Starrett has fallen (a bit) from grace

Cooter Brown said:
I was very depressed when I found out that Starrett sells Chinesium tooling, I ordered my first 0-1", 1-2" and 2-3" micrometers from Starrett and I received 3 models that were made it China. FAIL.
Click to expand...

While I share your distress at companies like Starrett off-shoring manufacturing, it comes as no surprise. Feeding the bottom line (and the stock holders) is the purpose of a business, all else is secondary. The Chinese are perfectly capable of making quality products when quality control is strictly enforced. It appears they have a cultural tendency to cut corners whenever possible, looking for the absolute minimum that will be acceptable. Case in point is the Taiwanese. In the 70's they were gaining a reputation for making crap. As I understand it, the government stepped in and started revoking export permits for companies producing shoddy products. Now, Taiwanese is the good stuff.

I'm still upset that Starrett mics are made in China, but, given that they already cost 2-3x what a "decent" import mic does, I doubt if they would stay in business at the pricing levels required by manufacturing here.
 
If you go to Starrett's website: http://www.starrett.com, search for the item of interest, catalog number works well, and go to that item's description you can see if it is made in the U.S. or is "Global Series". They do still make micrometers in the U.S., including the Model 230 one inch micrometer and the 226 and 436 series micrometers. Also I verified that the Toolmaker's and "Yankee" series of dividers and calipers are still made in the U.S. as well as the 50 division Master Vernier calipers. I recently bought new a 91C tap wrench, still made, and nicely I think, in the U.S. The 120 series dial calipers are made in the U.S. (the 1202 series dial calipers are "Global"). I didn't even begin to look at their rules, combination squares, dial indicators, inside micrometers, specialty micrometers, etc. etc.

I have a hunch one would find that in general what I think of as Starrett's "legacy products", those things they've made for years and years, (in some cases over a century like the 196 dial indicator) are still made in the U.S.

If country of origin is important to you when buying Starrett, I think you'll find this information helpful. And it provides an antidote to those blanket statements suggesting everything Starrett now comes from China.
David
 
old_dave said:
If you go to Starrett's website: http://www.starrett.com, search for the item of interest, catalog number works well, and go to that item's description you can see if it is made in the U.S. or is "Global Series". They do still make micrometers in the U.S., including the Model 230 one inch micrometer and the 226 and 436 series micrometers. Also I verified that the Toolmaker's and "Yankee" series of dividers and calipers are still made in the U.S. as well as the 50 division Master Vernier calipers. I recently bought new a 91C tap wrench, still made, and nicely I think, in the U.S. The 120 series dial calipers are made in the U.S. (the 1202 series dial calipers are "Global"). I didn't even begin to look at their rules, combination squares, dial indicators, inside micrometers, specialty micrometers, etc. etc.

I have a hunch one would find that in general what I think of as Starrett's "legacy products", those things they've made for years and years, (in some cases over a century like the 196 dial indicator) are still made in the U.S.

If country of origin is important to you when buying Starrett, I think you'll find this information helpful. And it provides an antidote to those blanket statements suggesting everything Starrett now comes from China.
David
Click to expand...

Good to know they are still keeping some production here, and also good that they are being up front about what is what. I suspect that there is nothing wrong with the quality of their "Global Series".
 
Looking through my collection of Starrett catalogues I see they first used the American flag vs. the "Global Series" logo in their 125th anniversary catalogue (2005). They continued this practice in their next catalogue, No. 31 (2006). They dropped this practice for catalogue 32 and their current catalogue, No. 33, doesn't use these symbols either. Having this information on their website does make it easier to update.

David
 
What's Wrong With This Picture?


288826

288827

Some time ago I bought a new Starrett 93-B tap handle, but didn't get around to using it until today. After drilling a hole on the lathe,
I set a dead center in the tail stock and began tapping with this setup. Tap would not run even remotely true. The pics may not make
it clear but the tap is angled in both planes when chucked up in the handle. Tried different taps and took the handle apart and checked
for grit or other problems. It appears that it was just made this way. My other tap handles run true. I plan on calling Starrett C/S
tomorrow. Am I expecting too much here?
 
Looks to be about 2-3 degrees off. Yeah, I would contact Starrett and they will make it right.
 
Well, I sent the tap handle back for "repair" after talking with Starrett Customer Service. It arrived today. It's better,
but in my view it's not right. (It's straight in one plane but not the other.) So, in my view Starrett has fallen from
grace, and it's doubtful that I'll buy anything new from them again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top