>Brady bmp41 label maker
Let's you make NEC compliant labels for electrical equipment, and cartridges are available that are capable of withstanding direct sunlight exposure, light chemical exposure, and wet environment exposure. Costs ~$400
I don't use it every day, but I use it often enough and it makes me a bunch of money as a sparky
They're pretty kewl. I use the EXTREME version at my job, the function that meets you mass print straight from your craptop is a godsend for new installs.
My last job did a mass layoff over zoom and all of the techs were able to keep all of the tools and this was one of the highlights, along with an OTDR and an assortment of meters
It's a figure of speech short bus. Have you never got a tool that turned out to be way more useful than you expected? I still remember the day I strapped on my new toolbelt that had a donut holder.
If you ever needed to strip more than a pair of wires then you will love it. Or you can be a contrarian grumpy boomer doing it the old way just because.
I got an Epson LW-700PX, like 130 dollars on Amazon and you can do heat shrink, self-laminating wraps, magnet strips
The cartridges are brutally expensive (40ish dollars for heat shrink) but you can get cheap clones on AliExpress (like 6 bucks shipped) if you're just working around the house
> Brady
Frick me I tried to apply for a job at that company and it was the most moronic interview process I've ever seen. Ended up not taking the job because the boomers were So insufferable and I got another job that paid better.
>All pretty cheap unless you are a poorgay and I only regret not having bought those things sooner.
^Wisdom
I bought tools when I was poor because they made my money go much further. They still do. Not having my home shop and equipment would make retirement while doing what I enjoy prohibitively inconvenient and expensive.
>cordless impact gun
Cordless impacts, ratchets, and recip saws drastically changed auto salvage making self-service yard pillage quick and easy keeping many poorgays on the road and enabling those not poor to glut ourselves on parts.
#1- multimeter… but you need to obtain the free add-on, which is the knowledge of electricity and what the numbers mean. Life-changing tool and you can get decent ones for $25-$40.
#2- Flex head ratchets. Whenever I see the old Craftsman raised panel ratchets where the 3/8” drive is only like 6” long, I get pissed that I wasted so many years using them. Drop $20-$30 on one of the Gearwrench-Husky-Duralast or whatever store brand Advance Auto sells now that’s a rebranded Gearwrench. Especially if you go with a mid- or long handle one, I love that 84T TEQ Pro (Gearwrench knockoff) in the like 10”-11” length.
#3- V-jaw water pump pliers like Cobras or Alligators, they’re 10x more useful than old flat jaw channellocks.
Was going to say impact wrench but hard to consider them “cheap” although there’s corded models for $75 that are quite useful. +1 on the benchtop power supply, saved me lots of devices and batteries without the proper charger or maybe they went into protection mode.
Want to get down on a thermal camera, but I’ll probably wait a couple more years for the Amazon brands to become worthwhile, sort of like borescopes and scan tools where you can get pretty good functionality for <$50 these days.
3D printer… not sure I have the patience for the learning curve.
Honorable mention- Power Probe if you do much automotive troubleshooting. They used to be $60 on Amazon like 5 years ago but somehow jumped way up in price, however there are functional knockoffs these days.
You 'merkins live in the land of milk and honey. Over here in Europoorland, the only commonly available vendor for such strippers is Knippex and they start at 70 Euros. You may be able to find Chinesium vendors who have cheaper (and perfectly serviceable) fare, but usually they don't carry that sort of specialty thing, only 4 or 5 different Chinesium brands of the ever same 4 types of pliers/cutters.
https://i.imgur.com/18S5EB5.jpg
I was gonna get one of these flat romex cable strippers, but
>70 bucks for a piece of plastic that will break when i drop it once
I'm sticking to my utility blade
Pic rel Jokari is available at about every German hardware store for less than 15€ and positively regarded. Mine's in for everything around the house and personal projects like solar, storage, pump, 3d printer and lights for 12years and still works great.
In some form or another i'd definitely put it on the list.
hate these things. you guys are all insane. have the knipex version. much easier to use the stripper pliers for 90% of work. Its easier if all I do all day is remove insulation but in most trades you strip maybe 20-30 wires a day at most?
Inised to do lighting retrofits at warehouses and all the boomers and Black folk using the Milwaukee old school wire strippers would be amazed when I whipped out these bad boys and put up lights 2x as fast as they did.
You 'merkins live in the land of milk and honey. Over here in Europoorland, the only commonly available vendor for such strippers is Knippex and they start at 70 Euros. You may be able to find Chinesium vendors who have cheaper (and perfectly serviceable) fare, but usually they don't carry that sort of specialty thing, only 4 or 5 different Chinesium brands of the ever same 4 types of pliers/cutters.
I mean we have the cheap tools at Walmart too, and now they have Hart which is honestly above typical light homeowner use like the old Hyper Tough.
The cheap tools are a godsend for the specialty stuff that you can’t find at the typical big box store.
Do Yuro auto parts stores rent tools like the US stores? As far as pullers and spring compressors and stuff, it’s technically free rental as long as you put down a deposit.
2 months ago
Anonymous
>Do Yuro auto parts stores rent tools like the US stores?
not in north spain as far i know
i cannot generalize to the rest of europe, hell i dont even do it to the rest of spain, there is way too much cultural differences
2 months ago
Bepis
Do you get cheap Irega wrenches at least? And I think they make those Grip-On vise grips over there, which were probably the best vise grips between Irwin USA dying and Eagle Grips bringing it back.
I think some of Yurop gets Bahco for somewhat reasonable prices. And then there’s Facom from France and USAG or whatever in Italy I think, which is like our Mac Tools and those are serious mechanic tools. And then for more affordable prices, Gedore Red looks like decent taiwan stuff, although it might still cost 2 weeks wages for a 250pc socket set in much of Yurop.
2 months ago
Anonymous
>Irega wrenches
a friend works in the same industrial area of the factory. They are a bit cheaper here if you know where to look
But I thought we lived in a third world country according to Yuros.
I do feel bad for ya fegs though, you guys need a Harbor Freight or at least the cheap Amazon so you can actually DIY these projects where you need a specialty tool or two, that’s where the cheap Chinesium shines, the once every 5-10 years project where you don’t need tradie level tools. I mean I picked up a 7” wet tile saw for like $80 for bathroom and kitchen projects. That b***h even went through bricks for a landscaping job.
Industrial gas cylinders bought used then exchanged or refilled immediately.
They're cheap and wonderful adds to any mechanics shop.
Acetylene for gas welding, cutting, brazing, torch bending, soldering, brazing, annealing before machining, hardening simple parts, thawing etc. Smaller acetylene cylinders to feed my acetylene-air torches (cheap used, I've Goss, ASCO, TurboTorch etc)
LP BBQ cylinders for torch cutting (can bounce in back of my truck safer than acetylene), heating, burning weeds (every shop should have a generous firebreak) etc. When I fab a forge I've plenty ready since I grab all I can get free or dirt cheap. I sometimes refill (and never store in a closed vehicle) small LP cylinders for my light portable oxy-LP cutting outfit I take to salvage auctions to cut steel to fit my trailer.
Nitrogen for pressure testing HVAC because vacuum is less reliable. I'd rather expand a leak than chase a subtle seep and nitrogen plus UV dye is the way.
Argon for TIG welding and MIG brazing (you can also do fine torch brazing with MIG brazing filler wire and flux).
75/25 MIG mix for conventional MIG.
CO2 for MIG welding where a little spatter doesn't matter vs. low cost and each cylinder holding more CO2 volume as liquid than same-sized compressed MIG mix cylinders. CO2 is not really "inert" and not a noble gas so it runs hotter, convenient on small portable MIG machines.
Oxygen (obviously) to run my oxy-acetylene and oxy-LP torches. I collect all sizes since it's so cheap and convenient and cylinders don't lose value unless damaged. (High pressure cylinder bodies make cool bowling ball cannons. I behead cylinders that won't pass visual inspection and give those to my blackpowderbro.) I use all the way down to medical oxygen cylinders when I only need a few cuts. Adapters are the same as for transfilling them from larger high pressure cylinders.
Regulators and torches are cheap or reasonable used.
thermometers, label printers, wire strippers change lives?
someone should make a basedjacks pointing meme edit at the hardware store in the shiny new tools section
It's a figure of speech short bus. Have you never got a tool that turned out to be way more useful than you expected? I still remember the day I strapped on my new toolbelt that had a donut holder.
If you truly strip a ton of wire, especially smaller gauges for stuff like microcontrollers or pcb work or whatever, a thermal wire stripper will be awesome for your day to day. They’re expensive as shit so I wouldn’t get one unless you truly strip a ton of wire but you’ll never scratch the wire and have a kink that breaks the connection again. I’ve only used it at work but I want one at home now, they’re super handy for irritating shit like 30awg/wrapping wire where you look at it wrong and it gets kinked and breaks
>mass fusion splices and just anyone that has one still uses a thermal stripper.
Sometimes I had something from the 80s or something with the wrong sized cladding and it just wouldn't strip or line up right with the mass fusion machine and we had to go in the closet and get the old single machine.
Headlamps. I spent a few years holding small flashlights in my mouth doing shit in attics, crawlspaces, under vehicles, outside at night, etc. Headlamps are a godsend. Can basically work all night long with a handy task light on your head.
Have also mounted headlamps to a couple auto darkening welding helmets. Makes welding at night or under vehicles much less of a pita.
Price cheap.
A hand holding a flashlight is wasted. I use my headlamps for all kinds of task lighting and often don't bother turning lights on if I'm just grabbing something from my shop or garage.
Headlamps. I spent a few years holding small flashlights in my mouth doing shit in attics, crawlspaces, under vehicles, outside at night, etc. Headlamps are a godsend. Can basically work all night long with a handy task light on your head.
Have also mounted headlamps to a couple auto darkening welding helmets. Makes welding at night or under vehicles much less of a pita.
Price cheap.
I prefer the magnetic bar LED lights like 80% of the time over headlamps. Get a couple of them and stick them in multiple places while wrenching and they’re great.
Honorable mention, the Gearwrench flex head pass-thru ratchet and socket set. It’s an affordable alternative to spending $200+ on long handle flex head ratcheting box wrenches or the Mountain wrenches and the more expensive Snappy alternative.
Best version of this style of machined headlamp. Only Ali has this style. Not ebay or amazon.
White: 4 levels.
Red: same.
Click briefly for white/ON.
Press and hold for red/ON.
Click for off.
Turning ON, it will go directly to the last saved intensity level for that color.
Every other dopey version has the same body, but the LED's are different, reflector style and whether they even exist, are different. This particular one has only 2 LED's: 1 white LED next to 1 red LED, each in it's own reflector.
Dopey ones require you to turn ON to White, and cycle to Red, every time you turn it on. Killing your night vision/circadian rhythm. And they do not keep the last brightness level, either. Etc.
Get B0B51T5FMH to go with it. The clip that holds the machined aluminium headlamp, on the headstrap, with any model of headlamp of this style body, is plastic. Over time, it will crack, so it breaks. And eventually, after that the strap will stretch out.
The headlamp strap above, fits these machined aluminium headlamps perfectly, and the entire component is silicone. The plastic version these all come with, is uncomfortable directly against your head, over time. The silicone is not.
My criteria was a one-piece, durable, functional metal machined headlight, that accepted (1) 18650 cell. I have an external 4-cell individual intelligent charger, but e.g. when you're out and don't have an extra cell, all of them have a collar that 'unscrews' to reveal a USB C charging port, on the switch end.
The Aliexpress on above, also has more intelligent status LED, under the switch.
It's neat how occassionally you will now see well-designed chinese stuff.
If that thing shits out on you and you want to try something a little less Chinesium, it’s similar to this Coast I got. It’s a single button top 18650 in there, you can charge the cell on its own or in the light, pops out of the strap and has a super strong magnetic cap so it’s a nice worklight. 3 light modes, I think it goes med-high-low, or click it to Med for more than 3 sec and the next button press turns it off. No red light, but it has zoom.
Battery lasts me a week or two of using it intermittently in the morning when it’s dark every day, and I’ve had it for like 2 years now, so this Coast cell might not be the best LG 18650 but it has outlasted every no-name Chinese 18650 light. And if it dies, I’ve got a bunch of flat top 18650s I’ll burn up in there.
been using similiar boruit ones from ali but they don't have the magnetic base
my only criteria when buying them was 18650 cell and usb charging, bought 2 at first and now i have like 10 of them and i've given few as gifts
using old cells from my busted makita batteries so cheap as shit batteries also
only 1 has broken down and it's just something bent in the charging port, i've lost a few but who cares these are not some shitty 150€ ledlensers
The two issues I always have with cheap lights: shitty 18650 cells and shitty magnets. Got the 18650s covered and so love the stick lights for mechanic work, but I need to get down in a pack of like nickel sized rare earth magnets to put on the bottom of those lights so they don’t topple whenever I touch them or shake something. Also the cheap magnets may hold a light on a steel vise, but not sheet metal.
>uuuu I want to buy thing but maybe I won't
No one cares about your life.
