I'm interested in getting a nice all purpose mechanical tool set that I can carry to whatever I need to work on and have most of what I need. I like the Craftsman kits but they are sockets, more sockets, and other sockets. I need sockets, wrenches, screw drivers, channel locks, pliers, cutters, a hammer, hex keys, etc. I see the cheapy homeowner chinese sets that have all that but I need something with some quality. Anybody here ran across any good sets worth having? Or maybe I just need to get a tool box and build my own set.
On Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:39:27 -0500, with neither quill nor qualm, "RogerN" quickly quoth:
From my last experiences with Searz, I would guess that the chiwanese sets were -better- than the Crapsman...with the possible exception of screwdrivers. I haven't bought -any- Crapsman tools since they went totally to shit in the late 70s.
Look for a cheap Taiwanese set.
-- Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile I caught hell for. -- Earl Warren
There are many Craftsman sets that include a lot of tools besides sockets. I would not buy the bottom of the barrel Chinese sets. Look again at Sears.com or ebay. "craftsman mechanic tool set"
What I do not like about those sets, is that they have a lot of repetitions, i.e. a 1/2" hex socket with 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 drive.
Those repetitions are REALLY REALLY helpful. Crafstman sets are nicely packaged, and the warranty still works - snap-on is nice but expensive, proto, MAC and so on are also available - all are good.
What ever do you need to work on? Electrical, vehicles, machinery, outdoor power equipment? They all take a different set of tools.
The socket sets I use most are 3/8" and 1/4" fractional + metric sets in a plastic cases, from WalMart. They travel with me while the good Proto, SnapOn, Utica tools stay home where they won't be lost, stolen or borrowed.
The combo wrenches with them are medium-quality ones from 7/16 to 3/4,
10mm to 18mm, in roll-up pouches.
Torx and hex wrenches are fold-ups on the road, Bondhus sets at home. The travel kit screwdrivers are partly 1/4" hex bit sets, the home shop ones are all separates.
In general my road tools are lighter, smaller, less ergonomic and cheaper, and packed in cases that keep the tools out of the dirt. The vehicle kits have evolved to include almost everything usually needed to maintain that vehicle, and except for a long breaker bar they fit under the seat. The home set is the better tools I really like, bought individually as needed.
I've had various field service jobs and learned to pare the tool kit's weight and volume to a reasonable minimum so I can carry it a long distance through a factory or airport in one hand or push it on a folding luggage two-wheeler. My suitcase, a Makita drill or whatever part I'm installing is in the other hand.
The road tools are somewhat expendable. I've had the lock on a box truck compartment fail and spew everything all over a busy intersection.
So I suggest separates or smaller kits. OTOH a neighbor who works on vehicles a lot received a large Sears set for Christmas that works pretty well for him. I think he still uses his older tools for large rusty nuts. I don't risk sockets from the sets on them either.
If you are near a trade school, some offer tool sets to the new mechanic students. One such school near me solicits bids for the sets each year and there sometimes is an extra set or two..I got one like that years ago--one of the best purchases I've ever made. Top quality and unbeatable price. I passed on a Craftsmans set one year, didn't care for their stuff but the next year I had a choice between mac or snapon. I took a mac set and never looked back. A local parts house manager put me on to it. ED
I have that set, and have had it for a couple of years. It is a very good set of tools for many purposes. I doubt it, or any other reasonably priced set, will include all of what he specified. He didn't say what size sockets, wrenches, hammers hex keys, etc. he might need. It will depend partly on what he expects to be working on. Watches? Bicycles? Lawn mowers? Automobiles? Earth movers? Something all together different?
I expect he'll need something like this to start with and a separate box, or two, for his extras - dependent upon tasks to be performed.
I saw a fellow working on a cylinder for an earth mover. It required a 19mm hex key wrench - and a 10' rigid metal pipe for a cheater - to break those buggers! Probably put on with a 3/4" or 1" impact tool, with the pressure set too high.
If you're willing to spend a bit more for quality US-made tools and take the time to pick out just what you need, I strongly recommend the SK Tools socket and wrench sets at thetoolwarehouse.net.
You'll not regret it and your son/daughter will end up inheriting them.
That's the one. By "most of what you want", I meant all the general purpose stuff :-). He'll definitely need to add all of the specialized stuff to any general purpose tool set he buys.
-- Regards, Carl Ijames carl dott ijames aat verizon dott net (remove nospm or make the obvious changes before replying)
One of the things I do like abou the Craftsman sets is the repetition, for several reasons.
1) I can carry one ratchet and a handful (hopefully in a rack of some sort) of sockets to most jobs and have what I need 1/4 drive gets me 9/16" down for small stuff, 3/8 drive gets me 3/8" to 7/8, 1/2 drive gets me 7/16 to 1
1/4".
2) bolt heads and nuts are frequently the same size and I need 2 7/16" sockets for 1/4"X20 bolts.
3) sometimes the 3/8" ratchet with a 1/2" socket will not fit, 1/4" drive will. Sometimes I canlt get enough torque with the 1/4" inch drive.
4) sometimes I have a bunch of 7/16" whatever to turn and 2 sons to help me,
I'm looking for something I can carry out to work on the lawn mower, bicycle, tractor, go cart, car, and backhoe. I don't expect a set to have everything but more of a variety than most of Sears smaller sets would be nice. I also have metalworking and wood working machinery but have tools handy in the shop. It's just everytime I go to repair something outside, I spend more time running back and forth getting tools than I do fixing anything. If I have a job to do on the backhoe, I expect to lug out the larger tools as I don't want to carry all these to fix the lawn mower, etc.
