Originally posted by sam:

it's to weed out the dum-dums

That's what I'd do. Reduce the amount of fans. I just started last night and still don't understand repair... and from the looks of it it's ganky at best.

EDIT: I agree with an earlier poster. If it's still an odd mechanic for Devs to iron out, just make the tool built everlasting. For now. I do agree with repairs costing material.