Tools

[thor'svr4]

at one point we have all bought a tool that simply didn’t perform. other times we want to invest some money in an expensive tool but don’t want to purchase the item only to find out it doesn’t work as well as we had hoped. this thread will hopefully keep people from buying sand blasters that keep jamming or simply don’t have the power to remove rust, plasma cutters that don’t cut, or pipe benders that just kink pipes, ect.

so post up any tools that your happy with and would recommend, and those tools that were just a waste of money.

[EvanH]

I bought one of the Stanley ratchets that is a regular ratchet, but the handle is also a part that can make it ratchet as well. So in tight places with out the ability for "arc" you just twist ratchet the handle. Made putting my intercooler pipes on easy, along with a few other tight spots.

[thor'svr4]

heres a review of a sand Blaster:

Ive got this one from Harbor Freight
110 Lb. Pressurized Abrasive Blaster

Overall its a good blaster that wont jam up on you. its got a built in water trap to keep the sand from getting wet due to moisture in your air line. its VERY powerful. i run mine at about 120psi and it will remove any rust no matter how thick. They say 60-125psi in the description but honestly 60psi is more for removing paint and at 120psi this blaster was strong enough to actually cut through the sheet metal under the rear bumper cover. in general i keep mine to 80-90 psi.

The description says “1.2 to 1.3 hour working time with standard media and tip” which is a pretty big lie. You can empty 50lbs of sand in about 10-15 min of use. This is plenty of time to do something like a gas tank. Also I lay down rubber mats in the driveway and just sweep up any used sand then filter it out with a screen and reuse the sand. So you don’t have to buy sand (which is fairly inexpensive) once in a while.

ive had several sand blasters and this one is my favorite. you have lots of adjustability between the volume of sand you allow to come out of the nozzle at once use and the speed at which the sand comes out of the nozzle. also because its pressurized, not siphon feed, the sand flow is pretty consistent.

Cons: well its from harbor freight so you’re pretty much just paying for the tank setup. For example the mask included is a joke. I normally wear some safety glasses and a paper respirator then put on a face shield over the glasses and mask. Then a large hoodie sweatshirt with draw strings on the hoodie over the top of the face shield. Its not perfectly safe but it works pretty well. also the rubber lines and cheep deadman valves will be wear through eventually by the high pressure and fast moving abrasive sand. luckily deadman valves are cheep and readily available at any hardware store. also the guns ceramic tips will eventually wear out. I’ve always hated the 'gun' style nozzles so instead of buying some new tips when the ones included in the kit wore out i bought a much larger nozzle that resembles this.

Sandblaster Gun with 3 Extra Nozzles : Sand Blasting Tool | Sandblaster Gun with 3 Extra Nozzles : Sand Blasting Tool on sales best price


because the ceramic inside this nozzle is MUCH thicker i get many more hours of use in-between switching the ceramic inserts.

It’s a great tool to have and is very useful. I used to be the guy with a wire wheel on a drill but this thing saves me a ton of money in both wire wheels and time. You do need a large compressor to run the sand blaster, or you will only get a few seconds of blasting in-between waiting for the compressor to pump the blaster back up to the desired psi. plus it’s a great feeling knowing that you can simply unbolt anything that’s rusty and easily make it look like new.

I’ve also been looking into buying a plasma cutter and tubing bender. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction, but if not you can bet there will be a review of a plasma cutter and tubing bender on here within a few months.

[thor'svr4]

I bought one of the Stanley ratchets that is a regular ratchet, but the handle is also a part that can make it ratchet as well. So in tight places with out the ability for "arc" you just twist ratchet the handle. Made putting my intercooler pipes on easy, along with a few other tight spots.

do you mean this thing?

Stanley Hand Tools-89-962*3/8inch Drive Rotator Ratchet

ive never seen that before but it seams pretty cool, might have to look into picking one of those bad boys up.

[thor'svr4]

Oh I also got one of these 3/8" drive 20-150 ft/lb torque wrenches


Sears: Online department store featuring appliances, tools, fitness equipment and more

over all it works fine but I have noticed one little issue with this torque wrench. Lots of times we tighten bolts in a sequence (head bolts for example) and on the final sequence you are simply torquing the bolts to spec. they are already very ‘snug’ (maybe 80-90% of the spec‘ed tq) and all your looking to do is tighten them from snug to the specified ft lbs. lots of times this only takes maybe a few degrees of swing. What I have noticed is that if you use this torque wrench to torque a bolt to spec, then move onto the next bolt without allowing the ratchet mechanism to click at least once, the next bolt you go to tighten will seam to never tighten to spec. this is because unless you allow this tq wrench to rotate its internal ratcheting mechanism at least one click its internal calibration will not reset. Honestly I’ve got no clue as to why it does this or if craftsman has fixed this problem. I bought this wrench for myself when I was 9 years old so they may have revised the internal torquing mechanism by now (12 years later) although the wrench looks the exact same.

And no, I’ve never dropped the torque wrench... Ever.

Honestly its little ‘flaw’ isn’t a big deal, but you do have to be aware of this flaw. otherwise you might over tighten a bolt by accident and strip the threads, especially if your tightening a bolt into aluminum. For example if your tightening the transfer case cover onto the transfer case or the upper plenum to the lower plenum.

just figured i would throw this out there. i would still recommend this tool but figured its something that someone may want to be aware of when they use it. Maybe someone who has purchased one recently can verify weather the problem is still existent or if there wrench seams fine.

[EvanH]

do you mean this thing?

Stanley Hand Tools-89-962*3/8inch Drive Rotator Ratchet

ive never seen that before but it seams pretty cool, might have to look into picking one of those bad boys up.

Exactly that. I like it. You can also rotate the handle to take up the slack in the "arcing" motion if needing to put the final torque on. I just wish it had a female slot for another ratchet to go into the handle and use it as a 90* adapter basically. But overall I am pleased with it.

[MR2]

My favorite tool kit is my Metrinch set

I have a 76 piece

Metrinch-tools - IF THIS CAN'T DO IT, NO TOOL CAN

all the spanners have that function that other manufacs are now copying, where it does not grip the edge of the nut, instead grips just before that...it's brilliant have not rounded a single nut or damage the corners in anyway...seriously fantastic gear, I'm hoping to buy pretty much one of everything they make in the right time.

[3Srunner]

do you mean this thing?

Stanley Hand Tools-89-962*3/8inch Drive Rotator Ratchet

ive never seen that before but it seams pretty cool, might have to look into picking one of those bad boys up.

They have these at Wal-Mart. I've had mine for a few years and it still works great. I really expected to break this ratchet within a few weeks. I've busted plenty of 3/8" ratchets in my day but have yet to break this thing (and I beat the hell out it). I also thought it was kind of gimmicky at first and expected it to collect dust, however I find myself using it constantly more than any other ratchet I own.

About the only con is the size of the head which does cause problems from time to time. However this doesn't happen often enough to be a major concern.

I also have a friend that bought his after I told him about mine and he's had the same experience. I still can't believe how tough this ratchet is for the price.

Shawn...

[TwIzTeD_3kGt]

Can anyone recommend a good inexpensive paint gun?

[box]

dunno if you have it there, but "well made" guns are alright for the price.