Maybe add an ability to be able to HQ (no longer able to hq below r50) Say it's a r50 ability for all classes. It would be an all or nothing synth. Your either lose the mats if it's not a HQ version, or you get a HQ. I know it would save me time dropping failed hq synths. No one is making a killing on selling nq weapons and tools.

But about op's suggestion, I don't like the idea of fuzing items to potiently hq the synth. How ever it would be cool of you could fuze 8x of the exact same weapon / tool (including hq) and with a successful synth (the synth would be 5 ranks higher, than the weapons / tools your using), you remove wear from the item, so it would never break down.