See
WHY ARE YOU PAYING AMAZON TO MIDDLEMAN YOUR GLORIOUS SINO-FREIGHT?
https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-LEAD-PENCIL.html
A lightweight headlamp is great for reading a book in bed as well, they make ultralight ones where the strap is a retractable string. Also handy when building a PC, remembering all the times I balanced my phone flashlight on the case in some way.
>Have also mounted headlamps to a couple auto darkening welding helmets
I did the opposite and put a flashlight on my welding helmet lmao. Not that its any better, but I was lazy
air stapler/brad nailer at harbor freight. 30 bucks. put up drywall in a room, using those strips of wood between sheets to cover the cracks in a trailer. holee frick if I didn''t have that, it would have taken me forever and Id never been able to hung the ceiling panels in place with one hand while, hachunking in the other hand. shitty new nails are all very thin, flexible and would have bent. with those ribbed edges they would have torn the wood strips trying to pull them back out after they would have inevitably probably 50% of the time bent.
4 hour job took probably less than 30 minutes
Digital Calipers should be at the top of this list.
Complete game changer for measuring parts, measuring cuts, comparative or relative measurements etc etc.
The very obvious use is, close jaws on something thats 25mm, itll show you 25mm on the screen.
Its GREAT at doing this, being able to measure depths of drilled holes or steps downs of objects is really nice too.
With the Zero button, you can do really interesting comparative measurements too.
>two objects, one is 25mm one is 37mm >close jaws on 25mm object, screen shows 25mm
How much bigger is the other object? >press zero button, position of moving jaw is now considered 0 >now close jaws on 37mm part, screen shows 12mm
Now you can start removing material and rechecking, once you hit 0 you know its the same exact size as the other.
Thats a very basic example, but you can do all sorts of neat stuff with the zero button which makes it a godsend when doing lots of random weird measurements during fabrication.
They cost $15-20 on amazon (maker sure to buy steel ones, dont buy the $5-10 plastic ones unless you are a true poorgay, they kinda suck)
They are all about the same, just pick one.
I bought a HF digital caliper, the ones that are like $25-$30 at full price. It’s a 6” caliper that doesn’t open more than 2” because the grinding and machining is so poor it jams up.
And of course because of HF’s terrible short warranty, I never used it to measure anytjhing >1.5” the first few uses so I was unable to exchange it by the time I wanted to measure something larger for the first time.
I ended up getting another one for a few bucks more that actually opens to 6” and the corners won’t slice your hand open, but it’s still tight. I like the new one because it has inches in decimal points and fractions.
I hesitate to recommend this brand on Amazon though because they definitely buy fake reviews. A few different Chinesium brands sell the same thing rebranded. Don’t know about battery draining because I always take batteries out of those tools since I don’t want to open it after 6mos of no use and find an exploded cell.
I commented before, precision measuring tools are strange. There’s no mid-grade version of them, it’s either straight chinesium or $$$ Starret and Mituyo. You can either get $15-$35 digital calipers that are all the same rebranded Chinesium (even from known brands), or spend $100+ on good ones.
Dial indicators are the same, and the magnetic bases. There’s a ton of cheaper kits that all look the same with <4.0 star reviews, even the name brands just rebrand the same Chinesium, and you don’t really want measuring tools with mixed reviews, so you have to spend a bunch to get high level with 4.9/5 ratings.
There’s no like $60 Gearwrench or Tekton version of these tools with a 4.7/5.0 rating. The closest for measuring tools would maybe be Empire, but I never see their precision stuff. The General Tools brand you will see at the usual stores is the same as the Chinese brands on Amazon.
pic related: Klein VDV226-005 ... $30
I make all my own Cat 6 cables for my home network.
I have a lot of connected devices. Some are wireless, of course, but I wired ethernet to my home theater, to my office, to my gaming computer, to my kid's room, and every device has its own cable that's the right length. It's really satisfying to make high quality custom length Cat 6 cables.
>There’s no mid-grade version of them, it’s either straight chinesium or $$$ Starret and Mituyo.
Damn. I've been meaning to buy a calipers, but hate the thought of buying cheap tools. And I don't think I'd use them enough to justify buying expensive ones.
https://i.imgur.com/Qpm04By.jpg
>Brady bmp41 label maker
Let's you make NEC compliant labels for electrical equipment, and cartridges are available that are capable of withstanding direct sunlight exposure, light chemical exposure, and wet environment exposure. Costs ~$400
I don't use it every day, but I use it often enough and it makes me a bunch of money as a sparky
For making labels at home, I just use adhesive-backed printer paper and print them with my old laser printer. Not as handy as a label maker, but sticker paper is cheap and I have the printer already.
3 months ago
Anonymous
>mn. I've been meaning to buy a calipers, but hate the thought of buying cheap tools.
If you want mid grade calipers get something like Aventors (its the Shars Tegara line, not some random unknown brand)
3 months ago
Anonymous
I just ordered calipers from Shars.
Thanks for the tip.
3 months ago
Anonymous
>It's really satisfying to make high quality custom length Cat 6 cables.
It's bloody annoying and I say that as a professional cable puller. I've got the bigger version of your crimper (the ratcheting one with both RJ45 and RJ11) one and I still fricking hate crimping. Sometimes I need to crimp custom cables (e.g. when I've only got a tiny hole to work with for surveillance cameras) but I generally avoid that like the plague because it's error prone and takes ages. I very much prefer running installation cable terminated in keystones. From there on out I use factory terminated patch cables (which do come in quite the variety of lengths).
digital is convenient, but vernier calipers are better because no batteries, and you can eyeball to a decimal below what the device is marked for. And they dont round the result.
They are more prone to being misread though. You just have to habitually double check. Visibility can be a situational problem with them too.
>There’s no mid-grade version of them, it’s either straight chinesium or $$$ Starret and Mituyo.
Shars has the Aventor brand thats supposedly a step above their shars chinesium brand. About to try some since my General ones died. Those were ok for the price, didnt drain batteries but the inside jaws were like 0.010" off.
I have the HF digital caliper. I worked it back and forth for a few hours and sprayed it many times with WD40 to flush it. After a while I got all the grit out of the motion of it. It will never be as good as better calipers but the accuracy was fine. Never ran out of battery yet and was always accurate to the thousandths anyway. It got me through multiple machine shop classes.
The HF $3.99 multimeter is also cheap but pretty useful, it does what it needs to do.
> drain the battery if you don't remove it when not using them
fricking hate this. I think it is because the case will sometimes hit the on/off button. at least it was with mine. also the cheap ass plastic battery cover broke off.
My wife tried them one time for the bathtub and she didn’t love them.
The toilet brush shaped one is awesome for cleaning car wheels, gets in alloy rims so well.
The little buffing wheels for drills aren’t bad either, they will do most small jobs and spot repair without getting a dedicated buffer.
>The toilet brush shaped one is awesome for cleaning car wheels, gets in alloy rims so well.
nice. I fricking hate cleaning wheels
thermal camera
cordless impact gun
bench power supply
3d printer
All pretty cheap unless you are a poorgay and I only regret not having bought those things sooner.
>thermal camera
I have one and I seem to rarely use it. Things I thought I could do with it, but can't really:
>look for studs in walls >find bad insulation spots in walls/ceiling >look for heat leaks in outdoor structures
Anything metal or plastic seems to frick these up by reflecting light/uv/whatever and giving fricked up readings. After we "found" an insulation leak, and replaced the insulation over that spot it looked exactly the same. I guess that is just showing how heat was being wicked sideways or whatever at that point in the ceiling.
Things I found it insanely useful for that I didn't expect:
>finding my black dog at night while camping >is that noise out there a bear? >is a killer creeping up behind me in the dark?
I find myself outside alone in very dark areas, and lighting them up isn't an option. Having this little bugger with me gives me some serious peace of mind when the paranoia kicks in.
Thermal camera is super awesome for diagnosing electrical shorts on pcbs. Camera on, apply power, look for the red dot.
It’s not foolproof and sometimes the issue is something that either can’t be fixed or isn’t worth fixing like a short inside a bga mounted cpu but it’s fairly often I find the issue is some random surface mount cap that went dead and just needs to be changed out. The only difficult part at that point is figuring out what the value was supposed to have been without any reference
You can do the same basic test by spraying a bunch of flux or isopropyl on the board and seeing where it boils off quickly when you turn it on but the thermal cam is a bit easier to manage/see and doesn’t stink up your bench
>work fine but drain the battery if you don't remove it when not using them.
Every one of my cheap ones does this.
IIRC i read someone claiming that the off button only shuts off the screen but it still draws almost full power.
Its annoying as frick, but I just have a bunch of button cells laying around.
I have several counterfeit mitutoyos, several harbor freight, an amazon random brand one and they all burn batteries.
My real Mitutoyos (a caliper and a quantumike) run for years on a battery.
I forget the name, but I did buy one pair on amazon that uses CR1632 batteries and its battery life is great. Its a completely different design than most but I dont know how prevalent the design is.
I bought counterfeit Mitutoyo 200mm (8") and 300mm (12") calipers on Aliexpress for ~$50 and ~$80. I rarely need them with the parts I make, so I wasnt going to pay the insane real prices.
The counterfeits are surprisingly good quality, a step above most cheap amazon stuff honestly.
I bought them because of their Absolute Origin positioning which most cheap amazon ones dont have.
> drain the battery if you don't remove it when not using them
fricking hate this. I think it is because the case will sometimes hit the on/off button. at least it was with mine. also the cheap ass plastic battery cover broke off.
[...] >The toilet brush shaped one is awesome for cleaning car wheels, gets in alloy rims so well.
nice. I fricking hate cleaning wheels
[...] >thermal camera
I have one and I seem to rarely use it. Things I thought I could do with it, but can't really:
>look for studs in walls >find bad insulation spots in walls/ceiling >look for heat leaks in outdoor structures
Anything metal or plastic seems to frick these up by reflecting light/uv/whatever and giving fricked up readings. After we "found" an insulation leak, and replaced the insulation over that spot it looked exactly the same. I guess that is just showing how heat was being wicked sideways or whatever at that point in the ceiling.
Things I found it insanely useful for that I didn't expect:
>finding my black dog at night while camping >is that noise out there a bear? >is a killer creeping up behind me in the dark?
I find myself outside alone in very dark areas, and lighting them up isn't an option. Having this little bugger with me gives me some serious peace of mind when the paranoia kicks in.
>work fine but drain the battery if you don't remove it when not using them.
Every one of my cheap ones does this.
IIRC i read someone claiming that the off button only shuts off the screen but it still draws almost full power.
Its annoying as frick, but I just have a bunch of button cells laying around.
I have several counterfeit mitutoyos, several harbor freight, an amazon random brand one and they all burn batteries.
My real Mitutoyos (a caliper and a quantumike) run for years on a battery.
I forget the name, but I did buy one pair on amazon that uses CR1632 batteries and its battery life is great. Its a completely different design than most but I dont know how prevalent the design is.
E.E. dropout chiming in. The reason that the cheap ones drain batteries is that the caliper has to keep track of the position even when the display is off. The cheap ones use low power CPUs that don't consume much but after a few months it adds up. The more expensive ones use circuitry and more advanced CPUs that go in deep sleep (draining picoamperes) and wake up within microseconds when they detect movement of the slide. We're talking pennies in parts but you have to understand that the bootleg companies don't necessarily have talented engineers that can design custom ICs, so they make do with what they have access to.
I'm not knocking down a good digital caliper, but manual ones are great too. Very handy to transfer marks and overall comparing things. I always lug a couple or three on work sites. The little screw is super handy to lock down a measurement so you can keep it around to refer to.
Digital calipers dont wear out like dial calipers do. There are no israeliteels, there are no gears, there are no springs, they dont get gummed up.
You can throw your cheap digital caliper across the room and itll still be accurate, your cheap dial caliper is suspect with a small drop.
What exactly are the upsides?
They ARE harder to read, they arent as fast. A dial ring is not the equivalent to using a zero button, ESPECIALLY if you have an Absolute caliper, you literally lose out on functionality.
Im sorry, replacing batteries isnt that big of a deal. Especially when you are in the "Cheap life changing tool" thread. You can trust a cheap digital caliper, I wouldnt be trusting a cheap dial caliper.
Its a second fixed "origin" position that knows where the jaw is at all times.
Absolute origin doesnt change (50mm is 50mm no matter what), and your zero origin that changes wherever you press it.
You put a 50mm part in, press 0/ABS button, screen shows 0 just like a regular caliper.
Press the 0/ABS button again and it swaps back to its real "absolute" measurement so it says 50mm again.
You never have to close the jaws and 0 to reset the calipers ever again. It maker relative measurements easier and more versatile, its mostly useful if you are using lathes and mills where you know exactly how much you are feeding.
I just looked on amazon, they sell the plastic digital calipers for 3.99 shipped prime. Search Digital Caliper and go low price to high.
I bought a pair for shits and giggles
These drill brush heads are great for cleaning tile and grout, vehicle mats and upholstery, getting rid of cat hair in carpets and anything else you would normally use a scrub brush on. You can normally find a set of these for 10$
Just watch out for cheap ones that are flinging wire.
