|
I'm sure if I'm willing to spend far more money on a Black and Decker workbench, I can get something functional. Several more broke as I constructed the table (no undue force or pressure, just trying to put them in the slots they were supposed to -- but didn't -- fit in).All in all, this was a waste of money and time.
I tried hammering, sawing, and sanding the parts until they fit. Some did, some didn't.
I was unable to put the workbench together because several parts did not fit together. One piece was broken when I opened the box.
When the bench was mostly assembled, I found the vise was inoperable because the screws did not thread properly. I tried to disassemble the bench to see if this could be fixed, but found that none of the screws could thread properly, and the bench could no longer be taken apart unless I was willing to saw or break it apart.Many of the most crucial parts to this bench are made out of plastic.
I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy, and I don't even trust it to service me as a side table. But the bait and switch they pulled by selling me a bench with *no* working parts makes me leery about ever purchasing from them again.
What. Replace with good solid wood and drill new holes. Two things, this is not a play station for any age kids.
Not really that bad, but get a cup of coffee and lay all the parts out and read the instructions. Second, never leave the unit out in the weather. read the instructions.
Make it known up front. It goes together out of the box real easy. When done properly, this unit will probably be passed down a couple of generations.
The composite boards will crumble. Get smart and buy two, they also can make a table or serve as saw horses.
Per husband, was easy to assemble. Took him about 30 min. Seems very sturdy. Haven't used it yet.
Finally, I asked them to send the whole set and when it arrived it was the wrong piece. My father-in-law had one and I thought it worked great for holding lumber in place while cutting and for mounting my mitre saw. I got this product as a gift. I called again and went through the whole process over again. He knew I liked and and thought it would be a good Xmas present since I was finishing my basement.When I recieved mine it was missing one of the plastic holders that holds my saw in place. I called B&D to get a new one and they had a difficult time figuring out what part I needed, it only came in a set and they couldn't just send me one. After three calls I got the part that I needed and some extras that I didn't. At least I have some extra parts in case something breaks.
One of the bamboo planks had impact damage to one end that could not have been caused by shipping, as it was well packaged.Finally, with the thread mismatch severity in the jackscrew fittings, it is very difficult to turn one of the handcranks (the other one is not very difficult, just difficult).It might replace one of my sawhorses, but it sure won't be easy to use for anything else. The WM125 is just plain flimsy, and assembling it was an adventure, or perhaps an ordeal would be more accurate. Since I have been very happy with the heavy-duty WorkMate owned for the last two years, and needed to replace my old worn-out 2x4 sawhorses, I purchased the WorkMate WM125.Unfortunately, Black and Decker has lost the handle on quality control in their offshore manufacturing. It's amazing to me how this WorkMate product line has deteriorated. There was missing hardware, hole mismatches in components, and a severe thread mismatch between the jackscrews and their fittings. One of the roll pins for the handcranks was too large to force fit into the jackscrew. The older heavy duty model with its quick release folding latch and heavy duty plastic top is apparently no longer manufactured, now replaced by what appears to be offshore bamboo-topped models. I hope the rest of the product line is not plagued by what I experienced, but I will not be buying any more WorkMates.
|
