McMaster-Carr... again.

[Highpower]

I picked up a NOS Jacobs Super Chuck on eBay last week at a decent price. The little guy... 8-1/2N (0"- 1/4") is one of the "new" style chucks but  still old enough to bear the "Jacobs®USA" roll stamp. It came attached to a MT2 arbor that is in excellent condition but I want to replace it with a 1/2" straight shank to use in the mill. I found a great deal ($8) [correction: $9.90] for a LFA arbor (Made in France) from Amazon ("last one") and ordered it. 5 days later Amazon managed to lose it in transit. <sigh>

So then I turned to McMaster-Carr and looked up a 1/2-2JT arbor and went to the details page. Hmmm... Country of origin: France.  
   

  LFA Straight Arbors.pdf (Size: 131.77 KB / Downloads: 3)

UPS delivered it today and once again (4th time now?) McMaster charged me $18.24 for a Chinese POS! One look and I knew. The label on the box was smudged but it had the correct LFA part number on it. Looking at the arbor I first noticed light scratches on the straight shank. Then I saw the odd part number with the first couple of characters worn off. A closer look showed a heavily rubbed area just ahead of the part number. So I put it under the shop microscope. I can still see the remains of what is left of a laser etched SHARS logo!  

   
   

You can buy that Shars arbor all day long for $4 retail. Needless to say I am thoroughly pissed.


  Shars Catalog.pdf (Size: 199.36 KB / Downloads: 4)

[EdK]

That's very disappointing. I've always had good luck with stuff from McMaster. In all of the years I've been buying stuff from them I've only had to return one item.

Ed

[TomG]

They used to carry good quality, name brand items and I used them exclusively for prototyping, which justified their high prices. And when it came time to order manufacturing quantities they would happily divulge their sources. That all changed about seven or eight years ago, so they must have had a change in management.

Tom

[Highpower]

At least their response has been consistent (so far). Same as in the past, they sent me an email this morning with a 'Sorry about that' and issuing a refund, saying keep it or toss it in the trash - we don't want it back. While that is fine and dandy (no George Carlin reference intended) it still doesn't solve my original problem - actually getting a decent part in my hands.

Yes they say they will check the rest of their stock and let me know what they find out blah, blah, blah. Only a couple of possibilities here. Another customer (or employee) obtained the LFA arbor and scammed them by returning the Shars arbor -or- they have an unscrupulous supplier for this product. I guess they don't bother to check what they are putting on their shelves normally? Either way there is no guarantee that I will get a genuine [Insert quality item here] if I order another one. I used to trust I would get items from them worth the cost (for the most part) but not now.

Maybe it's just the Chicago branch - I don't know. They have shipped items to me from the Cleveland branch in the past (not often) when the Chicago branch was out of stock. Never had a problem getting questionable stuff from that location but again it's only been a few times. Most everything I get automatically comes out of Chicago.

So here I still sit waiting, trying to buy a lousy drill chuck arbor. Two separate orders and yet I'm left empty handed. Maybe a third vendor is the charm? You order an item, pay for it, and they deliver exactly what you ordered. Must be magic.

And the root cause of my latest blood pressure spike. Fortunately my mini-lathe tail stock has a MT2 taper so this arbor won't go to waste.  

   

[Dr Stan]

That's a serious disappointment. I always used McMaster as the go to when something had to be correct. This certainly raises a red flag.

[Highpower]

Rather than wait for McMaster to conduct an investigation that will go nowhere I decided to take a final swing and go for strike three. Going to take a shot with MSC this time. At least they provide options (sort of). Not building any parts for NASA here so the $87 Albrecht arbor is off the table. Next step down from that is Jacobs but that is a roll of the dice as well. The "Value Collection" brand gets a definite pass so Jacobs it is.

Details on the Jacobs - Country of Origin:    United States
Note: Country of Origin is subject to change (Can't say we didn't warn you - right?)  

I would like to think I've got a 50-50 chance between getting Jacobs USA vs Jacobs CN but deep in my soul I know my odds are never that good.

[Dr Stan]

I've written off Jacobs as the bean counters forced all of its manufacturing to China.  I recommend finding a supplier of Rhom chucks and arbors.

[Vinny]

Have you looked at either Wholesale Tool (wttool.com) or Travers?

[Dr Stan]

(02-22-2021, 12:59 PM)Vinny Wrote: Have you looked at either Wholesale Tool (wttool.com) or Travers?

When I was teaching at the vo-tech and in higher ed Travers was my go to source.  Had excellent service and good choice of products. Nice discount too as they gave me educational pricing for my personal account.

[Highpower]

(02-22-2021, 10:24 AM)Dr Stan Wrote: I've written off Jacobs as the bean counters forced all of its manufacturing to China.  I recommend finding a supplier of Rhom chucks and arbors.

That's the thing. Most of what the usual suspects are selling these days all comes from China. You can find high end stuff too if you are willing to pay the price. I would just like to have the OPTION of buying something in the middle that is at least a step or two above the quality of the low end import stuff.

That is why I REALLY miss Enco! Even for the high end stuff. You could buy the exact same tooling for half the price compared to MSC.