Freaking annoying pulling that out of your sweatshirt. Or stepping on some.
[...]
[...]
E.E. dropout chiming in. The reason that the cheap ones drain batteries is that the caliper has to keep track of the position even when the display is off. The cheap ones use low power CPUs that don't consume much but after a few months it adds up. The more expensive ones use circuitry and more advanced CPUs that go in deep sleep (draining picoamperes) and wake up within microseconds when they detect movement of the slide. We're talking pennies in parts but you have to understand that the bootleg companies don't necessarily have talented engineers that can design custom ICs, so they make do with what they have access to.
Mine freaking auto turns on when an impact occurs. Like closing the case, the draw or setting it down hard.
Annoying, but the batteries are cheap
Ah hell yeah, you can get into all kinds of nooks and crannies with those bad boys. Drill for low speed grime removal. Die grinder if you're looking to fling some wires off! Can also use them for buffing inner tubes and tires for patching.
I just used those, and pumice, to clean my shower cubicle (moulding sealant) and toilet bowl (water stains)
The brushes were good, but the pumice was pretty amazing. You destroy the blocks very quickly, but even the abrasive mud that is produced is incredible to clean ceramic or metals.
Can't say anything about the sink, but the toilet part: when I moved in I noticed that the bowl kept getting darker and darker stains, despite occasional cleaning with a normal brush and some regular-ass toilet cleaning product. One day I walked into a professional cleaning product store open to the public and bought their commercial-grade stuff. A small squirt and very light brushing, lots of foam happens and the stains are gone. I figure there's iron or something in the water here and it shows up on the porcelain.
It's a locally manufactured product. Could very well be
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I
C
or some proprietary blend of herbs and spices. Stop by any institution and ask the janitor what he uses as toilet bowl cleaner and what he tells you is probably the best you could get. They are certainly not using Scrubbing Bubbles.
Check the MSDS for "hydrochloric acid" since muriatic is really an ancient term dating at least to the 1800s. Checking MSDS online is easy and a slick way to find out whats in the magic bottle.
You shouldn't use an abrasive pumice on ceramic. You'll end up scratching through the finish and exposing a more porous surface which will stain and become uncleanable.
agreed. Women seethe that a drill makes their homemaking obsolete.
https://i.imgur.com/HWd47e4.jpg
I just used those, and pumice, to clean my shower cubicle (moulding sealant) and toilet bowl (water stains)
The brushes were good, but the pumice was pretty amazing. You destroy the blocks very quickly, but even the abrasive mud that is produced is incredible to clean ceramic or metals.
you are going to frick up anything that isn't made of porcelain (which is lot of bath fixtures these days)
Can't say anything about the sink, but the toilet part: when I moved in I noticed that the bowl kept getting darker and darker stains, despite occasional cleaning with a normal brush and some regular-ass toilet cleaning product. One day I walked into a professional cleaning product store open to the public and bought their commercial-grade stuff. A small squirt and very light brushing, lots of foam happens and the stains are gone. I figure there's iron or something in the water here and it shows up on the porcelain.
>morons
..and yet, after a single rectification of some rather onerous looking water stains, my shitter is shiny as frick.
I don't plan to do it more then absolutely necessary, and I dont give a shit about the surface on my matte shower floor tiles - which pumice also cleaned oily muck from amazingly well.
So if the pumice is hard enough to actually cause surface damage; it isn't apparent yet, on anything I cleaned with it.
Keep in mind that its not like natural pumice; its extremely consistent and fine.
Missing fasteners happen. Sometimes your taking shit apart and pieces disappear into another dimension, that literally happened one time taking apart a BMX bicycle stem. Those ones have male and female threads, it’s good to have instead of grabbing two of everything at Ace Hardware that look pretty close.
How could this have saved any money? Very clearly, they’ve never been used even once.
*projected savings assuming they are handed down to my grandchildren and they use them to fix something
The one thing I would change is maybe the big scanner, get a cheap Bluetooth scanner instead depending on make of car and available apps/software
If you were going to make up a story, you should have at least said you lost the fastener to something big enough you couldnt walk it into the hardware store.
Odyssey Elementary… look it up, held together by an innovative wedge design. Loosen hardware, give handlebars a nudge, wedges shoot out and hardware reaches escape velocity.
So this is the thing that was far too big to walk into a hardware store with?
3 months ago
Anonymous
Sheeit, it looks like it originally came with 2 bolts in case you lost one!
3 months ago
Beppu
Damn I had an early version or I lost the other one. Also that shit is often a display model at a bike shop and you buy it out of a glass case.
3 months ago
Beppu
That was just the most impressive one where hardware escaped the solar system’s gravitational field.
I had AutoZone give me 2 different optional lug nut sizes for a Jeep once. One was metric, one was SAE. Glad I didn’t have to remove a stud from the car or buy 2 sets of lug nuts and waste the time to return one of them.
3 months ago
Anonymous
Thats a bit of a better story, Im just wondering where the other ~19 or so lug nuts (which you could have walked into autozone with) went.
I bought the same thing a couple years ago. One standard and one metric. It's perfect if you have a ton of random bolts that you're trying to organize. It also worked well when I did a manual swap in my old Prelude and I wanted to replace critical bolts.
But more seriously, 5 minute epoxy, works better than super glue, and ways duct tape never could. I've never tested it but I imagine you could also print completely hollow 3D parts then just fill it with epoxy mix (if it doesn't desolve the plastic)
$5-15 depending on quantity.
>There are 3 different people posting examples of how they use it
And all "3" are complete and utter invalids who laud as seen on TV tools, made specifically for people who are too stupid to build anything.
Tell us about your Gator Grip and your Tiger Wrench!
Lets see your most recent hot glue repair!
This is the annoying form of autism NOT like the movie rainman where you sperg out over someone measuring screws rather than driving to the hardware store and guessing 100 different thread pitches because then you could save $12
Its a second fixed "origin" position that knows where the jaw is at all times.
Absolute origin doesnt change (50mm is 50mm no matter what), and your zero origin that changes wherever you press it.
You put a 50mm part in, press 0/ABS button, screen shows 0 just like a regular caliper.
Press the 0/ABS button again and it swaps back to its real "absolute" measurement so it says 50mm again.
You never have to close the jaws and 0 to reset the calipers ever again. It maker relative measurements easier and more versatile, its mostly useful if you are using lathes and mills where you know exactly how much you are feeding.
Post your smooth, delicate, and almost transparent hands.
gaygit
and
This is the annoying form of autism NOT like the movie rainman where you sperg out over someone measuring screws rather than driving to the hardware store and guessing 100 different thread pitches because then you could save $12
[...]
Not reading that. Still enjoying my dial calipers
If you’ve never had to go to the hardware store and guess the closest threads and either buy more sizes than needed or gotten the wrong size, you haven’t repaired much. At minimum, maybe you could bring the part with the other threads in, but it’s large and/or requires taking apart more of an assembly than you need to. And if it’s a part for a plumbing fixture or something electrical, that could mean shutting off services for a time to pull the part off and bring it to Ace Hardware.
God forbid you need a specialized fastener you need to order on the internet, I’m not sure they will let you ship them the assembly so they can find the proper bolt and send all of it back.
>If you’ve never had to go to the hardware store and guess the closest threads and either buy more sizes than needed or gotten the wrong size, you haven’t repaired much
If you unironically cant tell what a fastener size is by eye, you havent done much PrepHole.
If you cant tell fine thread vs coarse thread, you might need glasses.
If you havent spent $20 buying all the normal sized bulk fasteners and keep them on hand, you unironically dont deserve to be on this board.
>It's for casuals who don't have bins upon bins of every common size, and need just one or a few, and it greatly simplifies that process.
True, and those moronic casuals need called out for being stupid.
It would cost you like $25 to buy bulk fasteners at the hardware store, it blows my mind people havent actually done that but are proud to say they order fasteners at 300% markup on amazon.
Show me where you can get a $25 assortment of all common sizes, from 4 to 1/2, that has at least 10-20 fasteners for each common length and not just random short lengths that could fit in a bin. I'll even allow chinesium garbage.
>And if it’s a part for a plumbing fixture or something electrical, that could mean shutting off services for a time to pull the part off and bring it to Ace Hardware.
You do realize that your tool checker is missing most of the Machine Screw sizes, and has no NPT plumbing sizes at all right?
NPT is easy enough, and if it’s an odd size machine screw, then you can rule out 4-5 thread sizes you don’t have to buy at the hardware store, so life is still easier with the thread checker.
>NPT is easy enough
True, thats the crux of this conversation. Almost all of it is "easy enough" with minor experience.
Once you start doing fabrication, or restoration or any discipline really, you realize only a handful of sizes ever get used for said application.
Context clues and visual cues, and just its actual size are pretty easy to guess what it is.
If you were real worried about it, you grab your caliper and hit it, you know right away what it is.
And if you CANT do that yet, you need to be paying more attention and getting more experience with your projects.
Spending $20 on a gimmick crutch tool is dumb when you should be building up a stock of fasteners and trying to actually learn your craft.
Dont you feel a little shame sitting here implying that you need some shitty tool to tell what a m10 bolt looks like, despite being mr mechanic man?
But they aren’t. But again, stay mad because people like different things than you.
Do you frickers not have nicely organized bolt bins full of bolts to check threads with? Lol. Lmao even!
And all of you with your calipers know you can use them to measure the major diameter of the threads too right? And then a simple screw pitch gauge found in most tap and die sets will tell you your thread pitch.
Not gonna lie, i do own a screw checker too, but really haven't used it at all.
First of all, no I don’t have a rack of nicely organized bolts from 3mm to 12mm, plus SAE. But even if I did, I just find it easier to quickly check with a tool. I get that some people don’t need to. My boomer dad couldn’t even wrap his head around it ( I had him buy it for me as a present ). He literally couldn’t conceive of a situation where’d he’d use it, because I’ve seen how he works. He’s got to take the bolt or nut back to his garage, dig through a bunch of drawers to find the match. Or he’s gotta remember to bring the bolt, but then he stops off at the hardware store on the way home from work and forgot the bolt. So he just buys two or three boxes of whatever he thinks it will be. It’s easier for me to have one tool I can reach for, that I can carry up a ladder, or take out to my car, or take to a friends house.
I diy shit man. I don’t do this every fricking day. If you dropped a 8 mm bolt and a 10-32 in front of me, I wouldn’t know which is which. I wouldn’t know where to start guessing. And I’m ok with that.
>If you’ve never had to go to the hardware store and guess the closest threads and either buy more sizes than needed or gotten the wrong size, you haven’t repaired much
If you unironically cant tell what a fastener size is by eye, you havent done much PrepHole.
If you cant tell fine thread vs coarse thread, you might need glasses.
If you havent spent $20 buying all the normal sized bulk fasteners and keep them on hand, you unironically dont deserve to be on this board.
The "maker" movement was a mistake
>It's for casuals who don't have bins upon bins of every common size, and need just one or a few, and it greatly simplifies that process.
True, and those moronic casuals need called out for being stupid.
It would cost you like $25 to buy bulk fasteners at the hardware store, it blows my mind people havent actually done that but are proud to say they order fasteners at 300% markup on amazon.
So much mad. How do you navigate real life without imploding from anger at all the “morons” out there?
You know what else Dad? I don’t change my own oil, and I wait 5-7000 miles between changes. I sometimes use a pair of pliers to turn a nut, if that is what is closer to me than a ratchet. I’d rather buy a small, more expensive ziplock bag of bolts than have another whole box of bolts, even though it is cheaper. I pay $6 for an iced mocha at Starbucks. I’d probably pay $10 if I really wanted one before I would go home and brew some coffee for 50c. Cuz idgaf
>You know what else Dad? I don’t change my own oil, and I wait 5-7000 miles between changes. I sometimes use a pair of pliers to turn a nut, if that is what is closer to me than a ratchet. I’d rather buy a small, more expensive ziplock bag of bolts than have another whole box of bolts, even though it is cheaper. I pay $6 for an iced mocha at Starbucks. I’d probably pay $10 if I really wanted one before I would go home and brew some coffee for 50c. Cuz idgaf
>Next thread. "Why am I so poor, I can't afford anything! Boomers have ruined everything!"
Do you frickers not have nicely organized bolt bins full of bolts to check threads with? Lol. Lmao even!
And all of you with your calipers know you can use them to measure the major diameter of the threads too right? And then a simple screw pitch gauge found in most tap and die sets will tell you your thread pitch.
Not gonna lie, i do own a screw checker too, but really haven't used it at all.
Nah, seriously I just go to my bins and get the right size the first time by checking against old threads if it's something I'm not sure about. Most the time I can just grab what I need by sight and knowing whether what I'm working on has been standard or metric hardware up to that point.
But occasionally I will get some truly oddball shit and will have to break out the calipers and thread gauge. But here's the deal. Your screw checker isn't going to have that odd thread either. And neither will most common hardware stores.
