Fake Makitas?

5446 Views 8 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Jidis, Sep 18, 2017

Jidis

Discussion Starter · Sep 17, 2017

What the crap is this thing I just bought? I remember reading of the "Performax" trim router a bunch of you guys like, but didn't realize it went beyond that.

This is the giant plunge model 3612BR. When I saw the picture on Craigslist I figured it was just missing a sticker, but now see that Makita's name plate is much nicer, and there's something on the other side that looks to say "RAND T/A". It's heavy as a tank and sounded pretty smooth considering it came from river territory.

Does it have any relation whatsoever to a Makita? Can't figure why anyone would go to the trouble of making exact molds and setting up machines to do what I'm guessing would be a much smaller quantity of something which couldn't be sold as a Makita or for a Makita price.

Thanks,

George

PS (a general question) - The real one and this one give a pretty high current spec. of something like 14 amps. Is its normal load draw likely to be anywhere near that? Sounds like its pushing the limit here if it runs alongside my dust collector.

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hawkeye10

· #2 · Sep 17, 2017

Jidis said:
What the crap is this thing I just bought? I remember reading of the "Performax" trim router a bunch of you guys like, but didn't realize it went beyond that.

This is the giant plunge model 3612BR. When I saw the picture on Craigslist I figured it was just missing a sticker, but now see that Makita's name plate is much nicer, and there's something on the other side that looks to say "RAND T/A". It's heavy as a tank and sounded pretty smooth considering it came from river territory.

Does it have any relation whatsoever to a Makita? Can't figure why anyone would go to the trouble of making exact molds and setting up machines to do what I'm guessing would be a much smaller quantity of something which couldn't be sold as a Makita or for a Makita price.

Thanks,

George

PS (a general question) - The real one and this one give a pretty high current spec. of something like 14 amps. Is its normal load draw likely to be anywhere near that? Sounds like its pushing the limit here if it runs alongside my dust collector.

This is a common thing. Companies make their products and put another mane on them or that may be their name in another country.

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Stick486

· #3 · Sep 17, 2017

http://www.routerforums.com/tools-woodworking/109937-bewaare-garrett-super-scanner-v.html

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Jidis

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 17, 2017

Thanks guys!

I can't see Makita actually having anything to do with it, but the stuff about outsourced companies who have factories and machines already set up to do the work for Makita pumping out a handful of unauthorized "extra ones" and selling them under the table, or selling ones which didn't pass QC seems to make sense considering how much of a PITA it would be to make one from the ground up.

I did notice that the plastic body has some poorly trimmed flashing from the mold in some of the vent holes. I'm going to try to disassemble some of it over the next couple days to de-rust a few things and might see something else, but like I say, it sounded pretty good when it ran.

Take Care

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Cherryville Chuck

· #5 · Sep 17, 2017

I own a Makita 3 1/8" powered planer, model 1900B. I went looking for new blades on ebay one day and found a site that sold them. The blades fit 23 different makes. About 6 of then appeared identical except for color. The Hitachi was also a 1900B model. Obviously Makita didn't make that tool and neither did Hitachi. I don't know how many of Makita's tools that would apply to but I suspect it's a few.

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Jidis

Discussion Starter · #6 · Sep 17, 2017

Thanks Chuck,

Yeah, I knew they did that with some stuff. I dealt with one of those 6"disc/36"belt combo sanders recently (a Craftsman) and discovered that there were about twenty others. Usually, there'd be a minor difference in the plastic bezels or something, and sometimes a few part changes, but there were a couple like you say that were exactly the same. It actually helped, as I ended up needing something for it that Craftsman no longer had (Grizzly did).

I saw a couple 3612 knock-offs when I looked, but they had that cheap, fake look with the Harbor Freight blue plastic and the bodies were slightly different. This thing has that weird aqua blue fiberglass looking plastic like a Makita and decent looking casting for the aluminum. I'm guessing the same machines spit this thing out.

- Thanks for the tip on that 1900B too. I use one here and wasn't aware that it had family. That's one of a couple of mine that I recently restored with all new bearings,etc., so I hopefully won't need to go back in it for a while.

George

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Cherryville Chuck

· #7 · Sep 17, 2017

I had to replace the bearing on one of the rollers. It started squealing a year or two after I bought it. It was a $10 bearing here. Probably 1 to $3 on ebay. The seller I found on ebay sold the blades for $7 a set.

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kp91

· #8 · Sep 17, 2017

I know sometimes tooling is sold when a manufacturer discontinues a line. Someone can buy it up and start making something very similar. Look at the Grizzly jig saws and the old Bosch jig saws and they look a lot alike.

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Jidis

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 18, 2017

Cherryville Chuck said:
I had to replace the bearing on one of the rollers. It started squealing a year or two after I bought it.

That's exactly how mine ended up getting rejuvenated. Must not have been the finest or most well lubed bearings in those things. I've had lots of stuff with old dried up bearings that didn't sound nearly as bad.

kp91 said:
I know sometimes tooling is sold when a manufacturer discontinues a line. Someone can buy it up and start making something very similar.

That's the weird thing about this one. When I tried to find info on it, it was like it had no web presence whatsoever. I figure even with a small run of something like that, there would at least be a few of them out there. It's looking more like something that walked out a side door after quality control refused it. The label even looks kind of half-ass. It's gutted now and it is pretty nice, other than that flashing in the vents, which was bad (could be why Makita didn't want it). They're cleared out now. I'm hoping to replace my giant Rockwell which has been running too hot, so the last thing I need is something that can't breathe.

BTW- It comes from almost right in between us. I'm in Richmond. The router lived in Tappahannock, but they were nice enough to bring it here while visiting someone.

Take Care

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Fake Makitas?

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