Tools

[ProfessorX]

I used to own a large collection of Snap-On tools (albeit mostly AF - aircraft engineer by trade) but I now work in the IT industry (no jokes please). Unfortunately during a house move and some temporary storage of belongings one chest was stolen. Problem was it contained my metric spanners and socket sets :-( As I will only be using the tools on an infrequent basis (I hope) I do not see the value in building up a lifetime warranty set of Snap-On tools again. Does anybody recommend a brand for sturdiness/life without paying the premium for the Snap-On warranty? Just thought I would throw this one out there as I do not want to buy the £20 Halfords set and becoming iritated if I break something easily ;-) SO apart from Snap-On or Mac Tools does anyone have any reasonable recommendations?

 

[Blobcat]

What I do for my engineers is buy them a cheap set then what they use regularly and wear out I replace with good quality. I see no point in buying the best for something you either don't use or use very rarely. Halfords Professional are not bad, MAC do some good tools, Teng do some decent sockets but I keep going back to Snap On. If you ever get to North America then the Mastercraft professional range are guaranteed for life and regularly go on sale in the stores.

 

[television]

Draper would be the next best, but it does depend on what you want to do, and the limitations of what you can do these days. Re sizes 3.5 to 12mm a cheap small socket set will do owing to the low torque for this size. with the ½" sockets maybe just the popular sizes 10,12,13 17mm and get any others as needed. The same with ring spanners.

Malcolm

 

[ProfessorX]

Thanks Guys - appreciated. I will take a look into some of those mentioned. As I say due to being in storage silly me had no insurance on the items at the time otherwise I would have just replaced what was stolen. Well it is mainly for my car the w202 230K, my Dad's 280 sport 'M' and a few friends. As you say, there has certainly been a reduction in the amount of work you can do yourself :-( My dad kindly added a pit to his little outhouse and several friends have Vauxhalls and older BMW's to work on as required. To be fair I don't want to get into the whole car maintenance at the weekends thing again, I found it starts taking more and more of the wife's time ;-) Once again the advice is appreciated. I have some friends in NA, perhaps they could sort something out and ship it over (some of them do work for DHL and UPS lol). I do love my Snap-On items (those I have left anyway) and up until moving abroad was good friends with the local franchise bloke and have never had any problems with their tools other than perhaps cutters (Knippex are far superior for clean cuts and longevity)

 

[Blobcat]

The cutters I like are made by Lindstrom, however these are probably a little small for most automotive purposes.

 

[ProfessorX]

White handled IIRC? Yes we had a few pairs of them kicking around in the hangar for the more intricate work on the aircraft (occasionally found myself actually making looms from scratch with drums of 22 guage aircraft wire and 50 pin sockets/plugs). Nobody ever claimed to own them but there was always a pair there when you needed them. Never found a place to buy them at the time hence having the Knippex.

 

[Blobcat]

Yellow 80 series mainly, although I have a few of the white handled ones as well.
RS & Farnell can supply them.

 

[television]

The cutters I like are made by Lindstrom, however these are probably a little small for most automotive purposes.

They are the worlds best , Swedish of coarse "Lindström" That was my ex's name until I came along.

Malcolm

 

[ProfessorX]

If you do not mind me asking, I assume Blobcat and yourself are in the automotive trade/service trade itself? Hope you do not think I am prying.

 

[Blobcat]

http://www.lindstromtools.com/tools_cutters.htm The last set I have has Sandvik on the handle as well so they may have been taken over :-(

 

[Blobcat]

If you do not mind me asking, I assume Blobcat and yourself are in the automotive trade/service trade itself? Hope you do not think I am prying.

No not related to the automotive trade, although I have stripped down quite a few cars and even rebuilt one of two

 

[television]

Sandvik is a town 190km north of Stockholm, made famous by the quality of the steel in the area. Its the only town in Sweden where a main road goes through it (E4). "Sandvik AB" are still on their own, where as "Lindström" were taken over by "Bacho" who are part of the "Snap On" group.


http://www.bahco.com/asp/pubs/index.asp?lngMenuID=1255&lngID=1987

Useless info but all part of my past.

Malcolm

 

[stumpy]

I used to own a large collection of Snap-On tools (albeit mostly AF - aircraft engineer by trade) but I now work in the IT industry (no jokes please). Unfortunately during a house move and some temporary storage of belongings one chest was stolen. Problem was it contained my metric spanners and socket sets :-( As I will only be using the tools on an infrequent basis (I hope) I do not see the value in building up a lifetime warranty set of Snap-On tools again. Does anybody recommend a brand for sturdiness/life without paying the premium for the Snap-On warranty? Just thought I would throw this one out there as I do not want to buy the £20 Halfords set and becoming iritated if I break something easily ;-) SO apart from Snap-On or Mac Tools does anyone have any reasonable recommendations?

When I did my Apprenticeship, BA gave us a Facom toolkit. When I qualified I went down the Snap-on route, but they are very expensive I feel. One of the Apprentices recently bought himself a 13 drawer Snap-on Roll Cab. 4 grand he paid! I feel for you having this stuff nicked though.

 

[ProfessorX]

Thanks for the sympathy. I was certainly gutted having spent 18months accumulating quite a healthy set when working on the floor. I agree the Snap-On items are on the pricey side. Ah Yes the Facom tool chest set, we were offered the option of purchasing one at a discount, but at the time I only required about 40-50% of what it contained so thought it prudent to start my own collection instead - choosing Snap-On and some other bits and bobs month by month.

 

[big x]

I've found Facom to be excellent.On Ebay they are good value.

adam

 

[izzi613]

I recently bought my first socket and spanner set from Makro. Supposedly a 'professional' range with a lifetime guarantee, make was "tuffhead" for £40 odd. Overall a little no frills but the spanners and socket seem quite tuff (ha ha)

 

[3146bj]

Don't know if they're available in the UK but a couple of brands that I've had good experience with are Stahlwille and Teng Tools. Don't cost an arm and a leg and have stood up to abuse by amateurs.

'course, the best we had here were old Australian made Sidchrome before they went offshore, lifetime warranty and built like the proverbial brick dunny. My 3/8 ratchet and sockets are 45 years old and still going strong. You can pick them up on Ebay quite cheap but you'd have a wait for delivery!

 

[Chazchuzzlewitt]

If you can find Craftsman (US Sears brand) I think they're excellent. Very high quality and a lot cheaper than Snap-On.
I lived in the states for 4 years so luckily almost my whole tool set is craftsman stuff.

I have a set of Teng spanners too which have gripped bolts properly that other spanners have slipped on, they're nice and slim too.

I've not been impressed by Halfords etc, a lot of these budget brands are the same made-in-china sets with different brand-names stamped on. With tools you really do get what you pay for.