>Your screw checker isn't going to have that odd thread either
Not what it's for. It's for casuals who don't have bins upon bins of every common size, and need just one or a few, and it greatly simplifies that process. We get it; you guys are like arduino haters, who can't stop gatekeeping.
>It's for casuals who don't have bins upon bins of every common size, and need just one or a few, and it greatly simplifies that process.
True, and those moronic casuals need called out for being stupid.
It would cost you like $25 to buy bulk fasteners at the hardware store, it blows my mind people havent actually done that but are proud to say they order fasteners at 300% markup on amazon.
Not that anon, my JET bench grinder manufactured in like ~2010.
I lost the arbor nut, turns out its a reverse thread 1/2-12 BSW
I know that a lot of big chink tools in the 70s-80s used BSF and BSW threaded shit for some reason, some bench grinder to this day do.
Another one sitting in my garage is a nice Millers Falls hand vice I have. Its missing the handle that threads into the side. Its a 3/8-20 NS thread. I still havent gotten around to making a new handle for it.
If you work on any vintage british car or motorcycle they use BSF and BSW.
I wont even get into vintage machine tools having custom TPI fasteners. We had to make custom TPI gib screws for an old screwmachine lathe in the shop.
Do you honestly believe that oddball thread sizes dont exist?
>Do you honestly believe that oddball thread sizes dont exist?
Who the hell said that? It was a legit question. Of course oddball shit exists. I was curious about what other diy'ers encounter outside of the most common fasteners because it most likely points to cool and unique projects.
I got an Epson LW-700PX, like 130 dollars on Amazon and you can do heat shrink, self-laminating wraps, magnet strips
The cartridges are brutally expensive (40ish dollars for heat shrink) but you can get cheap clones on AliExpress (like 6 bucks shipped) if you're just working around the house
Are the knockoff cartridges any good? I have been disappointed with cheap HP refill cartridges. One set was awesome, go to reorder on Amazon and the brand is gone, so I try to find the next highest rated, and that one frickin sucks and it takes a couple pages of printing before it comes out 80% as sharp as the OEM HP ink.
We all know Lowe’s sucks for most stuff unless you’re trying to pick up a married housewife, but this is a reminder that you may want to cougar-chase every blue moon and check out the clearance sections.
Since nobody actually shops at Lowe’s, tons of their useful stuff just sits around until they do a reset of tools a boomer’s wife would buy and it goes on clearance.
>200pc Dremel accessory set for $10
IME, the Dremel branded bits are a little overpriced, but they’re better than the no-name cheap assortments on Amazon
>$11 10” Knipex Cobras
Like $40 on Amazon. They didn’t have a spot, but were sitting on top of the Wiha pliers on some power wing thingy in the <18” of space they gave Wiha. They had 5pc Wiha screwdriver sets for dirt cheap a year ago
A couple more honorable mentions. I got a 2pk of Spyder 40T 10” blades somewhat recently on clearance for like $20 as well. Can’t go wrong with super cheap consumables. The Spyder 7-1/4” 24T 2pks of blades can be found for like $6 as well.
Pretty much all of the Klein Packout type boxes were on clearance for maybe 10%-20% off, and a few of the sets like picrel were on clearance, which is a good deal considering there’s never really sales on Klein stuff, and this was already a good buy at full price.
Lots of Craftsman kits on sale. Some Kobalt wrench sets too. They had the 5pc jumbo wrench sets, like the 7/8+ and 20mm+, on clearance for around half off.
Oh and basically every Kobalt bare tool was on clearance. The next aisle over had some good deals too, like $79 for two of their newer high output 4.0s. No telling if they’re going to kill the brand or they have Gen2 stuff coming, but they have been getting rid of lots of Kobalt 24V at certain stores ever since the Craftsman came around.
If you’re already on the Kobalt 24V system, stock up now. If you’re looking to get on a new battery platform, you may not want to risk getting stuck on a platform that’s dying.
Lots of Craftsman kits on sale. Some Kobalt wrench sets too. They had the 5pc jumbo wrench sets, like the 7/8+ and 20mm+, on clearance for around half off.
https://i.imgur.com/1OFUU3o.jpg
Pretty much all of the Klein Packout type boxes were on clearance for maybe 10%-20% off, and a few of the sets like picrel were on clearance, which is a good deal considering there’s never really sales on Klein stuff, and this was already a good buy at full price.
https://i.imgur.com/IR10XrV.jpg
A couple more honorable mentions. I got a 2pk of Spyder 40T 10” blades somewhat recently on clearance for like $20 as well. Can’t go wrong with super cheap consumables. The Spyder 7-1/4” 24T 2pks of blades can be found for like $6 as well.
https://i.imgur.com/Cne4ymV.jpg
Speaking of cheap tools…
We all know Lowe’s sucks for most stuff unless you’re trying to pick up a married housewife, but this is a reminder that you may want to cougar-chase every blue moon and check out the clearance sections.
Since nobody actually shops at Lowe’s, tons of their useful stuff just sits around until they do a reset of tools a boomer’s wife would buy and it goes on clearance.
>200pc Dremel accessory set for $10
IME, the Dremel branded bits are a little overpriced, but they’re better than the no-name cheap assortments on Amazon
>$11 10” Knipex Cobras
Like $40 on Amazon. They didn’t have a spot, but were sitting on top of the Wiha pliers on some power wing thingy in the <18” of space they gave Wiha. They had 5pc Wiha screwdriver sets for dirt cheap a year ago
I thought this was the "life changing tool" thread, not "mediocre everyday tool sale" thread
3 months ago
Bepis
$11 Cobras are life changing breh. Cobras for every common folk!
>NPT is easy enough
True, thats the crux of this conversation. Almost all of it is "easy enough" with minor experience.
Once you start doing fabrication, or restoration or any discipline really, you realize only a handful of sizes ever get used for said application.
Context clues and visual cues, and just its actual size are pretty easy to guess what it is.
If you were real worried about it, you grab your caliper and hit it, you know right away what it is.
And if you CANT do that yet, you need to be paying more attention and getting more experience with your projects.
Spending $20 on a gimmick crutch tool is dumb when you should be building up a stock of fasteners and trying to actually learn your craft.
Dont you feel a little shame sitting here implying that you need some shitty tool to tell what a m10 bolt looks like, despite being mr mechanic man?
If you’re a sparky and deal with 4 different sizes SAE of fasteners all day, then sure, go to the van and grab another screw for that receptacle.
3 months ago
Anonymous
>people finally give you benefit of the doubt, saying you might have the ability to not be a total hack >"nah, im going to argue for days about how much of a hack i am"
SAD!
3 months ago
Bepis
About the thread thing? Hey man this is DIY where you might not know M6 from 1/4”-20 or whatever the hell. If you’re in one trade with a bunch of common fasteners, it’s much easier, which is why I said even I can tell 1/2” from 3/4” NPT and I’m a moronic shitposter.
The “thread checkers are dumb” anon was making moronic points to argue with numerous people who enjoy having a thread checker necklace. This is the internet after all.
3 months ago
Anonymous
> this is DIY where you might not know M6 from 1/4”-20 or whatever the hell.
True, board is filled with larpers and makers who are too stupid to realize a Honda doesnt use SAE fasteners, or that bolts literally have markings telling you if its SAE or Metric.
I love how you continually lump yourself in with such hacks.
3 months ago
Anonymous
Even machinists use thread checkers, like my (rich) shopownerbro who gave me mine from a pile a salesdroid gave him. It's easy to memorize what's common to your daily tasks though.
3 months ago
Anonymous
Machinist use pitch gages.
But as was previously posted
>dude why would you use 1 tool when you could use 2 separate tools and a reference chart
thats far too much work for the average maker to do.
3 months ago
Anonymous
He of course has those, the checkers are for quick checks because they don't require measuring the major diameter AND using the pitch gauge. Checker lives on his desk, pitch gauges in his Kennedy box. For fast matchup of hardware on repair jobs they're ample.
I also have both. Checker hangs where I wrench near disposable HF calipers (which work fine checked against standards). My pitch gauges stay with tap and die set in my Kennedy box along with Mitutoyo and Tesa calipers I wish to preserve.
BTW keep an eye out for auctions as I'm seeing more lately including a whole Nucor warehouse being auctioned for removal since it had not finished construction. Bidspotter listings etc are pretty good.
I like the auctions who filter idiots by requiring a deposit which is not used in the bidding, just as proof bidder is serious (the transaction is a money request subsequently cancelled, standard with the big auction firms). Keeps out the nosepickers. When asked your "probable spend" always say several grand. That's another trick to filter the shitbirds.
I'm not seeing recession level auctions yet but smell a soft recession coming which would be nice for self and bro to finish our equipment collections.
3 months ago
Anonymous
>BTW keep an eye out for auctions as I'm seeing more lately including a whole Nucor warehouse being auctioned for removal since it had not finished construction. Bidspotter listings etc are pretty good.
Just checked them out. Mostly cannibis and brewery related stuff. My go to auction sites are big iron, auction time, purple wave and of course the iron planet and gov planet auctions. Never actually bought stuff off of gov planet yet, but thought about it. Big iron and auction time have been good to me for buying farm equipment.
3 months ago
Anonymous
Post pics of tap and die set
3 months ago
Anonymous
keep your eye out for EV related businesses going under. Maybe score some sweet batteries.
3 months ago
Anonymous
a tool cant be life changing if it sits unused in the garage for the rest of your life
nor can it be cheap if you only took a picture in the store so you could pretend to have bought it to impress anonymous strangers on the internet
sadly this is the closest tripfriends can get
3 months ago
Bepis
Ohhh babygurl you know I didn’t leave that Cobra sitting there for somebody else to find.
3 months ago
Anonymous
I found a pair of small doyle on the road the other day.
Is koballz really an 18 V system, like the fake dewalt “20 V” maxxx system?
3 months ago
Bepis
No it’s 24V. DeWalt’s 18V aka 20V system is 5x 3.6V cells in parallel. Kobalt and Flex have 24V systems, which is 6 cells in parallel, but I guess it would be 21.6V using the nominal voltage like Milwaukee and Makita 18V.
Also all of the 12V tools are 3 cells, so they’re technically 10.8V nominal. Bur 18V is closer to 21V fully charged, 12V is like 12.6V fully charged, and 24V is 25.2V with max charge
With respect to performance, it all depends on motor and batteries, but I guess 24V and 6 cells makes it a little easier to get higher power tools, which is why Flex does real well in all these max power tests. But there’s a lot more to it.
3 months ago
Anonymous
I think you mean series. Parallel cells have the same battery voltage as the individual cells.
3 months ago
Bepis
Yes meant series. My proofreader was out to lunch. Don’t listen to anything on PrepHole ever.
https://i.imgur.com/PS8QaXv.png
This guy is fricking UNHINGED
First day on PrepHole?
We have lots of larpers and crazies, but Bepis takes the cake, and he does it on 2-3 other boards simultaneously
I mean it was 5 consecutive pics on an IMAGEBOARD. Please explain how to post correctly on an IMAGEBOARD.
Also filter anon is missing out on the good deals at Blowe’s.
2 months ago
Anonymous
>I mean it was 5 consecutive pics on an IMAGEBOARD. >Please explain how to post correctly on an IMAGEBOARD.
2 months ago
Anonymous
i agree, that kind of crop is moronic
2 months ago
Beppu
Kek
Why do you walk around taking pictures of the most moronic shit ever? It has to be something pretty unique for me to think, "Hey i should take a picture of this!"
I also run a YT channel where I’m a gay animated bear talking about the sales at Harbor Freight. Go check it out!
frfr ik ur jelly of my $11 cobras
2 months ago
Anonymous
>I also run a YT channel where I’m a gay animated bear talking about the sales at Harbor Freight.
You have literally spent the last 6 years regurgitating people like him on here
2 months ago
Bepis
Because I AM HE BEAR!
I’m also AvE but don’t tell anybody because my secret canuck identity outside of Vancouver must be hidden.
2 months ago
Anonymous
>I’m also AvE but don’t tell anybody because my secret canuck identity outside of Vancouver must be hidden.
I knew you posted on this board, you dont care people know who you are now?
2 months ago
Beppu
It’s anonymous ya c**t!
https://i.imgur.com/mo88NIg.jpg
something that has improved my life that seemed so obvious but i just didn't fricking think about til i saw someone else doing it: put a 10" folding pruning saw in my toolbag. when I have to work outdoors in a place with a lot of overgrowth, it will clear a working space in minutes, and this mf actually rips construction lumber hella fast, as well as any other soft material you need to cut, you just have to account for the wider kerf. I feel like a moron for using a fricking recip-saw blade handle and those tiny recip blades for so long for this shit
I have a little like 8” blade one, somewhere between a pruning saw and a drywall saw, in my small go-bag, have considered ditching it from the bag but that stupid thing comes in handy once in a blue moon.
