RLWJr

Here in Wisconsin, our statewide public television system had already dropped Norm from easy access. And even when NYW was supposedly being telecast on a regular schedule to their main audience, Wisconsin Public Television would jerk it off the air to run a program like "doing your business taxes in Wisconsin". When I would complain, they would say that the shows would be rerun in the spring, ignoring the community of woodworkers who would be discussing them right away. Virtually any programming that involves viewers maybe in actually doing something has been removed, replaced by purely spectator-oriented shows like Antiques Roadshow that they run all the time.
I fear that our whole country is turning its back on "do it yourself", and whether WPT is leading or is just following its viewers I can't tell. America was once proud of its people who did things. Now the key is to use Twitter or Facebook to talk about doing things, not to do them. Would we win WWII again without soldiers who could figure out a way to improvise? Will we ever again have the national will to do things like Apollo?
So sadly I just see this as one more symptom of a country that has turned its back on so many of the things that made it great.
Bob Wilson

As others have said, "it depends". But in part it depends on the support from the manufacturer. I had a Milwaukee angle drill I loved. The gear built into the end of the armature shattered. I checked on a replacement part (which had to include the armature, is that good design?) and it cost more than a replacement drill would have just for that one part. Clearly Milkwaukee did not really want me to fix it. On the other hand, and a name many sneer at, Grizzly is great at supplying parts at great prices, has the complete diagrams and order info online. So now I buy from Grizzly but not from Milwaukee. Manufacturers should think about how we react to things like this...
(Not that this is enough to make me buy from someone I otherwise distrust. Sears is pretty good about supplying parts but I will certainly never buy another power tool from them!)

One thing that needs underlining is that spontaneous combustion does NOT mean just that they are easily ignited!
I remember lots of posts on the old UNIX newsgroup rec.woodworking where it became clear that people thought all they had to do was to keep the oily rags away from fire.

The point is that the oxidising reactions that are the heart of many oil finishes curing are the same as very slow burning, and that if heat cannot get away fast enough the temperature will build to the point of bursting into flame, with no external ignition required. I have almost had this happen: I left some rags for just a couple of hours for a project I was going to get back to, and when I did get back they were beginning to smoke and were so hot I could not touch them. And I have seen a dumpster at a home construction site burst into a really big fire: They dumped in sanding dust from new floor, then some sort of oil on top of it. The flames shot 30 feet out of the top of the dumpster...

Bob Wilson