Like any good obsessive, I keep an inventory of computer parts, tools, and so on. The inventory keeps track of serial numbers so that I can answer questions like "Which machine did that PSU end up being installed into?" and "When those addicts from that failing machine learning company broke in, which GPUs did they take?".
I recently bought a Dremel 8260 to do some guitar body routing tasks, and other miscellaneous bits of cutting and drilling. I've got no complaints with it, although I ran into a pretty immediate problem when trying to check it into the inventory.
Dremel are a division of Bosch, and it seems like Bosch have gotten into the habit of not putting serial numbers onto tools, or at least not doing it in any obvious way.
I have a Bosch GSB 18V-45 here and there's no serial number printed anywhere on the case. The same goes for the Dremel 8260.
There is, however, a QR code on both. Scanning the QR code on the drill yields the following redacted text:
240516_80103601JK3300_xxxxxxxxxxxxx
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The underscore characters are actually the U+241D GROUP SEPARATOR character,
but that wouldn't be printable in most browsers so I've replaced it with an
underscore here. The xxxxxxxxxxxxx string I've redacted because I believe it
actually is a serial number. The 240516 string looks like a date, but it
doesn't match up with anything date related on the tool itself (the tool is
from 2023). It presumably has some internal meaning to Bosch. If you dump the
string 80103601JK3300 into any search engine, the first result that comes
up is service information for the drill, so that number is presumably a model
number.
The Dremel has two QR codes. One QR code simply restates the model number, but the other QR code hidden inside the battery compartment yields:
240511_8010F013826077_xxxxxxxxxxxxx
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Again, dumping 8010F013826077 into a search engine yields service information
for the Dremel 8260, so it is probably a model number. The 240511 string means
something to someone somewhere at Bosch. The xxxxxxxxxxxxx string might
be a serial number.
Neither of the xxxxxxxxxxxxx values are actually printed anywhere on the
tools, and there's no documentation whatsoever online that I could find about
how to locate serial numbers on Bosch tools. I'm not up for buying another
instance of either tool just so that I can compare the xxxxxxxxxxxxx values.
Searching for those values online yields nothing, which in itself is evidence
that they might just be unique-and-otherwise-meaningless serial numbers.
I emailed Bosch to ask them where I can find the serial numbers on my tools. I got a supremely confusing message back saying that Bosch's legal team might be inspecting the message (?), followed a few days later by a message from a support team suggesting that I register the tool online. The message seemed to indicate that they hadn't read my initial message at all, or at least hadn't understood it. I did register the tools online and, predictably, this didn't result in the serial numbers being magically revealed (there's no way it could have; I wasn't even required to submit any kind of proof of purchase or scan anything on the tools, so presumably registration is just a way to get a bit of data out of me for marketing purposes).
I'm not sure what's so difficult about putting an unambiguous serial number somewhere visible on the case. Computer parts manufacturers seem to manage to do it just fine. Who benefits from keeping things obscure like this?