Have you ever hated a tool or appliance so much that you physically destroyed it?

[Jims5543]

I have wanted to with this:





They advertise it to be weather proof. BULL!! A few droplets of rain shut it down. Plus, now, after 2 years of use, the one I use has totally crapped the bed. It just does not work, it sort of works but no really, it torments you, gives you a false hope that it might snap out of its funk and function correctly again, it play with you to see how long you will sit there and try to make it work correctly. 5 minutes? 50 minutes?

I litfed it up and behind me ready to launch it into orbit...........then you remember it cost $1500 and you calmly put it down only to hold that rage inside. I have one sitting the in the office right now that is done the touch screen is finished I am unsure if it is worth it to replace the screen.

[Joe Bob]

I find giving an irksome tool or appliance the "Float Test" is good for what ails ya....

[on2wheels52]

A Homelite chain saw that would die every time it began a cut.
You'd be suprised how far you can throw one .
Jim

[notfarnow]

I had a ratchet gear break once, causing me to fall forward and bash my hand against the engine. I was so pi$$ed I threw it right through the garage window. Didn't mean to, I just can't throw straight.

I'm getting close to heaving the GE cordless phone my wife just bought. If you get more than 20 ft away from the base, it doesn't respnd to voicemail commands like *, 7, 9, etc. It's going to catch me in the wrong mood one of these days.

[austin552]

Had an old PC/CPU I used to kick the sht out of. It(Windows 2000) never worked right. Beating it didn't help but it sure made me feel better.

[scottbombedout]

Scotland were playing Morrocco (bunch of no hopers) in the world cup. Scotland had to win to qualify for the next stage. Well you guessed it......beat....walked up to the tv, unplugged it and through the mother out of the window. My friend just sat there knowing not to say a word

[Nostril Cheese]

I beat the absolute living s**t out of a Ford Mustang 2 once. Sledgehammers, Sawzall and fire. That was fun

[MBAtarga]

Myself? I don't recall ever doing such a thing!

As a teenager (30 yrs ago!) I had an across the street neighbor just 2 yrs older than me. He would periodically have fits of rage against objects and throw them. While riding my bike, I found a 1/4" drive ratchet in the middle of the street - and I knew it was his instantly. It appeared jammed - so I disassembled it and lubed it. It is still in my toolbox to this day - and I use it frequently.

[syncroid]

I'm usually very calm and don't lose it with my tools but.....one time several years ago I lost it with a set of expensive fuel pressure gauges that were not reading right. I calmly removed them from the car I was working on and then proceded to throw them with all my might against the cinder block wall across the parking lot. I think that was fifteen years ago.

[Cornpanzer]

Yes, a computer printer and a cordless phone met thier untimely demise a few years back. I seem to control myself better now.

Oh, and one timer there was the small shop vac that I taped off all the vents and proceeded to fill with a specific mixture of oxegen and acetelyn. That was not so much a crime of vengance as it was a slow Friday afternoon in the shop. Found chunks of that sucker for years later.

[RickM]

Almost. An HP IPAQ that kept on locking up when running it's own navigation software. In fact I almost tossed it onto the highway on my way to a Pelican get together in NYC.

[Zeke]

Jeez, I thought I was a mental case. You guys are soul mates.

Here's the skinny: I bought a rotary lawn mower from OSH (Sears, at the time, now K Mart). It was supposedly a Honda OHC. For the first year it was very reliable, but ran at an awful speed. I wanted to slow it down just a tad to get it "off song." Never really accomplished that because things are just not adjustable in spite of the hand throttle. It was either on choke or on run. It never liked full on run, either.

By the next year, I was in the carb several times and ended up opening the main jet a tiny amount. That seem o get the thing the gas it needed to run well. The governor worked good when I got into a tough spot.

But then the coil went bad. So I goes down to the local lawn mower shop (I know better than to go to a Sears Service Center and if you've ever been there you know what I mean) and ask if they have a coil. They are a Honda dealer. The guy looks at the thing and says he's never seen one. I'm going... what?... it's off a Honda.

What Honda.

From OSH.

That's not a Honda, that's a Honda spec engine for Sears. We don't have parts for those, you have to go to Sears.

Can you oder it?

Sure. About $45.

Do it.

So, I get that and I can mow again. That was last year. Now, in CA, we mow almost year 'round, so gas stabilizer is not really necessary. But, the mower will sit longer between use. This year, it's just been real finicky. Started up OK on the 2nd or 3rd pull, but like to die a lot. Oh, did I mention that the needle seat went bad and the fuel shut off as well? I was in the carb a half dozen times. Yeah, I had to put a clamp on the hose to keep form filling the case with gas. This all on a 3 YO mower. To look at it, you would think it was new.

