[Fenwoodian]

"The only way you gonna get your moneys' worth out of that car is to drive it 'till it drops."

Great analogy... I do intend to shoot my Pentax K-1 cameras until they drop too!

[reh321]

Great analogy... I do intend to shoot my Pentax K-1 cameras until they drop too!

I am not a heavy shooter - I take fewer than a thousand photos a year. My standard is that a camera is a failure if I get fewer that forty months from it. So far, I have had two "failures", both made by Canon. Most people seem to feel that the shutter is the weak area in a camera, but that may not be true anymore; both of my Canons suffered from processor problems - which is definitely fatal, and not really "worth" fixing out of warranty. My K-30's aperture control has failed, of course, but I keep using it with aperture-equipped lenses.

[MarkJerling]

...Now consumer products like that have a "limited warranty" that's good for ninety days to a year, and that's only for "defects in materials and workmanship" - they're not promising it won't wear out in thirty days...

They try that nonsense here but our consumer laws means that, on most consumer goods, you can expect 2-3 years of life from the thing and if it's a big expensive appliance, then 5-7 years.
Consequently, calls to service departments go something like this:

"Hi. My dishwasher has stopped working. The serial number is..... "
"Our records show that dishwasher is 2 years old and outside of warranty. Would you like us to send a service agent? The cost for that will be $$$$ not including travel and parts."
"You are aware of the Consumer Guarantee Act?"
"We'll send our service agent. There will be no charge."

[Wasp]

I have this theory that surface mounted devices killed off repairs. Back in the old days electronic components had legs that went through holes in printed circuit boards. Anybody with knowledge and basic tools could repair them. For sophisticated appliances you needed sophisticated test equipment, but a little went a long way. You worked with what you had. I once met a couple of guys who repaired portable monochrome television sets with no real idea of what they were doing. Their MO was to open up the set, look for dry joints on the PCB and touch them up. They had quite a high success rate!

These days, the magic of SMD has changed everything. Components are placed by robot in the factory and then glued on (sort of, kind of). The components are way smaller than the old school ones. Tracks on the PCB are thinner. Then there are multi-layer boards. All this make for smaller appliances that are cheaper to produce. Unfortunately all this has made the repair guy's life a lot more difficult. You need some very expensive tools, and a very steady hand. In a lot of cases, you cant tell component values by looking at them. Yes, it is still possible, but much harder than before. This drives up repair costs. Declining cost of appliances mean that repair cost can very easily exceed the value of the item.

The final nail in the coffin is the "reluctance" of manufacturers to provide the information that independent repairers need. We do indeed live in an age of disposable appliances.

[MarkJerling]

I have this theory that surface mounted devices killed off repairs. Back in the old days electronic components had legs that went through holes in printed circuit boards. Anybody with knowledge and basic tools could repair them. For sophisticated appliances you needed sophisticated test equipment, but a little went a long way. You worked with what you had. I once met a couple of guys who repaired portable monochrome television sets with no real idea of what they were doing. Their MO was to open up the set, look for dry joints on the PCB and touch them up. They had quite a high success rate!

These days, the magic of SMD has changed everything. Components are placed by robot in the factory and then glued on (sort of, kind of). The components are way smaller than the old school ones. Tracks on the PCB are thinner. Then there are multi-layer boards. All this make for smaller appliances that are cheaper to produce. Unfortunately all this has made the repair guy's life a lot more difficult. You need some very expensive tools, and a very steady hand. In a lot of cases, you cant tell component values by looking at them. Yes, it is still possible, but much harder than before. This drives up repair costs. Declining cost of appliances mean that repair cost can very easily exceed the value of the item.

The final nail in the coffin is the "reluctance" of manufacturers to provide the information that independent repairers need. We do indeed live in an age of disposable appliances.

With component miniaturisation, no-one tries to desolder a board anymore. Out with the control board, in with a new one. $250 later. I'm not sure that's "progress".