Thoughts about Italian-made chainsaw parts showing up on eBay recently

[ATS MS]

I’ve been seeing a lot of AM chainsaw parts made in Italy, showing up on eBay lately. Wondering about there quality and if anyone has tried them or knows anything about the company.
Here are a few links:

eBay Homelite 925 piston example
eBay Mac piston 1 example
eBay Promac cylinder and piston example

Thoughts?

 

[CausticUC]

How are you verifying that they are made in Italy?

Only really aware of Pistoni GOL, Q-IN ring and CABER foundries in Italy. I belive it is CABER who makes some of Meteor's pistons.

 

[ATS MS]

How are you verifying that they are made in Italy?

Only really aware of Pistoni GOL, Q-IN ring and CABER foundries in Italy. I belive it is CABER who makes some of Meteor's pistons.

You made a good point about the parts “being made in Italy”. Brumar is a big parent company in Italy, but it’s likely they don’t make the actual parts. I’ve tried to figure out who makes them, but not having a lot of luck yet.

Here is the D&B mini profile on Brumar:
Brumar Profile

 

[CausticUC]

https://www.brumargp.it/#aboutus
Based on that, I would say they are like NAPA.

 

[Mad Professor]

Two best companies were Tecomec and Precision Tooling. I heard from the Tilton/Total USA importer the former is Chi-Com and quality is nil, I think the later too.

Precision Tooling still claims "made in Italy" , but they are now sellinfg070/038/381/382 knock offs.

 

[ATS MS]

Thank you for the additional information. So frustrating and sad to see such a nonstop decline in quality manufacturing. It’s just plain exhausting to try and weed through the knock off products and blatant infringements on copyright and patient designs in our retail market.

One would think that a straightforward, high quality manufacturer could prevail more than ever now. But then again, it seems people have become accustomed to paying for disposable products and probably wouldn’t want to pay for true quality anymore. Sorry for the rant. I’m sure I’m preaching to the choir.

Where do folks go to get quality (new) products in this industry these days?

 

[CausticUC]

Generally there is always a large influx after patent protection expires; and quality can go both ways.

Probably the best and most well known example of this is the Honda Monkey engine. Honda still makes theirs, Lifan makes a low end version and Takegawa makes ultra high end versions that are competition ready.

I all truthfulness; it is generally not the manufacturer's fault, it's the dubious and inaccurate claims made by random sellers about certain products. Low end products are typically the scrap or production overruns that were never finished.

In the last few years there have definitely been a few companies trying to build revenue on expired designs. Actually, if my memory is working, that is how Echo established and built themselves up. Occasionally these types of companies will buy the old molds and fixtures but it takes a few years for them to figure out the QA processes.

As for your question specifically, in aftermarket pistons most recommend meteor if OEM are not available. In rare cases you might find a Wiseco match.

 

[Mad Professor]

Two best companies were Tecomec and Precision Tooling. I heard from the Tilton/Total USA importer the former is Chi-Com and quality is nil, I think the later too.

Precision Tooling still claims "made in Italy" , but they are now sellinfg070/038/381/382 knock offs.

I've used the old Itailain stuff it was good. I've used in 038---> 038M conversions Piston is a NOS 038S for comarision

 

[ATS MS]

Generally there is always a large influx after patent protection expires; and quality can go both ways.

Probably the best and most well known example of this is the Honda Monkey engine. Honda still makes theirs, Lifan makes a low end version and Takegawa makes ultra high end versions that are competition ready.

I all truthfulness; it is generally not the manufacturer's fault, it's the dubious and inaccurate claims made by random sellers about certain products. Low end products are typically the scrap or production overruns that were never finished.

In the last few years there have definitely been a few companies trying to build revenue on expired designs. Actually, if my memory is working, that is how Echo established and built themselves up. Occasionally these types of companies will buy the old molds and fixtures but it takes a few years for them to figure out the QA processes.

As for your question specifically, in aftermarket pistons most recommend meteor if OEM are not available. In rare cases you might find a Wiseco match.

I agree with your thoughts regarding manufacturing practices and reusing current or even previous designs. I do t have issue with that. It only makes sense to do so. It costs a lot of money to develop entirely new platforms and doesn't always work out for the better. It makes sense to build off of existing designs and even reuse materials when feasible. The automobile industry is famous for this and it makes sense (most of the time) ;-)

What I do have issue with, are the numerous products put on the market by 3rd parties that are intentionally made to be nearly identical (often only in looks) to current protected designs that are in high demand; to fool people into buying the 3rd party product over the brand name or known higher quality product.

For example, a quick browse on Amazon easily provides numerous examples of products that have been copied or “cloned” from another popular product, yet they do not have the same quality or reliability, and often are not as safe.

I fully support the aftermarket industry, however, I find that it has become more difficult to make a purchase without constant wonder if the product I’m buying is going to work as it should or fail prematurely and/or cause more problems later on.

Thank you for the Wiseco reference. I have tried meteor previously and was satisfied. However they don’t have replacements for everything (yet). I’ll keep searching and see what I can find.

 

[ATS MS]

I've used the old Itailain stuff it was good. I've used in 038---> 038M conversions Piston is a NOS 038S for comarision

Thank you for the reference photos and confidence vote. Much appreciated! I might pick up a piston and cylinder from them just for the heck of it and see how the pair performs in one of my older chassis.

 

[Mad Professor]

Thank you for the reference photos and confidence vote. Much appreciated! I might pick up a piston and cylinder from them just for the heck of it and see how the pair performs in one of my older chassis.

Pictures are ~13 years old, back when the parts were made in Italy for sure. I know some companies are rebadging chi-com parts now.

 

[CausticUC]

Pictures are ~13 years old, back when the parts were made in Italy for sure. I know some companies are rebadging chi-com parts now.

Some, however its unlikely the main Italian ones. Italy has taken an huge economic hit even before covid-19, they are almost on par with Greece.

As far as the EU is concerned and CE is concerned, Italy is likely at the top of the list for lower cost CE manufactured items. If Romania made it into the EU, they would be.

As much as China is well known for cheap products, for certain markets other countries hold the corners! You want bicycle parts? They don't come from China. You want cheap tires? They don't come from China.

It's a big brush and gets used incorrectly a lot.