, 2003

Rivett608,

I have to agree with your wife......

surplusjohn · Nov 4, 2003

30 years ago I trained for a while with a master house painter, this guy was a old time apprentice trained master union painter who would do fancy public building work, restoration etc as well as ordinary house painting. He and his buddies could make amazing money doing this, and ever last one of them was a drunk and they all drank every penny they made, a good reason to stay out of that field! anyways, he allways said that a great painter was not neccessarily any neater than a lousey painter, but the great painter wiped up his drips before they dried.
simple advice, everyone makes mistakes but you don't have to ship them!

Ox · Nov 4, 2003

Never heard of zero defect eh?

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

JRIowa · Nov 4, 2003

Ox, I know all about you screw machine guys.

No bad parts... just set-up pieces.

JR

Ox · Nov 4, 2003

what happened to USA quality....huot drill cabinets

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J Tiers

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