We've picked up some HF impact sockets and used them with good success. Maybe our Craftsman impact tool is too wimpy to stress them, but we've yet to break one.
But we have lost one or two, grrr..
I wonder where folks have gone to buy single sockets. Sears is rather $$ and HD does not seem to have anything but sets, like HF.
McMaster carr has them, not too cheaply.
i
Used tool places have buckets of them, usually pretty reasonably priced.
BobH
Actually, HF does sell individual sockets. As "parts". When I broke a HF socket and called to have it replaced, a misunderstanding resulted in me going down the buy-a-part path instead of the getting-a-free-replacement path.
So, call them up, ask for the parts department, give them the item number of the set & the sizes that you need. It may take a while to receive them.
Bob
Actually found some OK Stanley impact socket sets at Wally Mart, definitely better than HF and cheap enough not to worry about buying the sleeve. Some of the crummy Taiwanese ones I've bought in the past got sloppy and the slop actually wasted most of the impact energy.
Usually also pricey, but some of the old autoparts stores (not the chains) used to stock individual tools. Usually a top name brand. Also, some of the old school independent hardware stores or franchise / membership stores like Ace or True Value or Joe's Hardware. Individual tools have always cost a more than sets.
How about a "real tool jobber" Your Snap-Off salesman will gladly provide you with whatever size you need in whatever quantity you want. (just as an example) as will any industrial supplier.
snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Most NAPA stores now have a "catch bucket" of sockets for impulse buyers. They're not cheaper than their shelf counterparts, but they're extras, fall-offs from sets they couldn't match up, etc.
You gets what you finds, but often there's a little of everything in the "wallet buster bin".
But the Balkamp/NAPA individual sockets aren't terribly expensive. I bought a 2-1/16" x 3/4"-drive socket for the caster nuts on my mower, and I think I remember it being less than $30 including a 3/4" to 1/2" adapter *because I don't have any 3/4" breaker bars *.
LLoyd
Sears, NAPA, Autozone, Tool King(has local store but is on the web), small old hardware stores, that's for new onesies. Pawn shops around here usually have bins full of sockets, cheap. Sometimes you can get the whole set from HF for what one socket elsewhere runs, on sale and with 20% coupon.
Stan
Princess Auto is reasonable if you happen to visit my neck of the woods.
These are where I go:
Pawn shops usually have a bin full of mis-matched sockets for cheap...
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