Now comes yesterday. Get it out, remove the fuel clamp, pull the cord. What the???? No compression. Pull the plug and shoot air in the hole and sure enough, it's blowing right back out the intake. Now, I'm pissed thinking of 2 1/2 years of nothing but aggravation. I smack the lifter cover; I smack the head with a punch. Nothing. I remove the lifter cover and see the valves not working when I pull the cord. I smack it again (I'm working up to a rage). I get the thing running with the cover off.

So, I mowed the lawn spitting oil out the front hoping it would run dry. It's still running at the end, so I think I'll put it to death. I took a 5 lb. sledge and hit the whole valve ass'y while the thing was still running. I expected something spectacular. Nothing special. Just stops running and pukes smoke. BUT, the f'cker still turns over!!!

Not on my watch. I proceeded to beat the thing wide f,cking open.

I still feel good about it.

[Mule]

Are there people who don't do this?

[rammstein]

Stuff I have broken:

Xerox all in 1 printer. 4 functions, none ever working properly. Fixed with sledgehammer.

Sony cordless phone. Apparently, the more expensive the phone, the worse it works. Met its demise against a wall.

3 Motorola bluetooth headsets. These are the WORST made electronic good EVER. All three had volume buttons that failed working after about 2 months. DESIGN FLAW PERHAPS??? Stomped, thrown, you name it.

My old roommate's Oasis Poster. OK fine, its not an appliance. But those bastards, they were looking at me every morning when I woke up, and every night when I went to bed. With their condescending, we're better than you cause we're British Rockstars faces... GOD I hated them. ALways looking at me....

Breaking stuff is sometimes very healthy.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by milt

Jeez, I thought I was a mental case. You guys are soul mates....
Not on my watch. I proceeded to beat the thing wide f,cking open...

I still feel good about it.

Note to self: Do not loan tools to anyone on this thread

[Porsche_monkey]

I do this with any 'personal chairs' that employees bring into my shop and any boom-boxes they play too loud. I get to do one or two a year.

[RickM]

Originally Posted by milt

Not on my watch. I proceeded to beat the thing wide f,cking open.

I still feel good about it.

Sheesh, after that story I was ready to fly to LB and kill the thing myself. Thanks for saving me the trouble. Pheww.

BTW, lately I've noticed a huge influx of Chinese made Honda/B&S/Tecumseh look-alike engines. Was this one of them?

[Porsche virgin]

I have a friend who was convinced that Mike Tyson's Punch-Out (the video game) was cheating. He calmly unplugged all the wires and controllers, took out the game cartridge (because it was rented), and took the Nintendo to the garage and beat it senseless with a sledgehammer.



I tend to not be as destructive, since I'm not good at fixing things I break...but I guess fixing them is not the point, huh?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by RickM

Sheesh, after that story I was ready to fly to LB and kill the thing myself. Thanks for saving me the trouble. Pheww.

BTW, lately I've noticed a huge influx of Chinese made Honda/B&S/Tecumseh look-alike engines. Was this one of them?

I have no idea, but it's dead now.

Originally Posted by Porsche virgin

..but I guess fixing them is not the point, huh?

Funny about that. I'm already at work trying to mount an electric motor on the chassis. I don't have a big lawn and using a gas powered mower is not necessary or very green. I'm reasoning that a 1750 RPM 1/2 HP will do the trick. If I don't succeed, I'll go buy a solar mower.

Last week, I dropped a Makita right angle cordless drill. I had just fixed it after buying a new trigger. Turns out it was the circuit breaker, but I didn't test it thoroughly enough to isolate that. The reason for the recent repair was that it fell off a 3 foot ladder and stopped running. Not very tough, if you ask me. I was in a hundred dollar tool about a buck forty at this point.

So, when I dropped it last week and it stopped, I cracked it wide open across a sawhorse. I then removed the battery and guess what? It was the battery. Now, who won that round?

I've been pretty good about this for a few years. In my early years, I went through a lot of gear. People can remember saw blades stuck in fences and things like that. But, I still have a lot of the stuff that didn't give me trouble. It's called culling the herd. But, the last few weeks have been nasty to me and things are just breaking all around. I just got fed up.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by milt

I...I'll go buy a solar mower.

Only in CA ...I didn't know there was such a thing...