2 months ago
Bepis
>Habor Freight releases tons of new brands to clarify their lineup >Doyle pliers and screwdrivers are the new “Best” and supposed to be the replacement for Klein >Wait, we forgot Icon! That’s the new “Best-est” and is nothing but Snap On and Knipex copies! >tfw the Doyle line has Knipex copies too >new loppers and snippers for yard work, just like the ones Klein sells, right? >Doyle! Your replacement for Klein, Channellock, some Knipex unless you want the Icon Knipex, and now Fiskars!
Also the Fiskars trimmers must be about the same price as those Doyles. I hate Harbor Freight so much.
2 months ago
Anonymous
What exactly is the point of this post?
Its straight rambling about nothing.
2 months ago
Anonymous
Just ignore him, he basically uses this site as his personal blog because no one in real life listens to him either.
2 months ago
Bepis
>Its straight rambling about nothing.
Yes
2 months ago
Beppu
Pls send AIM address so I can have you photoshop all of my pics.
2 months ago
Anonymous
Why do you walk around taking pictures of the most moronic shit ever? It has to be something pretty unique for me to think, "Hey i should take a picture of this!"
3 months ago
Bepis
No it’s 24V. DeWalt’s 18V aka 20V system is 5x 3.6V cells in parallel. Kobalt and Flex have 24V systems, which is 6 cells in parallel, but I guess it would be 21.6V using the nominal voltage like Milwaukee and Makita 18V.
Also all of the 12V tools are 3 cells, so they’re technically 10.8V nominal. Bur 18V is closer to 21V fully charged, 12V is like 12.6V fully charged, and 24V is 25.2V with max charge
With respect to performance, it all depends on motor and batteries, but I guess 24V and 6 cells makes it a little easier to get higher power tools, which is why Flex does real well in all these max power tests. But there’s a lot more to it.
The Kobalt and Flex 24Vbattery packs are also going to be 20% longer and heavier than other 18V battery packs because there are 20% more cells. Picrel isn’t the greatest comparison because the Ridgid pack has more plastic on it, but you would be able to easily see the difference with a 2.0Ah DeWalt pack and a 2.0Ah Kobalt pack
Wonder if that’s the circuit breaker finder or a wire tracer.
I got the Klein one first, realizing it’s sort of useless for the issue I needed to tackle because it’s worthless on a dead outlet. Got the cheap HF tracer which is actually pretty neat because it can do stuff other than 120VAC typical outlets, but I was hoping it would go deeper. Not very effective behind drywall, and I need to find where this unpowered 120V circuit goes bad. But I didn’t want to spend $$$ on this one outlet.
I have the same Klein set too with the tester pen and the adapter set.
I assumed Klein was overpriced, but you really can tell the difference in quality just by holding one. They use a very high grade plastic on these and their screwdrivers. Their shit is solid.
Remember covid when there was a shortage of picrel temp guns? The cheapest ones like picrel were going for like $40 on ebay from whoever had them in stock lmao
I had the General Tools precision screwdriver deal with the same exact style of handle and case except it’s driver bits instead of picks and hooks. It was horrible, the bits did not hold in place at all, and it’s not like you can get that much torque through a tiny handle.
I’m surprised you haven’t lost all of the hook style picks when they fell out behind a wall or into an engine bay or behind a body panel.
Wrt thermal cam for short repair were you doing through hole stuff? I don’t really frick with through hole stuff much these days. I’d imagine it’s less effective for that because of what you mentioned like parts are wrapped and/or encapsulated. Plus the parts just being much larger would probably make them take a bit more time to heat up whereas an 0402 cap that shorting will get crazy hot basically instantly. Although I’ve been burned pretty bad by shorted through hole caps and have seen them explode pretty spectacularly so I dunno
probably just re-iterating things from higher in this thread but >knipex twin grip pliers
great for hose clamps, great for everything. if it can't get a screw loose it will at least rip the head apart in the process >icon ratchets
cheap but they feel real nice and make me happy >decent multimeter
total game changer having a multimeter with long leads and having an extra set of leads with alligator clips on the end. helps diagnose everything and has saved me a ton of money on replacing sensors that still work. >cordless impact, sawzall, angle grinder
more expensive but obviously useful. you can take these three basically anywhere and they do things that are sometimes even impossible by hand >cordless heat gun
this one is probably unique. I bought mine to try and remove a windshield at a junkyard. it didn't work for that, but I've wound up using it an enormous amount for things I never anticipated to. great for heat shrink obviously, also nice for warming up your hands at a junkyard. My wife borrowed it for about a week to unlock her old truck in the morning when the locks were frozen shut. I use it to reheat old adhesives to get stuff to stick in the cold etc etc etc.
best $80 I ever accidentally spent.
>knipex
pic related is a game changer for dykes. every pair should be in the bolt cutter format. its so buttery smooth and worth the money.
you in 40 years will appreciate the lack of Arthritis, and the increased productivity.
used it to splice thick gauge red top horse fencing and it made it go so much faster.
I have a set of WISS mini bolt cutters and I have never been a fan. Good diagonal cutters go through most shit that will fit in the jaws of the mini bolt cutters, and anything the dykes don’t get through that fits in the bolt cutters, the handles on those Wiss ones end up super wide and it’s hard to get a good bite on them. Maybe the knipex are better but I wouldn’t spend $50+ on them without finding a good use for them first.
Seeing all the posts about pliers, but nobody mentioning locking pliers
If you were to have just one set of pliers, the locking ones can be handy in so many more ways. You just don't know until you own a pair.
Sure, they're quite as comfortable as regular pliers for simply being used as a wrench, but once you're dealing with a stripped bolt, need to reach in to an awkward place or, ofc, clamp something down.
You can still find them. For a minute, the price went down after they stopped making them, not sure what it is now.
Supposedly Snap On bought up a lot of the equipment to make the Eagle Grips, so you will still be able to buy good USA locking pliers for the forseeable future, but I’m sure they will be 2x-3x what the Malcos cost.
Just think if Malco had worked with Home Depot and did a holiday special with a 7” and 10” curved jaw pack in a shipper with a big American flag for like $39.99…
Sure, $40-$50 would still be a lot of money for two vise grips, but not so expensive that guys wouldn’t snag them or get them as a stocking stuffer. And rhe company wouldn’t lose money on them at $20ea, then word would get around fast that they’re the best vise grips anybody has sold for 25+ years and dudes would be buying them like they do for $40 Klein linesmans even though there’s plenty of cheaper competition.
>Vise grips are Chinese garbage. Get Malcos if you want American style, or Grip Ons if you like having based euro style pull release
Old vise grips were pretty good. The Bremen ones from HF are good for clamping stuff for welding, but the jaws of course aren't as sharp or hard as the Malcos.
I bought a couple pairs of the Malcos and keep them locked away from the welding vise grips just for when I really need them to grip and bite and twist out that absolutely fricked broken bolt or screw or whatever emergency thing I need them for.
the hardware stores around me are so old and low volume you can sometimes still find 40 year old made in usa crescent wrenches or vise grips in the original packaging (not the original price tho)
specifically, I recommend keeping a pair of straight jaw vice grips in your car to pinch cables. Saved me twice when a brake line burst and I could just clamp it off and run with 3 brakes to make it somewhere. Also mechanic's wire, which is like a dollar for 50 feet to hang your exhaust back up when it falls off, tie things down, etc.
Had a window regulator shit out on my car so I pulled the door card real quick and stuck some vise grips on the rail to hold it up til i cold get the parts.
As far as the wire, not a bad option, but I’m partial to zip ties. Run a handful together and get some length. Not the best for a hot exhaust though.
Cheap endoscope.
Just used it today to relearn a Masterlock dial lock's number after shimming and opening it.
Have used it before to inspect an engine internals, gun barrel before buying the gun, blocked drain pipe and wife's vegana
>Have used it before to inspect an engine internals, gun barrel before buying the gun, blocked drain pipe and wife's vegana
I can imagine you sitting there in the kitchen as it gets later and later with your endoscope in hand. When finally your wife comes through the door from her "girls night out"
"You know the drill" you say gruffly. Your wife begins sobbing gently as she climbs up on the table...
A few years back I bought a full set of the various sizes of Vise Grip brand locking pliers from the 70s or so. Got them in and cleaned and greased them, and they have been great. I'll add on that the Stanley locking crescent wrench is a really great tool as well.
I bought a pair of yellow handled kientools ones 3 years ago. They can still be pushed through paper despite being used on stupidly thick rubber and other silly shit I should have used shears on.
Look up 12" stainless scissors on ebay and buy some of those. I have gotten them a few times and even given them as gifts. They plain kick ass and are great for cutting through large fluffy stuff like foam or insulation or tough stuff like carpet and rubber. Even mud flaps and some conveyor belting. Hell i have even used them for cutting sheet metal a time or two. Get a couple pairs. One to absolutely abuse and one for finer work. I have only had to throw out one pair when my kid dropped them on the concrete floor just right and one handle snapped off. But they are cheap so no big deal.
I just go Fiskars for tons of gardening and scissors and that stuff. They’re not cheap AliExpress stuff, but they’re not super extra special premium, however I have had so many cheap scissors and cutting toos be absolute trash after a couple uses and the Fiskars always works as expected for years to come. It’s the “buy once, cry once” except their stuff isn’t even prohibitively expensive. I have like 3 pairs of no-name scissors/shears around the garage that I’m waiting to replace with Fiskars when I see a replacement version I like at a fair price.
If you want to be cook, get the Engineer shears that are made in Japan, they’re supposed to be nice.
I imagine he’s talking about the condensate drain?
Buy a used dynatel 2273 off ebay. They used to be a lot cheaper. Seems like these advanced tool guys have a bunch and paid to be on top
Damn that thing is intense, probably above my needs. I just wanted a wire tracer that I could crank up enough to see through maybe some conduit and a layer of drywall. The Harbor Freight one does its job when you have access to the wires in a box or panel, but not beyond that.
I think most of them aren’t built to go through walls unless you step up to something like that 2273 underground tracer. They’re made so you can pick a wire out in a box, and if the signal was strong enough to go through walls or dirt, when you’re in a box trying to trace wires, you would have a strong signal across the room.
I saved those from the few C rats I was issued but carried a stainless G.I. pocket knife which has much better mechanical advantage. Now my various Leathermans open cans when camping because mechanical avantage is pure win.
My Edlund 11100 is a real life changer because I could easily one-hand large food cans while recovering from shoulder replacement. The cost spread over decades is utterly painless as with any productive, quality tool.
Combination squares of varying lengths
Coping saw
Japanese pull saw
gaffer tape
pack of 100 carpenters pencils that you scatter into every drawer, desk, shelf, and toolbox you have
I did the bulk big orange square ones for a time. But they suck for precision unless you're just doing rough framing. I went and got picrel for $15 on amazon and haven't gone back.
20 years ago they (the blue black and gold ones) were architects/draftsmans pencils.
Also now there is this refinement on the carpenters pencil. Accurate, shadey, and calligraphic.
I keep going back and forth on snagging those big ones. Lowe’s had the Ox brand ones on sale, but they’re still about as much as a 3pk on Amazon with 3 different colors. I don’t want to buy a piece of shit on Amazon or spend $60 for 3x Ox or that popular green name brand plus the colored leads unless they’re that much better than carpenter pencils.
WHY ARE YOU PAYING AMAZON TO MIDDLEMAN YOUR GLORIOUS SINO-FREIGHT?
https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-LEAD-PENCIL.html
2 months ago
Anonymous
Because maybe I want it in a couple days and not 6 weeks from now?
Once I bought a flashlight from Ali for like $30 as a Christmas gift for someone. 2 months AFTER Christmas it finally arrived...WET. The whole factory box was soaking wet like it washed up on shore having floated over from China.
2 months ago
Anonymous
Two months is so 2020
I typically get 12 day delivery, or less. Unless it has seafreight-only contents.
...and yeah, you cant expect to order during lead-up to any of the major holidays and get prompth delivery. Especially now that the pool is closed to infidel ships in the middle east.
The amazon retractable permanent markers are pretty dope too. They're bigger and fatter than the Sharpie brand ones.
Very useful using one handed and you don't have to pull the cap off with your teeth.
>pack of 100 carpenters pencils that you scatter into every drawer, desk, shelf, and toolbox
I do this with bulk packs of plumbers tape. Then every time I grab one it's always dried out and rotted and I have to hit up my stashes all over the house and vehicle.
something that has improved my life that seemed so obvious but i just didn't fricking think about til i saw someone else doing it: put a 10" folding pruning saw in my toolbag. when I have to work outdoors in a place with a lot of overgrowth, it will clear a working space in minutes, and this mf actually rips construction lumber hella fast, as well as any other soft material you need to cut, you just have to account for the wider kerf. I feel like a moron for using a fricking recip-saw blade handle and those tiny recip blades for so long for this shit
>pumice
Just the blocks, they are easy to break, and disintegrate extremely rapidly, so you have to develop a technique for holding them while maximizing thier usefulness before they get thin enough to snap. But a handfull of broken bits is still useful as grit.
Some do come with handles, but thats not really useful except for making them snap more easily.
Using them in conjunction with one of the drill mounted brushes listed above is quite effective.
Do some hand work on the corners and grout lines, then hit it with the brush. Don't allow any mud to escape till you have finished pushing it around and brushing everyhting.