Take a look at Sears item 009-41205 It has all of what you have on your list. They call it a 145 piece field technicians tool set in the 2008 catalog. 299.99 Item 009-34233 is a larger set (233 piece) for 500.00
Don't forget the 1/2" size - sometimes it is the only length that can do the job or the only one that the ability.
I watch sales - and 10 years ago or so I spotted a 1/2" torque wrench on sale. I think inventory dump - 7 or 8 USD and I have used it not as a torque wrench - but it works that way - but as a gentle breaker bar. I set it to a high foot-pounds and apply pressure. The long bar us handy.
A small handful of bars - extensions and adapters up and down. It might allow using 3/8 and 1/4 extensions to get down into a small hole.
Martin
Mart>> What I do not like about those sets, is that they have a lot of
----== Posted via Pronews.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
formatting link
The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000 Newsgroups
Thats it - I have a 12v impact tool. And a set of deep sockets. Kinda cool. I take it on trips - just in case I have a flat and can't get the nut loose.
I use it on the tractor getting mower blades off - just plug it in. The other one requires air - maybe not next to the work.
Martin
Mart> Carl Ijames wrote:
----== Posted via Pronews.Com - Unlimited-Unrestricted-Secure Usenet News==----
formatting link
The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000 Newsgroups
Just today I was at Sears, Sams Club, Home Depot and COSTCO. There are some nice sets out there. I would get the Crescent set at COSTCO and the electric and plier sets at Home Depot. Less than $200.00 with a tool box from Home Depot.
Also next weekend Ace is having some nice thngs with a rebate thing. I would imagine the ad/circular is online.
For openers do yourself a favor and lube well the ratchet and other tools that have moving parts.
The following is only my opinion. I believe yours may be different, and therefore incorrect.
;-)
I have seen tool sets that cost thousands of dollars, and yet, they have things that the buyer will never use, and don't have things that the buyer would want and a lot of people consider to be a basic tool.
Therefore, I am for building your own set. We all work on different things, and there are things we absolutely can't do without. Then there's just things that make life and a job soooooo much easier. And then there's just things we like to have and use since they come in real handy and save work, increase output, and do a better job.
Tool sets have chisels, yet we go out and buy MORE specialty chisels for our particular work or a particular job. Tool sets have pliers, but how many have a pair of snap ring pliers? Or some specialty pair of pliers? Handy things. Tool sets have wrenches, but how many have a particular crow's foot, distributor wrench, or angled wrench we use a lot? They all come with about fifty loose Allen wrenches, but I like the sets that are fold up and stay together. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.
Not a lot of real perfect tool sets out there. AND, I have gotten LOTS of good tools at yard sales for very good prices. I got a new in plastic Makita cup knot brush today for my grinder, a small miter saw the size of a big kitchen knife, a Husky painter's tool, and a couple of other things for $2. They wanted $1.50 and I gave them $2. The brush alone is about fifteen bucks. Point is, you can build a good set of tools just from yard sales items that are old school and built to last forever. I think one never ends building a tool set.
A bicycle, car, tractor, backhoe can carry their own small tool kits containing only the specific tools they need. I put a few cheap wrenches, screwdrivers and spare sparkplugs in a small tackle box and find or weld on a place for it on the machine. One or two sockets and a tee handle substitutes for a socket set and ratchet. The hardware you commonly remove probably isn't rusted on tightly, so cheap tools work OK. I'd rather lose a $1 wrench in the mud than one from a good set.
If they need serious work they go back to the garage where the jack, compressed air and good tools live.
When I build a machine I try to use as few different sizes of hardware as I reasonably can, to keep the kit small and maintenance easier. My sawmill uses almost entirely 3/8" hardware so a 9/16" combo wrench and a tee-handle socket are enough to assemble it and level the track. The log splitter needs only two 1/2" wrenches, an Allen for the pump coupling and pliers for pins and hose clamps. Everything likely to shake loose on the garden tractor can be checked with a 3/8 X 7/16 and a 1/2 X 9/16 open end wrench. The special sparkplug/bar nut tee wrench for chainsaws is usually enough to disassemble them, if not I add a Phillips, hex or Torx driver to the kit.
I use an old Rubbermaid utility cart from an auction as a workbench and tool shelf outdoors. The tools go out individually as needed but they all come back piled up in the cart which I can roll around the shop to put stuff away wherever it goes. I'm looking for a metal one with a few drawers under the top shelf, or may add drawers to this one. There is a fancier version for factory maintenance crews that has drawers and a cabinet, a wooden top surface and a bench vise. The casters limit what you can do in the vise but I've found that a blacksmith's leg vise works very well on a lightweight (Metro) cart. It wouldn't be too hard to make a steel or wooden cart with large outdoor wheels and a trailer hitch or towing handle. I've dragged that Rubbermaid cart all over the neighborhood and out in the woods to fix machinery and build sheds.
Sounds like you might need a set of sets. I've seen lots of small boxes that only included say 1/2 drive sockets and drivers. Another might have only 3/8" sockets & drivers and yet another 1/4" but all had their own compact box. If you're not exactly sure what size you'll need you might carry the 3/8 & 1/2 sets. This still doesn't include your screwdrivers, etc. but you can also get sets of just screwdrivers either with standard grips or possibly better would be with assorted bits to be used with your 1/4" or
3/8" ratchets. I'm not sure, but this *might* be the way to go. I have a small set of SAE & Metric wrenches that go approx. 1/4 to 7/8". They have their own slot so I can tell if I left one behind. The SAE on one side, in order and metric on the other side. If I know I'm just going to sharpen the mower blade this is what I'll grab. Of course I could just take one 9/16" wrench. ;-)
I don't think you're going to find *one* set to do it all, but if your tools are broken up into smaller sets you can pretty well take the set or sets you'll need.
PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.