Black & Decker WorkMate

The Black & Decker WorkMate: A veritable monument to poor design!

Exploded view highlights the offending components designed to self-destruct! They call this a “thrust bearing” ?!?!?

Black & Decker WorkMate
This is the very piece of dreck that inspired me to create this blog! It is simply unbelievable what they “designed,” or, more accurately, completely failed to design at all, for the critical thrust bearings that provide the clamping force of the vise jaws. Basically no bearing at all! Just a roll pin inserted cross-wise through the vise screw (see images). When tightening the vise, this roll pin thrusts directly against the thin sheet metal frame. Not even a flat washer was provided, nor was there room allowed for one to be inserted. When it was new, it seemed to work alright – for a while. But over time, the (hardened) roll pin began to gall the soft, thin sheet metal. This galled surface rendered lubrication ineffective, and produced a horrible grinding sound similar to fingernails on a chalkboard. Not to mention, the high friction of this critical bearing surface reduced the clamping force of the vise to the point where it was nearly useless. Eventually, with an action similar to a fly-cutter, the roll pin cut a perfectly circular “washer” out of the frame, and popped it out just as neat as you please. Perhaps as a matter of chance, the roll pin had even been inserted into the shaft so that the sharp burrs of its axial seam faced directly towards the bearing surface against which it scraped, further accelerating the eventual failure. Indeed, the engineers at Black and Decker had designed an extremely poor thrust bearing, but a very effective fly-cutter!

What makes this incredibly poor design so inexcusable is that the clamping vise action constitutes the entire purpose of the WorkMate. It is the central feature. It is the whole point. The vise function is where the rubber meets the road. It’s like designing a car and forgetting to include an engine – Oops!

I once had a dear colleague who had a saying: “It only takes one oops to undo a whole lot of attaboys.” That is so true. And Black and Decker has perpetrated one Jim Dandy of an oops with the WorkMate. The worst fallout comes in the form of my now universal skepticism of all their products. Can I trust their other tools? What hidden but severe flaws do they contain? In my mind, B&D has irrevocably damaged it’s own reputation – much like the WorkMate itself – self-destructed beyond repair.

Lessons Learned/Solution:
The lesson learned here is so fundamental it is an insult to my readers. But for the benefit of the engineer(s) from B&D I’ll spell it out: DUH! Keep your eyes on the prize. Don’t forget what you are designing. Learn, study, and apply the concepts of friction, thrust bearings and lubrication. These totally non-existent Thrust Bearings utterly failed where the rubber meets the road. Indeed, they did far worse than fail: They actually self-destruct by the very act of using them for their intended purpose! To call this a “poor design” is really an oxymoron, because there is no way you can credit such a horendous bungle as having been “designed” at all. More accurately, the WorkMate was perpetrated, not designed. Just shameful, Black & Decker! 😦