as a machinist and fabricator for almost 45yrs,and still practicing today, if i need a "copy" of an item and don't want to pay list for something i know i can make, i go that route.
i know my skills will withstand whatever the intended purpose of the item will be.
i also am aware of the time it takes to make something outweighs the cost savings, but being on a fixed income, sometimes i have no other choice if i want something i otherwise could not afford.
just my life experience, your mileage will vary.
Absolutely. I will often take someone else's idea and improve on it. Or modify it to fit my needs and fabricate it using my particular style.
Typically, the time and materials needed to do that, or make an outright copy using quality materials, are more than the mass produced parts would have cost. But the improvement over the original is worth it to me. If a mass produced item will fit my needs with a few tweaks, saving time and money, I go that route, using good parts designed and produced by people I know in this country.
Offshore crap is never a consideration, unless what I need is simply not made here anymore because the people who used to make it gave up trying to compete with slave labor and commies.
