Oh wow, bei mir gehn die 50€ Mixer meistens schon nach einem halben Jahr in die ewigen Jagdgründe ein. Ich habe mir jetzt mal einen teureren gekauft, und der scheint sehr solide, auch designmäßig. Mal schaun ob dieser es bis zu den Enkeln schafft. 
The majority of consumer electronics is designed with planned obsolescence in mind, this is why it fails in one specific aspect or another. Usually that’s either an intentional software bug that worsens the performance after a certain period of usage, or a bad quality switch or other mechanical part that inevitably gets broken.
1 Like
(sorry a bit off topic…)
I came about this example of planned obsolescence last weekend:
it is the gear of a cheep paper shredder.
A small metal helix gear with only 3 teeth against a plastic 47 teeth gear.
The small gear looks more like a mill-bit, the surface quality like a rasp.
The poor plastic does not have any chance against this…
as soon as the shredder is blocked by to much paper - it s live is over.
(the shredder costs 40 Eur, their is a guy who s producing the gear as FDM-3d-print for 12 Eur + delivery, if you want a high quality polyamide sinter 3d Print (SLS), it is 26 Eur + delievery… until the next paper-jam … not worth repairing…)
This kind of engineering / design makes me super frustrating - and explains why we have to much waste.
3 Likes
Exactly my point. Your example with the plastic gear described it perfectly. Big companies cry about global warming and saving the planet Earth, but they are the very definition of purposeful waste that damages the environment. This particular gear could have been made multiple times stronger and last for many more years, it only needs an optimized shape while keeping the volume and price exactly the same. It’s evident from the photos that the contact surface of the plastic gears could be twice as tall. Basically every other gear could be made thicker at the contact area to increase the lifespan of the device. Companies are well aware which parts of their products are supposed to fail most often, but they do nothing to prevent that, because it’s of their interest to produce products with planned obsolescence that will eventually force you to buy overly-expensive replacement parts or a brand new device.
4 Likes
@Gijs I found your next modeling subject!
1 Like