It's harsh on skin if you rub it on yourself, but hand holding it to clean other things isnt a problem.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006174029637.html
this thing looks awesome, thanks for recommending it anon
See
https://i.imgur.com/F6lqSkA.jpg
If that thing shits out on you and you want to try something a little less Chinesium, it’s similar to this Coast I got. It’s a single button top 18650 in there, you can charge the cell on its own or in the light, pops out of the strap and has a super strong magnetic cap so it’s a nice worklight. 3 light modes, I think it goes med-high-low, or click it to Med for more than 3 sec and the next button press turns it off. No red light, but it has zoom.
Battery lasts me a week or two of using it intermittently in the morning when it’s dark every day, and I’ve had it for like 2 years now, so this Coast cell might not be the best LG 18650 but it has outlasted every no-name Chinese 18650 light. And if it dies, I’ve got a bunch of flat top 18650s I’ll burn up in there.
Hey I have a couple pairs of those... They do werk bretty gud. Been using them to pull some nails out of pallet wood. Also if you salvage pallet wood one of these pneumatic nail removers is a freakin time saver and a half. For best results get an old oil barrel and pull the large bung, or a lid for a trash can and put a 2" diameter or so hole in it and put the nail that you are about to shoot out of the board over that hole so it contains the nails. A normal burn barrel with an open top will still have those nails ricocheting out of the barrel and then you gotta pick them up.
I used to think that all multi-bit screwdrivers sucked until I tried this bad boy. I do a LOT of allen head screwing for work and this thing has replaced my T handles for all applications besides when I need the length/slimness of the T handle. I also got the version with phillips, flat, star etc. Been using them both for years now. Specifically talking about the Megapro one I at least know that it's held up.
Drill too fat to get in the narrow spaces to screw down circuit boards and other shit I deal with. I also like feeling out the tension by hand on a lot of the stuff. There's a few I work with that I do use a drill but those are only specifically 1/8"
Wew lad wait til you try a pole saw with the little chain saw. The dangerous part is you will be tempted to lop opp big ass limbs that are almost out of reach, and then it might split your head open. But then your wife buys you a dope new ladder for your birthday because she doesn’t want you to die on the top step of a 6ft wooden ladder that is older than you.
I got the cheap HF 120V electric pole saw and it’s not too bad. Wanted to get a cordless one but I barely use it at the new house with the smaller trees.
I shipping-taped (beats duct tape because stronk) my corded chain pruner to a long PVC extension, then turned on and off with powe strip (after taping the trigger of course). Glorious safe extra reach.
A utility knife with those trapezoidal blades. They are so much better than the slidey ones. A lot of them can't be opened with one hand, but there are some that can like the one Milwaukee makes. I'm pretty sure that if it was fixed blade it'd be illegal in many countries.
Those new silicone trays are pretty nice too, I’ll lay the large or medium right across the top of the air box or battery when doing engine work.
Also those plastic pans from the hospital. Super useful when pulling apart lines and bullshit full of fluid, especially when you don’t want brake fluid dripping.
I collect all useful stainless (I can always add magnets as desired) especially restaurant equipment like steam table pans, baking sheets etc. The combo of a sheet for disassembly and separate stainless containers for cleaning parts as groups is glorious.
I look out for standing sinks to use as shop sinks outdoors (I keep one next to my rain barrels) and stainless tables which I can also leave outdoors. I degrease, sandblast, weld and grind outdoors so I don't have to clean up the residue which just settles into my railroad rock work areas.
Bread pans from Dollar Tree are nice for sorting nuts and bolts and disassembling things in groups as well. They also stack nicely when empty so they don't take up a ton of room.
Dude, you bring a chick over to your workshop and you’re like “check out my breadpans with rusty screws in them”
No.
They’re gonna want to see some festool SysTainer or millwaulkee PackOut action.
>Dude, you bring a chick over to your workshop and you’re like “check out my breadpans with rusty screws in them”
They're merely for sorting them out not storing them you smoothbrain. >No. >They’re gonna want to see some festool SysTainer or millwaulkee PackOut action
>$11
Amazon sent me one for nothing, no idea why.
Also sent me an iPad case for an iPad that I didn't own, again, for nothing.
Wish they'd send something that was actually something I wanted for free although the temp thing is pretty handy.
Every so often in life you get a return on the Black tax.
I know a guy that bought a small electronic device for about $75. They sent an entire factory bulk box of 6 because the order puller didn't realize. So...onto ebay the other 5 went.
Can anyone recommend a power driver like pic related, but with a brushless motor. Or does such a thing exist.
Ive used pic related every day for like 10 years, and its great, just want to upgrade. The battery life in particular is my biggest complaint.
Requirements are to fold like pic related, have a torque adjustment, and have thumb operated buttons like pic related. Just also want brushless and lithium battery.
>delivers most torque
automatic disregard of video basically.
I work on precision electronics. the LESS torque the better. the panasonic i posted has to be modified to deliver less torque to even be usable for what i do. this is accomplished by either removing a spacer (for the clutch spring), or cutting the spring shorter
you stupid fricking animal skip to the spreadsheet at the end he tested the minimum torque load of the models that had clutches and several of them could not exceed 1 in-lbs of torque to create a reading
>minimum torque load of the models that had clutches and several of them could not exceed 1 in-lbs of torque
hmm that sounds promising.
my modified one i generally use at setting of 3. at setting of one i can literally hold the bit with my fingers and the clutch will slip. 1 in*lbs is somewhere in the general range i use mine at
There are very few other sources on the internet performing objective variable controlled experiments to quantify tool performance. Not all of his tests are perfect and his humor varies from weird to cringe but it's one of the best review channels available.
1 month ago
Anonymous
If you dont have experience and knowledge in said tools or products in the first place, the objective data means literally nothing.
His tests are bad, his tool selection is bad, and all of the data is pretty much worthless to anyone who doesnt already know better (the people who dont need the tests).
There are no other channels doing it, because his data is meaningless. He pushes things to failure far outside of what a real workload is, which is in no way relevant to long term longevity in a normal setting and workload.
If you unironically watch his channel and make purchases based on his tests, you are a complete and utter fool.
1 month ago
Anonymous
alright, i guess i should consult the REAL source of tool reviews, which is uhhhh, uhhhhhhhhh
1 month ago
Anonymous
Whats it with zoomers who need someone to hold their hand for every single solitary decision they make?
Please mr social media man, you have great authority because "were gonna test that!"
I needed to put my diagonal cutters into a hydraulic press and cut hardened steel pins yesterday, thank god you had already done that test mr social media man!
I would have bought the Irwin model you recommended, but they had been discontinued before you even released the video!
1 month ago
Anonymous
>no counterargument
ok
1 month ago
Anonymous
>>no counterargument
There isnt much counterargument to "I need an influencer to dictate what I buy"
Its just telling about you.
1 month ago
Anonymous
>I need an influencer to dictate what I buy
That's a funny way to say "I like to inform myself before I buy something". Are you just salty you don't have internet fame to show for your tool hoarding?
1 month ago
Anonymous
>That's a funny way to say "I like to inform myself before I buy something"
There are hundreds of models from countless brands, from all different price points and quality.
You can inform yourself, pinpoint the exact tool you need with a little research.
Instead you need Todd to influence you on the 6 random models he happened to buy on amazon (so he can post the amazon affiliate link so he can get a few bucks off your purchase). It always includes discontinued stuff, and random fake amazon brands.
Dont pretend his shitty tests and his abysmal tool selection is "informing yourself" in any real capacity.
Its shitty entertainment for consoomers looking for new things to consoom.
1 month ago
Anonymous
So basically you wrote tldr that went nowhere, YouTube reviews are research homosexual.
1 month ago
Anonymous
We use linesman pliers for barbed wire fence work on the family farm. In the early 2000s we bought 4 sets of kleins because there are up to 4 of us working at a time. All 4 after a good 20 years of hard use cutting and twisting thick steel wire are worn out, they take an incredible amount to cut and the teeth just don't grab very well anymore. After watching his video on linesmans, the channellocks and knipex mogged everything else considerably, and the kleins performed very mediocre in comparison. So I bought channellock replacements and so far they've worked great. I found the video and data to be very useful. The channellock uses a high leverage design to make cutting easier at the expense of a lower failure load than every other brand, but I'm never going to apply more than basic grip strength force on them so that's irrelevant
1 month ago
Anonymous
>I found the video and data to be very useful
What was useful?
The test showing all the grips were within 5inch lbs of each other, which is completely insignificant?
Cutting a single piece of romex which was piss easy for all of them was a good test?
Going from romex immediately to a fricking 10D nail was a good test?
The data showing the 10D took more than the average grip strength for every pair of pliers to cut something you would never actually cut with it?
Cutting deck screws that permanently damaged every cutter and was twice the human grip strength?
Failure load by smashing them in a hydraulic press was a good test and useful in the real world somehow?
You use them to cut and twist steel baling wire, what of that data was actually useful for you?
We both know you bought the channellocks because they were cheap and were near the top of every cutting test.
Hilarious.
Its pretty well known that Channellocks harden their cutters more than other brands.
Thats why they chip more than other brands, and why they dont last as long as others. Their dykes are notorious for this, being slightly easier to cut out of the box and then not standing the test of time at all.
That hardness is also why it had one of the lowest failure load in his hydraulic smash test.
You looked at the data and came to the exact wrong conclusion, you plan on using pliers for 20 fricking years but bought the ones notorious for not lasting.
Cant make this shit up.
1 month ago
Anonymous
> Failure load by smashing them in a hydraulic press was a good test and useful in the real world somehow?
Of course it is.
Boeing wings designs are tested to failure, along with just about everything else in this world.
The concrete mixes are tested to failure. That’s how we know how strong shit is.
C’mon man, please go out in the world and experience it instead of being a hikikomara. Or woman… I didn’t mean to assume your gender today.
1 month ago
Anonymous
Sure the manufacturers do when they are designing the tools.
Now tell me what usefulness is it to YOU that Project Farm does it, when you will never be putting more then 70lbs of grip strength into the pliers?
1 month ago
Anonymous
>you will never be putting more then 70lbs of grip strength into the pliers
Interesting claim. Care to prove it?
Did you know the grip strength of an average person can reach over 110lbs?
1 month ago
Anonymous
>Did you know the grip strength of an average person can reach over 110lbs?
But we are talking about your weak milquetoast hands.
Answer the question. What usefulness did you get out of seeing the obvious, manufacturers use a safety factor when designing their tools?
Was this news to you? Did Todd open your eyes?
1 month ago
Anonymous
You didn't answer, sorry.
1 month ago
Anonymous
You don’t want the chinese cutters that say, in really fine print: “copper or aluminum wire only” because they are made of unhardened mild steel and only look superficially like the thing they’re supposed to be.
1 month ago
Anonymous
> never be putting more then 70lbs of grip strength
Bullshit… i use my tools. You never have. Today I had to put my crimpers in a vice to tighten a lug on a wire. I want the ones made of steel, without chinesium slag, garbage and cracks in the metal body.
t. works for a living
i said requires adjustable torque. as long as it has that, it can probably be modified to be less (most clutches work the same, and the spring can be lightened or put under less tension). ones without adjustable torque arent really modifiable (you would have to add a clutch mechanism)
>unfortunately the forward reverse is on the body
what a fricking moron, thats the best spot for them. is this guy a fricking lefty or something, frick off
“Upgrade” from a panasonic?
Not bloody likely.
Why not fix it, replace the motor with a brushless (which won’t make that much difference), replace the battery, and/or drill a hole and lead out a high current plug so you can power it forever from a 3.7 V DC supply when working at your bench. > inb4 “it’s my only screwdriver and I can’t take it apart with itself”
>“Upgrade” from a panasonic? >Not bloody likely.
well, good to know theyre well regarded, i certainly love the thing.
really i just like brushless motors, and despise NiCd batteries. I bought some batteries that are labeled as NiMH but who really knows.
brushless and lithium are just sort of natural upgrades/progressions i can think of. making it wired is not a terrible idea, but i do prefer battery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxNovtAv6dk
having not watched the video you posted, just looking at the thumbnail, 2 do not have folding handles, and the 2 that do are not thumb operated. but i will watch, maybe theres good info there. thnx for link either way
I won't call it cheap but the stream light flipmate is the most useful trouble light I have ever found. We got some at work and after using one I went out and bought one for home. Use it everywhere, car repair, household appliance repair, anywhere I need light. We left one in an engine bay at work and it was found later on the road run over and bent but still working fine.
>Brady bmp41 label maker
Let's you make NEC compliant labels for electrical equipment, and cartridges are available that are capable of withstanding direct sunlight exposure, light chemical exposure, and wet environment exposure. Costs ~$400
I don't use it every day, but I use it often enough and it makes me a bunch of money as a sparky
They're pretty kewl. I use the EXTREME version at my job, the function that meets you mass print straight from your craptop is a godsend for new installs.
