Aluminum fans out of stock again

[GPierce]

Model A aluminum fan at Sacramento Vintage Ford.
https://sacramento-vintage-ford.odoo...-1928-31-25365

[updraught]

There is a film where a guy driving, I think a convertible, picks up a hitch hiker while covering one eye with his hand as he has previously had a frontal lobotomy. Maybe a fan blade came loose.

[katy]

As the guy said, "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."

[Bob-A]

I ordered one of the aluminum fans from Snyder's last evening. Didn't need it, but as the old shooting iron saying goes: "Better to have it and not need it then not have it and need it!"


Bob-A


"To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth" - J. Cooper


"Skirts are for Women not Car Fenders"

[Y-Blockhead]

Originally Posted by Hitman

No, that's just a myth. The labor rates in other countries vs the US isn't the driver or the cost savings that drives companies to produce outside of the US. Car parts made in Canada and Mexico for example.

The reason for foreign production: Most other companies have less stringent regulations on things. Factories can pollute, they can source raw materials in months, not decades like the US. They can employ children at younger ages, they can work 12 hour or more days six days a week. They can build a factory in a year, not the years it takes to build one in the US.

Regulations are the reason it's cheaper to produce outside of the US, not labor rates.

So it is the companies that makes the rules in other countries. It's all clear now. It has nothing to do with the cost of makig the part.

And it takes decades to source raw materials in the US. No wonder they can't keep aluminum fans in stock!

[updraught]

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"Bauxite, which is a source of aluminum ore, is mined from bauxite rocks and then processed into aluminum oxide. Considerable deposits of this rock are found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. This valuable material usually rests along the surface of the earth or in sedimentary rock layers called “bauxitic clay.” The most common bauxite mining methods include strip mining or open pit methods. After this material is mined, about 85% of the world’s bauxite goes to aluminum production, with the remaining typically going to other uses such as ceramics and cement manufacture."

It is interesting to tour a bauxite mine. They scrape several feet of dirt off the surface, and then just scrape it up and put it in a truck. There must be some sunny spot with nice golden beaches and sun tanned, well healed locals, you can dig up?

[dave in australia]

Originally Posted by Y-Blockhead

So it is the companies that makes the rules in other countries. It's all clear now. It has nothing to do with the cost of makig the part.

And it takes decades to source raw materials in the US. No wonder they can't keep aluminum fans in stock!

Not quite, Australia has some very strict environmental laws. One of the reasons ALCOA setup in Australia was shipping costs. From memory, it takes five ton of bauxite to make 1 ton of aluminium. Australia has some of the worlds largest Bauxite reserves in the world. It is far cheaper to transport 1 ton of aluminium over 5 tons of bauxite. Australian wages are also high, definitely not third world level. The difference between transporting the two materials would cover any disparity in wages etc.

[katy]

Having the ore is one thing, processing it into finished aluminum is another story. The percentage of aluminum in bauxite is quite small, not like iron ore which is quite high in iron content.

[Hitman]

Originally Posted by Y-Blockhead

So it is the companies that makes the rules in other countries. It's all clear now. It has nothing to do with the cost of makig the part.

And it takes decades to source raw materials in the US. No wonder they can't keep aluminum fans in stock!

That’s an autocorrect typo. “Companies” should have been “countries”.