Cheap tools v Good ones

**Reads90** · 11th November 2006, 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by downundersteve

Cheap tools v Good ones

When I was about 16 I bought a socket set from a market stall it cost a whopping 5 pounds, about $12. (All I could afford at the time).
I have used it to fix my vehicles from a Leyland van, Ford Escort to the Falcon I have now.

Over the years I have bought/acquired a Draper Expert, (UK brand) and a Kamasa socket set to use after my $12 ratchet gives up the ghost.

I started using the other sets last year when I got my Rangie.
Because my $12 set is buggered, no, because I wanted to, I had them for about 6 years and never used them, they looked wrong all clean and shiny.

My 20 year old, yes 20 years old ! socket set is still going strong, all I have managed to do is loose one 17mm socket, (what good are they anyway) and broke one case latch.

How’s that for a return on investment.

So what cheap tool has gone the distance for you, what was it, how much was it and how long have you had it for ???

Ps it won’t count if it just lays in the draw, you have to use it.

I have bought cheap tools over the years mainly because i am ruff on tools and lose them before i break them. so never really wanted to spend a fortune on expensive ones. But the best tool i have bought is an extention bar for sockets. Very usefull on Landies, also a draper 1" socket aset, great for taking radius arms and stuff like that. But also another usefull tool is a prop shaft tool so you can use racket on you prop bolts. Make life alot easer

I have alot of draper stuff. which i bought with me from the Uk. Good stuff. (Now for the name droping ) main reason i have draper stuff is i went to school with the people who now own draper (their grandparnets owned it and left it to the 4 granchildern when they died, they were about 16 at the time.). My cousin married one of them too. Me and my brother were sponsered by them (well brother still is) used to just go around the factory (which is in Chandlers ford , where i used to live) and just load up with tools.

**Bigbjorn** · 11th November 2006, 05:36 PM

Originally Posted by aquarangie

They sound like typicpl Yank crap. All bling and no substance like most American products are.

Trav

You are quite wrong there, aquarangie. The American makers of small tools lead the world in quality and variety. Armstrong, Proto, Allen, Starrett, Brown & Sharp, Blue Point, all American and all top shelf. Most of the advances & innovations in machine tools have come from the USA. Brown & Sharp and Gleason virtually wrote the book on gear cutting. Brown & Sharp & Starrett on precision measurement. The capstan & turret lathe came from USA industry in the 1800's, probably by Brown & Sharp or Pratt & Whitney, historians differ. Pratt & Whitney developed the jig borer. NC & CNC machine tools were US innovations and they still make the best in spite of the Asian cost advantage. GM, Ford, and Chrysler in conjunction with their suppliers developed mass production thin wall foundry technology. GM solved the problems with high volume large complex aluminium castings and made the mass produced modern auto engine possible and affordable.

Get a couple of the readily available catalogues from Travers Tool, or Machine Shop Discount Supply and others and be gobsmacked at the variety and the great prices.

**dungarover** · 11th November 2006, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

You are quite wrong there, aquarangie. The American makers of small tools lead the world in quality and variety. Armstrong, Proto, Allen, Starrett, Brown & Sharp, Blue Point, all American and all top shelf. Most of the advances & innovations in machine tools have come from the USA. Brown & Sharp and Gleason virtually wrote the book on gear cutting. Brown & Sharp & Starrett on precision measurement. The capstan & turret lathe came from USA industry in the 1800's, probably by Brown & Sharp or Pratt & Whitney, historians differ. Pratt & Whitney developed the jig borer. NC & CNC machine tools were US innovations and they still make the best in spite of the Asian cost advantage. GM, Ford, and Chrysler in conjunction with their suppliers developed mass production thin wall foundry technology. GM solved the problems with high volume large complex aluminium castings and made the mass produced modern auto engine possible and affordable.

Get a couple of the readily available catalogues from Travers Tool, or Machine Shop Discount Supply and others and be gobsmacked at the variety and the great prices.

Travers tools, good name and spelt as it should be (that's how my full name is spelt

)

Maybe I should have been a bit more specific. If something American isn't done right, they usually cover it up with great marketing, Rancho shocks come to this point and by the sounds of it, Snap-on do the same.

I don't claim to be a tool expert, just my observations. I have been accused of being one at some stage in my life though

Trav

**Utemad** · 11th November 2006, 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by aquarangie

They sound like typicpl Yank crap. All bling and no substance like most American products are.

Trav

The only Snap-on stuff I've got is three screwdrivers and two (different types) ratchet screwdrivers. Plus a Blue Point torx bit tool (like a swiss army knife). Plus a pair of small electronics side cutters

They are the best screw drivers I've ever used. Not cheap though.

