[TowerTalk] Fwd: Rohn Bolts AND nuts - won't mate

[Patrick Greenlee]

See the quality of Chinese goods at Harbor Freight and Northern tool to 
name two places.  The Chinese are not backward third worlders devoid of 
technology, including an understanding of QA and QC. Stateside resellers 
of Chinese "junk" like the aforementioned get exactly what they order.  
The "junk" is built to cost. The retailers like those mentioned above 
are getting exactly what they are contracting for. It IS a case of you 
get what you pay for. Fastenall has some pretty good Chinese hardware, 
again, built to a contract price and quality level.

Recall, the Chinese have put folks in space and brought them back 
alive.  They have a sophisticated airforce and missile forces.  They can 
put comm sats in orbit AND shoot them down.

They can build technologically complex designs to demanding tolerances  
B U T  not at Harbor Freight prices.  Harbor Freight price level goods 
are not representative of Chinese capability.  Do not let cheap Chinese 
imported junk lull you into a false sense of security with respect to 
Chinese capabilities in the market place or in the battlespace.

I am reminded of the defection incident where the Russian pilot flew a, 
then, late model MIG to Japan to defect.  At first there were guffaws of 
laughter because the Russian avionics was tube based instead of solid 
state  A N D   T H E N  it dawned on the team going over the MIG that it 
wasn't so backward in capability but was intended to survive in a 
nuclear battle space and not be toast from EMP. Built to a requirement.

The shoddy goods we often get from China are precisely what the contract 
calls for.  Want better?  Demand it.  Pay for it.  I have recently cut 
the cord and trashed Sat TV in favor of Netflix and off the air TV with 
a multi-tuner HD DVR for time shifted commercial free viewing.  Big 
monetary savings and I don't have to listen to Hindi if I need support.  
I researched to find the best antenna for my deep fringe purposes.  
There are some Chinese antennas that do very good except in the 
robustness and quality of fit,  finish and strength of the aluminum 
alloy.  I ordered American made Winegard. I have queried installers and 
expect good quality to be evident when I open the carton. Home Depot 
delivered for $110 VS Amazon at about $130.

Original post:

  Rohn Bolts AND nuts - won't mateIs this just an other example of the 
Chinese lack of quality assurance? I have seen mane examples of that in 
the past.It appears to me that the "pimples" are made too deep.I find 
Rohn's answer despicable. They should just send you a new set of nuts, 
nuts that they checked against their own specifications.Hans – N2JFS ## 
Even Portland Bolt buys Chinese imported nuts + bolts. Some of it is 
good, and some is junk. On a similar note, locally we are havingone of 
our 100 year old bridges replaced. Turning into a real gong show. Main 
contractor just finished building a new bridge in VE3 land, which ended 
up getting shut down for several days, bad expansion joints...in the 
middle of winter. No alternate path either, so the trans canadagets cut 
off...... totally un acceptable. Same contactor is building our new 
bridge downtown. His sub contractor decides to buy steel, and nuts and 
boltsfrom china. This has turned into a real disaster, with huge cost 
overuns, and junk material. The latest is... you cant even weld to it !! 
WTF. Dunno what alloythey are using, buts its not even close to what was 
originally speced. Huge sections of it have had to be torn down and new 
replacement steel is no where in site.New bridge is not expected to be 
functioning till late 2019, way behind schedule. ## Meanwhile, the head 
of the Canadian steel manufacturing, that represents all the various 
steel manufacturers in VE3 land comes on TV...and sez.... told ya so. 
cdn steel makers could have easily supplied the correct steel, on 
time,and on budget.But local city hall folks wanted to save 50 cents, 
and went to the lowest bidder. So far, we have saved nothing, and will 
be in the hole when all is said and done.Then to top it all off, the 
main contractor appears to have no clue as to how to build a new bridge 
in the 1st place. ## I had the 12 x 60 inch long x 1.125 inch diam 
anchor bolts for my HDX-689 custom made by portland bolt, they were 
manufactured in their portland plant,to my specs, with a 6 inch thread 
on each end of each rod...and are 103 ksi yield strength. The various 
heavy duty nuts, washers, bolts etc, are also made in theirplant. 
Including the 18 x 1 inch x 3 inch long bolts for the legs, with correct 
length shank. ## when u see dimples done wrong, excess galvanizing, 
threads done wrong, dont fight with it, replace the entire mess. And 
avoid chinese made brake rotors like theplague, they come warped right 
out of the box, or will warp shortly afterwards. Their calipers are junk 
as well. Im lucky I avoided that gong show, and bought 
reputableaftermarket brands. Those pal nuts that came with my rohn TB-4 
bearings were nothing to right home about, and neither were the bolts 
that came with them. The 3 x boltsthat are mounted transverse, and every 
120 degs were more junk. Mine rusted and seized up asap, sri, not 
impressed.

Jim VE7RF