>the function that meets you mass print
english motherfricker, do you speak it
Autocorrect on my cellular phone sir please understand
>Autocorrect
that's an odd way to describe it
based
My last job did a mass layoff over zoom and all of the techs were able to keep all of the tools and this was one of the highlights, along with an OTDR and an assortment of meters
I found a label maker in a thrift store once. It was worth it. But never would I pay full price for that.
These are amazing
If you ever needed to strip more than a pair of wires then you will love it. Or you can be a contrarian grumpy boomer doing it the old way just because.
There's a couple hacks to diy a hot wire stripper with a spare soldering iron or gun
>Brady bmp41 label maker
anon is there a cheaper one you recommend that can do wire heat shrinks labeling? ty anon xoxo
I got an Epson LW-700PX, like 130 dollars on Amazon and you can do heat shrink, self-laminating wraps, magnet strips
The cartridges are brutally expensive (40ish dollars for heat shrink) but you can get cheap clones on AliExpress (like 6 bucks shipped) if you're just working around the house
>cheap life changing tools
>a $400 label maker
should print out a label for your forehead: "moron"
> Brady
Frick me I tried to apply for a job at that company and it was the most moronic interview process I've ever seen. Ended up not taking the job because the boomers were So insufferable and I got another job that paid better.
one of the first shit that every person labels is the label marker
where is yours shill?
thermal camera
cordless impact gun
bench power supply
3d printer
All pretty cheap unless you are a poorgay and I only regret not having bought those things sooner.
>All pretty cheap unless you are a poorgay and I only regret not having bought those things sooner.
^Wisdom
I bought tools when I was poor because they made my money go much further. They still do. Not having my home shop and equipment would make retirement while doing what I enjoy prohibitively inconvenient and expensive.
>cordless impact gun
Cordless impacts, ratchets, and recip saws drastically changed auto salvage making self-service yard pillage quick and easy keeping many poorgays on the road and enabling those not poor to glut ourselves on parts.
Ahh I had an old pic ready for this!
#1- multimeter… but you need to obtain the free add-on, which is the knowledge of electricity and what the numbers mean. Life-changing tool and you can get decent ones for $25-$40.
#2- Flex head ratchets. Whenever I see the old Craftsman raised panel ratchets where the 3/8” drive is only like 6” long, I get pissed that I wasted so many years using them. Drop $20-$30 on one of the Gearwrench-Husky-Duralast or whatever store brand Advance Auto sells now that’s a rebranded Gearwrench. Especially if you go with a mid- or long handle one, I love that 84T TEQ Pro (Gearwrench knockoff) in the like 10”-11” length.
#3- V-jaw water pump pliers like Cobras or Alligators, they’re 10x more useful than old flat jaw channellocks.
Was going to say impact wrench but hard to consider them “cheap” although there’s corded models for $75 that are quite useful. +1 on the benchtop power supply, saved me lots of devices and batteries without the proper charger or maybe they went into protection mode.
Want to get down on a thermal camera, but I’ll probably wait a couple more years for the Amazon brands to become worthwhile, sort of like borescopes and scan tools where you can get pretty good functionality for <$50 these days.
3D printer… not sure I have the patience for the learning curve.
Honorable mention- Power Probe if you do much automotive troubleshooting. They used to be $60 on Amazon like 5 years ago but somehow jumped way up in price, however there are functional knockoffs these days.
How could this have saved any money? Very clearly, they’ve never been used even once.
turn off your tripcode you homosexual
>3d printer
im glad i didnt buy 3D printer like 5/10 yrs ago
happy p1s user
Self adjusting wire strippers. It was a blessed day when I discovered that these existed.
goat tool my teeth would have appreciated in my teenage years
Are these really that much better than regular strippers?
Sure, if you like scoring and cutting off some strands of your wires every time
no, the lapdances are pretty poor by comparison.
These are amazing.
For me, its this little guy.
Pic rel Jokari is available at about every German hardware store for less than 15€ and positively regarded. Mine's in for everything around the house and personal projects like solar, storage, pump, 3d printer and lights for 12years and still works great.
In some form or another i'd definitely put it on the list.
Absolute AIDS. Get the Klein Katapult style ones instead, 100x better than that shitty self adjusting kind.
hate these things. you guys are all insane. have the knipex version. much easier to use the stripper pliers for 90% of work. Its easier if all I do all day is remove insulation but in most trades you strip maybe 20-30 wires a day at most?
Now that the dust has settled, which version should I actually buy?
The Klein style ones, the self adjusting ones are okay but way less clean of a break on the insulation.
The Klein ones
Inised to do lighting retrofits at warehouses and all the boomers and Black folk using the Milwaukee old school wire strippers would be amazed when I whipped out these bad boys and put up lights 2x as fast as they did.
> distance measuring laser
> self leveling 360 degree laser (cheap chink ones are just fine)
> contour gauge
> dovetail markers
> marking gauge
>Self adjusting wire strippers.
They are nice, but they ain't cheap.
>ain’t cheap
They’re like $10-$30 at the higher end, right? Like even the Klein Katapult is right below $30.
You 'merkins live in the land of milk and honey. Over here in Europoorland, the only commonly available vendor for such strippers is Knippex and they start at 70 Euros. You may be able to find Chinesium vendors who have cheaper (and perfectly serviceable) fare, but usually they don't carry that sort of specialty thing, only 4 or 5 different Chinesium brands of the ever same 4 types of pliers/cutters.
look on lidl or aldi
I mean we have the cheap tools at Walmart too, and now they have Hart which is honestly above typical light homeowner use like the old Hyper Tough.
The cheap tools are a godsend for the specialty stuff that you can’t find at the typical big box store.
Do Yuro auto parts stores rent tools like the US stores? As far as pullers and spring compressors and stuff, it’s technically free rental as long as you put down a deposit.
>Do Yuro auto parts stores rent tools like the US stores?
not in north spain as far i know
i cannot generalize to the rest of europe, hell i dont even do it to the rest of spain, there is way too much cultural differences
Do you get cheap Irega wrenches at least? And I think they make those Grip-On vise grips over there, which were probably the best vise grips between Irwin USA dying and Eagle Grips bringing it back.
I think some of Yurop gets Bahco for somewhat reasonable prices. And then there’s Facom from France and USAG or whatever in Italy I think, which is like our Mac Tools and those are serious mechanic tools. And then for more affordable prices, Gedore Red looks like decent taiwan stuff, although it might still cost 2 weeks wages for a 250pc socket set in much of Yurop.
>Irega wrenches
a friend works in the same industrial area of the factory. They are a bit cheaper here if you know where to look
But I thought we lived in a third world country according to Yuros.
I do feel bad for ya fegs though, you guys need a Harbor Freight or at least the cheap Amazon so you can actually DIY these projects where you need a specialty tool or two, that’s where the cheap Chinesium shines, the once every 5-10 years project where you don’t need tradie level tools. I mean I picked up a 7” wet tile saw for like $80 for bathroom and kitchen projects. That b***h even went through bricks for a landscaping job.
And get a free shower
I was gonna get one of these flat romex cable strippers, but
>70 bucks for a piece of plastic that will break when i drop it once
I'm sticking to my utility blade
Paid 2 bucks for chinesium. Would still use 10 buck auto-adjusting version with crimping function
Industrial gas cylinders bought used then exchanged or refilled immediately.
They're cheap and wonderful adds to any mechanics shop.
Acetylene for gas welding, cutting, brazing, torch bending, soldering, brazing, annealing before machining, hardening simple parts, thawing etc. Smaller acetylene cylinders to feed my acetylene-air torches (cheap used, I've Goss, ASCO, TurboTorch etc)
LP BBQ cylinders for torch cutting (can bounce in back of my truck safer than acetylene), heating, burning weeds (every shop should have a generous firebreak) etc. When I fab a forge I've plenty ready since I grab all I can get free or dirt cheap. I sometimes refill (and never store in a closed vehicle) small LP cylinders for my light portable oxy-LP cutting outfit I take to salvage auctions to cut steel to fit my trailer.
Nitrogen for pressure testing HVAC because vacuum is less reliable. I'd rather expand a leak than chase a subtle seep and nitrogen plus UV dye is the way.
Argon for TIG welding and MIG brazing (you can also do fine torch brazing with MIG brazing filler wire and flux).
75/25 MIG mix for conventional MIG.
CO2 for MIG welding where a little spatter doesn't matter vs. low cost and each cylinder holding more CO2 volume as liquid than same-sized compressed MIG mix cylinders. CO2 is not really "inert" and not a noble gas so it runs hotter, convenient on small portable MIG machines.
Oxygen (obviously) to run my oxy-acetylene and oxy-LP torches. I collect all sizes since it's so cheap and convenient and cylinders don't lose value unless damaged. (High pressure cylinder bodies make cool bowling ball cannons. I behead cylinders that won't pass visual inspection and give those to my blackpowderbro.) I use all the way down to medical oxygen cylinders when I only need a few cuts. Adapters are the same as for transfilling them from larger high pressure cylinders.
Regulators and torches are cheap or reasonable used.
thermometers, label printers, wire strippers change lives?
someone should make a basedjacks pointing meme edit at the hardware store in the shiny new tools section
>thermometers, label printers, wire strippers change lives?
It's a figure of speech short bus. Have you never got a tool that turned out to be way more useful than you expected? I still remember the day I strapped on my new toolbelt that had a donut holder.
meanwhile you spend 15 minutes with a knife trying to try some wire, and scratch up the copper
If you truly strip a ton of wire, especially smaller gauges for stuff like microcontrollers or pcb work or whatever, a thermal wire stripper will be awesome for your day to day. They’re expensive as shit so I wouldn’t get one unless you truly strip a ton of wire but you’ll never scratch the wire and have a kink that breaks the connection again. I’ve only used it at work but I want one at home now, they’re super handy for irritating shit like 30awg/wrapping wire where you look at it wrong and it gets kinked and breaks
FIS fiber stripper is good for small diameter cores.
https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-fis-fiber-stripper.html
>mass fusion splices and just anyone that has one still uses a thermal stripper.
Sometimes I had something from the 80s or something with the wrong sized cladding and it just wouldn't strip or line up right with the mass fusion machine and we had to go in the closet and get the old single machine.
Headlamps. I spent a few years holding small flashlights in my mouth doing shit in attics, crawlspaces, under vehicles, outside at night, etc. Headlamps are a godsend. Can basically work all night long with a handy task light on your head.
Have also mounted headlamps to a couple auto darkening welding helmets. Makes welding at night or under vehicles much less of a pita.
Price cheap.
I didn’t pay the electricity bill and just let my wife and kids run around with headlamps all the time.
A hand holding a flashlight is wasted. I use my headlamps for all kinds of task lighting and often don't bother turning lights on if I'm just grabbing something from my shop or garage.
I prefer the magnetic bar LED lights like 80% of the time over headlamps. Get a couple of them and stick them in multiple places while wrenching and they’re great.
Honorable mention, the Gearwrench flex head pass-thru ratchet and socket set. It’s an affordable alternative to spending $200+ on long handle flex head ratcheting box wrenches or the Mountain wrenches and the more expensive Snappy alternative.
# headlamp
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256803803153732.html
Best version of this style of machined headlamp. Only Ali has this style. Not ebay or amazon.
White: 4 levels.
Red: same.
Click briefly for white/ON.
Press and hold for red/ON.
Click for off.
Turning ON, it will go directly to the last saved intensity level for that color.
Every other dopey version has the same body, but the LED's are different, reflector style and whether they even exist, are different. This particular one has only 2 LED's: 1 white LED next to 1 red LED, each in it's own reflector.
Dopey ones require you to turn ON to White, and cycle to Red, every time you turn it on. Killing your night vision/circadian rhythm. And they do not keep the last brightness level, either. Etc.
Get B0B51T5FMH to go with it. The clip that holds the machined aluminium headlamp, on the headstrap, with any model of headlamp of this style body, is plastic. Over time, it will crack, so it breaks. And eventually, after that the strap will stretch out.
The headlamp strap above, fits these machined aluminium headlamps perfectly, and the entire component is silicone. The plastic version these all come with, is uncomfortable directly against your head, over time. The silicone is not.
My criteria was a one-piece, durable, functional metal machined headlight, that accepted (1) 18650 cell. I have an external 4-cell individual intelligent charger, but e.g. when you're out and don't have an extra cell, all of them have a collar that 'unscrews' to reveal a USB C charging port, on the switch end.
The Aliexpress on above, also has more intelligent status LED, under the switch.
It's neat how occassionally you will now see well-designed chinese stuff.
this thing looks awesome, thanks for recommending it anon
If that thing shits out on you and you want to try something a little less Chinesium, it’s similar to this Coast I got. It’s a single button top 18650 in there, you can charge the cell on its own or in the light, pops out of the strap and has a super strong magnetic cap so it’s a nice worklight. 3 light modes, I think it goes med-high-low, or click it to Med for more than 3 sec and the next button press turns it off. No red light, but it has zoom.