I thought Snap-on and Blue Point were the same? Well at least the Snap-on man sold Blue Point from his van.

I have two Sidchrome socket sets (1/4 and 1/2 inch AF and metric) plus a set each of AF and metric open ended and ring spanners.

I have a DeWalt 12v drill. It needs a new battery but it has copped a flogging and still works fine.

I have some cheap stuff left over from my earlier years but I have broken most of it.

It is amazing how much easier doing a job can be when you have good quality tools.

**rick130** · 12th November 2006, 07:06 AM

Blue Point is Snap On stuff not actually manufactured by them.
Used to use a Blue Point tyre pressure gauge for the race car. It was the cheapest good quality 20psi max. bleed off gauge I could get.

Qantas apprentices used to be encouraged to buy Snap On. They obviously had a deal going, plus they are less likely to have their chrome flake.
Have a 1/4" drive Snap On socket set and a few wobble drive extensions, etc. Bought them when they were the only ones making them.
Wanted a Stahlwille 1/4" set at the time, but it was nearly $250 more than the Snap On one, and this was 14 years ago

Can you still get Proto here ? (It is Stanleys top of the range stuff)
Have a few ring spanners and they are really nice to use and very nicely made.

**rick130** · 12th November 2006, 07:12 AM

Originally Posted by Utemad

<snip>
It is amazing how much easier doing a job can be when you have good quality tools.

yep, like my Hilti hammer drill. Makes my Makita look like a toy. Really like my little Metabo 12v drill. got it on special paired with a Sortimo metal parts case when Bunnings were offloading all their Metabo stuff. Was a toss up between De Walt and Metabo and the tool bloke (left over from BBC Hardware days) reckoned he'd had less (as in none) comebacks with batteries on the Metabo's over the years.

**1103.9TDI** · 12th November 2006, 02:01 PM

Snap On are excellent quality hand tools, used extensively in the aviation industry, but are expensive. Snap On also have a lifetime replacement warranty. Great tools, but overkill for a landy. The best handtools are secondhand Bahco, old Sidchrome, Gedore, Proto, Stahlwille, Metrinch, Kinchrome, etc if you can find them!. Otherwise buy the odd socket or spanner new, you know it'll last.
My first set was Kmart, the thin walled, soft sockets broke, extensions bent, I took it back and bought four good quality sockets and a ratchet, for the same price, still got them.
Same goes for power tools, if you're always at home and have lots of time to go back and forth, halfway through a job, swapping cheap stuff that could cause you an injury, go ahead buy the cheapest available. Let alone the waste this creates. I reckon now is the time to buy good gear while it's at a good price, because you won't be able to once these quality manufacturers are driven out of business by crook quality Chinese/Indian carpetbaggers.

**Bytemrk** · 12th November 2006, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by UncleHo

G'day Folks

Have had my ETC industrial A/F combination spanner & Socket set for about 25 years now(EH and Sidchromes stolen) and the only thing that has 1/2 died (only works 1 way) is the ratchet,

Hey UncleHo, I have an ETC set ... similar age... and the only thing wrong.. is the ratchet is a bit dodgey..lol

Think we could get a warranty claim

.. we could point out it's obviously a common fault!...

Mark

**Utemad** · 12th November 2006, 04:53 PM

Originally Posted by rick130

Can you still get Proto here ? (It is Stanleys top of the range stuff)

My brother bought a Sidchrome socket/spanner set new about 7 years ago and it was full of Proto stuff.

**kie4** · 14th November 2006, 10:54 PM

Cheep tools,expensive tools.It all depends on what you use them for.
for your saturday afternoon tinkle cheep tools are the way to go.
If you work with them everyday the best tools are what you need.
When I arrived in WA my tools were still on the boat over from the UK when I started work. Another mechanic let me use his tools, which were cheap and I struggled. For one they were not smooth ie the name of the tool was embossed on the side of the spanner which caused a blister. I lost knuckels using badly fitting spanners and sockets,a rachet with the rachet cogs from Big Ben.screw drivers which rounded out philips screws. Im not even gonna go there with torx bits.
Working with crap tools is like a haidresser doing hair with a dog comb and kitchen scissors you just know what kind of hair cut you would get.
I have all Snap-on and Blue point tools and tool chests.
My top box I bought when I started work 18 years ago, all the draws still roll in and out smoothly. If you can imagine 18 years of opening and closing the draws a couple of dozen times a day with the weight of the tools in them , not bad going dont you think?
I have snapped a few sockets and screwdriver heads but with a life time gaurentee they ware just replaced.
A propper screwdriver will hold a new screw on the end of it horizontally.
etc etc.
I get a bonus at work for earning the company over a certain amount of money, when I got tools my bonus went up by over a third!!!!

Rich

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