Ask Lemmy

The trouble with that is that sometimes you don't know how much time you're wasting with a poor quality tool even when it's not broken. A couple examples come to mind. I got a cheap detailing sander. The sheets that came with it disintegrate quickly, and the unit overall just doesn't work well. I regret that purchase. At work I had to drill a few dozen holes through 2 in thick aluminum. I spent forever on the first machine and broke multiple bits. When I had to do it again, I ordered new drill bits. The job took me half the time and was way easier on my arms. Using the used and abused worn out bits cost the company more in my labor than purchasing new bits. Some things, like taps, can cause damage that takes more than they cost to fix. A broken off tap can't be just drilled out. They're too hard and will shatter a drill bit. I've also had poor quality screw drivers and sockets round over fasteners that led to horrible times drilling out fasteners on vehicle/machine parts that are expensive to replace.

If you can work on projects with others and occasionally use their tools, you can get a better sense of which tools are worth being more discriminatory on. Unfortunately, that's not always an option.