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]

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.

[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.

[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...

[Caswell239]

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.

I seen this post and was like hmm thats badass. so i bought 3. 2 for me and one for a friend of mine. Awesome tool. Just to bad it didnt have a female end in the bottom o fthe handle but oh well!

[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.

[j2k4]

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.

Have you had any trouble with the media holing the elbow at the shutoff valve on the bottom?

I was able to mitigate the problem by going to a stainless unit, but it would still wear out more often than I liked.

[thor'svr4]

Have you had any trouble with the media holing the elbow at the shutoff valve on the bottom?

I was able to mitigate the problem by going to a stainless unit, but it would still wear out more often than I liked.

I think your issue might be caused by too much pressure in the tank. That lower valve should just regulate sand flow while the upper valve regulates air flow/tank pressure. Giving the tank more pressure means it wont jam up, but it also means that the sand has a high velocity when it gets to the lower regulating valve. The excessive sand velocity is what causes the valve to wear out. its all about finding the perfect balance. Try adjusting the upper valve so that most of the air flow goes into the rubber line and only a little bit of pressure goes into the tank. That helped out the lifespan of my lower valve a LOT. My first valve wore out in about 4-5 uses but once I installed a new valve and played with the settings I haven’t had the same issue again.

Not sure if that makes sense. its kinda hard to describe.

[j2k4]

I think your issue might be caused by too much pressure in the tank. That lower valve should just regulate sand flow while the upper valve regulates air flow/tank pressure. Giving the tank more pressure means it wont jam up, but it also means that the sand has a high velocity when it gets to the lower regulating valve. The excessive sand velocity is what causes the valve to wear out. its all about finding the perfect balance. Try adjusting the upper valve so that most of the air flow goes into the rubber line and only a little bit of pressure goes into the tank. That helped out the lifespan of my lower valve a LOT. My first valve wore out in about 4-5 uses but once I installed a new valve and played with the settings I haven’t had the same issue again.

Not sure if that makes sense. its kinda hard to describe.

I was down to about 40 psi and it still holed after a few sessions; I should note, though, that this was with sand, rather than shell, which I can get pretty easily.

I've used lots of shell in an upright cab, but never in the portable - have to check it out.

Thanks for making me remind myself to try it.