Battery lasts me a week or two of using it intermittently in the morning when it’s dark every day, and I’ve had it for like 2 years now, so this Coast cell might not be the best LG 18650 but it has outlasted every no-name Chinese 18650 light. And if it dies, I’ve got a bunch of flat top 18650s I’ll burn up in there.
been using similiar boruit ones from ali but they don't have the magnetic base
my only criteria when buying them was 18650 cell and usb charging, bought 2 at first and now i have like 10 of them and i've given few as gifts
using old cells from my busted makita batteries so cheap as shit batteries also
only 1 has broken down and it's just something bent in the charging port, i've lost a few but who cares these are not some shitty 150€ ledlensers
The two issues I always have with cheap lights: shitty 18650 cells and shitty magnets. Got the 18650s covered and so love the stick lights for mechanic work, but I need to get down in a pack of like nickel sized rare earth magnets to put on the bottom of those lights so they don’t topple whenever I touch them or shake something. Also the cheap magnets may hold a light on a steel vise, but not sheet metal.
See
useful if the thing has a thread
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004222406505.html
A lightweight headlamp is great for reading a book in bed as well, they make ultralight ones where the strap is a retractable string. Also handy when building a PC, remembering all the times I balanced my phone flashlight on the case in some way.
>Have also mounted headlamps to a couple auto darkening welding helmets
I did the opposite and put a flashlight on my welding helmet lmao. Not that its any better, but I was lazy
>but I was lazy
Fellow welder confirmed. Sloth breeds efficiency.
Is that you, Thad?
looks like it was
air stapler/brad nailer at harbor freight. 30 bucks. put up drywall in a room, using those strips of wood between sheets to cover the cracks in a trailer. holee frick if I didn''t have that, it would have taken me forever and Id never been able to hung the ceiling panels in place with one hand while, hachunking in the other hand. shitty new nails are all very thin, flexible and would have bent. with those ribbed edges they would have torn the wood strips trying to pull them back out after they would have inevitably probably 50% of the time bent.
4 hour job took probably less than 30 minutes
Digital Calipers should be at the top of this list.
Complete game changer for measuring parts, measuring cuts, comparative or relative measurements etc etc.
The very obvious use is, close jaws on something thats 25mm, itll show you 25mm on the screen.
Its GREAT at doing this, being able to measure depths of drilled holes or steps downs of objects is really nice too.
With the Zero button, you can do really interesting comparative measurements too.
>two objects, one is 25mm one is 37mm
>close jaws on 25mm object, screen shows 25mm
How much bigger is the other object?
>press zero button, position of moving jaw is now considered 0
>now close jaws on 37mm part, screen shows 12mm
Now you can start removing material and rechecking, once you hit 0 you know its the same exact size as the other.
Thats a very basic example, but you can do all sorts of neat stuff with the zero button which makes it a godsend when doing lots of random weird measurements during fabrication.
They cost $15-20 on amazon (maker sure to buy steel ones, dont buy the $5-10 plastic ones unless you are a true poorgay, they kinda suck)
They are all about the same, just pick one.
>They are all about the same, just pick one.
Some of the cheap ones, like my Harbor Freights, work fine but drain the battery if you don't remove it when not using them.
I bought a HF digital caliper, the ones that are like $25-$30 at full price. It’s a 6” caliper that doesn’t open more than 2” because the grinding and machining is so poor it jams up.
And of course because of HF’s terrible short warranty, I never used it to measure anytjhing >1.5” the first few uses so I was unable to exchange it by the time I wanted to measure something larger for the first time.
Should have exchanged it. I have three I scatter about to save my Tesa and Mitutoyo for my shop. My recent one doesn't drain.
I ended up getting another one for a few bucks more that actually opens to 6” and the corners won’t slice your hand open, but it’s still tight. I like the new one because it has inches in decimal points and fractions.
I hesitate to recommend this brand on Amazon though because they definitely buy fake reviews. A few different Chinesium brands sell the same thing rebranded. Don’t know about battery draining because I always take batteries out of those tools since I don’t want to open it after 6mos of no use and find an exploded cell.
I commented before, precision measuring tools are strange. There’s no mid-grade version of them, it’s either straight chinesium or $$$ Starret and Mituyo. You can either get $15-$35 digital calipers that are all the same rebranded Chinesium (even from known brands), or spend $100+ on good ones.
Dial indicators are the same, and the magnetic bases. There’s a ton of cheaper kits that all look the same with <4.0 star reviews, even the name brands just rebrand the same Chinesium, and you don’t really want measuring tools with mixed reviews, so you have to spend a bunch to get high level with 4.9/5 ratings.
There’s no like $60 Gearwrench or Tekton version of these tools with a 4.7/5.0 rating. The closest for measuring tools would maybe be Empire, but I never see their precision stuff. The General Tools brand you will see at the usual stores is the same as the Chinese brands on Amazon.
pic related: Klein VDV226-005 ... $30
I make all my own Cat 6 cables for my home network.
I have a lot of connected devices. Some are wireless, of course, but I wired ethernet to my home theater, to my office, to my gaming computer, to my kid's room, and every device has its own cable that's the right length. It's really satisfying to make high quality custom length Cat 6 cables.
>There’s no mid-grade version of them, it’s either straight chinesium or $$$ Starret and Mituyo.
Damn. I've been meaning to buy a calipers, but hate the thought of buying cheap tools. And I don't think I'd use them enough to justify buying expensive ones.
For making labels at home, I just use adhesive-backed printer paper and print them with my old laser printer. Not as handy as a label maker, but sticker paper is cheap and I have the printer already.
>mn. I've been meaning to buy a calipers, but hate the thought of buying cheap tools.
If you want mid grade calipers get something like Aventors (its the Shars Tegara line, not some random unknown brand)
I just ordered calipers from Shars.
Thanks for the tip.
>It's really satisfying to make high quality custom length Cat 6 cables.
It's bloody annoying and I say that as a professional cable puller. I've got the bigger version of your crimper (the ratcheting one with both RJ45 and RJ11) one and I still fricking hate crimping. Sometimes I need to crimp custom cables (e.g. when I've only got a tiny hole to work with for surveillance cameras) but I generally avoid that like the plague because it's error prone and takes ages. I very much prefer running installation cable terminated in keystones. From there on out I use factory terminated patch cables (which do come in quite the variety of lengths).
I have the Pittsburgh style in your pic. I had one that also read in fractions which was insanely handy working on mixed hardware.
The one in the orange box does fractions too, that’s exactly why I got it,
digital is convenient, but vernier calipers are better because no batteries, and you can eyeball to a decimal below what the device is marked for. And they dont round the result.
They are more prone to being misread though. You just have to habitually double check. Visibility can be a situational problem with them too.
>There’s no mid-grade version of them, it’s either straight chinesium or $$$ Starret and Mituyo.
Shars has the Aventor brand thats supposedly a step above their shars chinesium brand. About to try some since my General ones died. Those were ok for the price, didnt drain batteries but the inside jaws were like 0.010" off.
I have the HF digital caliper. I worked it back and forth for a few hours and sprayed it many times with WD40 to flush it. After a while I got all the grit out of the motion of it. It will never be as good as better calipers but the accuracy was fine. Never ran out of battery yet and was always accurate to the thousandths anyway. It got me through multiple machine shop classes.
The HF $3.99 multimeter is also cheap but pretty useful, it does what it needs to do.
> drain the battery if you don't remove it when not using them
fricking hate this. I think it is because the case will sometimes hit the on/off button. at least it was with mine. also the cheap ass plastic battery cover broke off.
>The toilet brush shaped one is awesome for cleaning car wheels, gets in alloy rims so well.
nice. I fricking hate cleaning wheels
>thermal camera
I have one and I seem to rarely use it. Things I thought I could do with it, but can't really:
>look for studs in walls
>find bad insulation spots in walls/ceiling
>look for heat leaks in outdoor structures
Anything metal or plastic seems to frick these up by reflecting light/uv/whatever and giving fricked up readings. After we "found" an insulation leak, and replaced the insulation over that spot it looked exactly the same. I guess that is just showing how heat was being wicked sideways or whatever at that point in the ceiling.
Things I found it insanely useful for that I didn't expect:
>finding my black dog at night while camping
>is that noise out there a bear?
>is a killer creeping up behind me in the dark?
I find myself outside alone in very dark areas, and lighting them up isn't an option. Having this little bugger with me gives me some serious peace of mind when the paranoia kicks in.
Thermal camera is super awesome for diagnosing electrical shorts on pcbs. Camera on, apply power, look for the red dot.
It’s not foolproof and sometimes the issue is something that either can’t be fixed or isn’t worth fixing like a short inside a bga mounted cpu but it’s fairly often I find the issue is some random surface mount cap that went dead and just needs to be changed out. The only difficult part at that point is figuring out what the value was supposed to have been without any reference
You can do the same basic test by spraying a bunch of flux or isopropyl on the board and seeing where it boils off quickly when you turn it on but the thermal cam is a bit easier to manage/see and doesn’t stink up your bench
>work fine but drain the battery if you don't remove it when not using them.
Every one of my cheap ones does this.
IIRC i read someone claiming that the off button only shuts off the screen but it still draws almost full power.
Its annoying as frick, but I just have a bunch of button cells laying around.
I have several counterfeit mitutoyos, several harbor freight, an amazon random brand one and they all burn batteries.
My real Mitutoyos (a caliper and a quantumike) run for years on a battery.
I forget the name, but I did buy one pair on amazon that uses CR1632 batteries and its battery life is great. Its a completely different design than most but I dont know how prevalent the design is.
>mituyo caliper
>220€ for the 20cm version
i mean, i like using nip stuff but god damn
I bought counterfeit Mitutoyo 200mm (8") and 300mm (12") calipers on Aliexpress for ~$50 and ~$80. I rarely need them with the parts I make, so I wasnt going to pay the insane real prices.
The counterfeits are surprisingly good quality, a step above most cheap amazon stuff honestly.
I bought them because of their Absolute Origin positioning which most cheap amazon ones dont have.
E.E. dropout chiming in. The reason that the cheap ones drain batteries is that the caliper has to keep track of the position even when the display is off. The cheap ones use low power CPUs that don't consume much but after a few months it adds up. The more expensive ones use circuitry and more advanced CPUs that go in deep sleep (draining picoamperes) and wake up within microseconds when they detect movement of the slide. We're talking pennies in parts but you have to understand that the bootleg companies don't necessarily have talented engineers that can design custom ICs, so they make do with what they have access to.
Lol, I just learned what that weird end was for on my calipers. Thanks anon.
I'm not knocking down a good digital caliper, but manual ones are great too. Very handy to transfer marks and overall comparing things. I always lug a couple or three on work sites. The little screw is super handy to lock down a measurement so you can keep it around to refer to.
Yes.
remind me again why i need digital over a dial thats literally just as fast and easy to read but doesnt take batteries?
I'd check your local laws; it's likely that they allow you to use the caliper that suits you best. If not, start a petition.
I too prefer dial calipers, but the quick switch from standard to metric is occasionally very nice on the digital calipers.
thats actually true and something i never thought of. I have a metric and standard caliper and it was kind of expensive to buy 2
Digital calipers dont wear out like dial calipers do. There are no israeliteels, there are no gears, there are no springs, they dont get gummed up.
You can throw your cheap digital caliper across the room and itll still be accurate, your cheap dial caliper is suspect with a small drop.
What exactly are the upsides?
They ARE harder to read, they arent as fast. A dial ring is not the equivalent to using a zero button, ESPECIALLY if you have an Absolute caliper, you literally lose out on functionality.
Im sorry, replacing batteries isnt that big of a deal. Especially when you are in the "Cheap life changing tool" thread. You can trust a cheap digital caliper, I wouldnt be trusting a cheap dial caliper.
Somebody spoonfeed me…
What is the absolute zero function that people love with Mituyos?
Its a second fixed "origin" position that knows where the jaw is at all times.
Absolute origin doesnt change (50mm is 50mm no matter what), and your zero origin that changes wherever you press it.
You put a 50mm part in, press 0/ABS button, screen shows 0 just like a regular caliper.
Press the 0/ABS button again and it swaps back to its real "absolute" measurement so it says 50mm again.
You never have to close the jaws and 0 to reset the calipers ever again. It maker relative measurements easier and more versatile, its mostly useful if you are using lathes and mills where you know exactly how much you are feeding.
>itll still be accurate
yeah don't take it in the shower tho. I mean it's fine after you dry it out but
They sell IP67 rated calipers meant to be soaked in cutting fluid/coolant. They work fine completely wet.
>You can trust a cheap digital caliper
No, no you can't.
Easy to read, but know their limits (Even the Mitutoyo are +-0.001)
I may be old fashioned, but imho, most cheaper digital ones will start skipping at some point and wont be as accurate as regular old vernier calipers
If you are doing stuff involving anything conductive, the extra cheap plastic ones are nice to have too.
I just looked on amazon, they sell the plastic digital calipers for 3.99 shipped prime. Search Digital Caliper and go low price to high.
I bought a pair for shits and giggles
These drill brush heads are great for cleaning tile and grout, vehicle mats and upholstery, getting rid of cat hair in carpets and anything else you would normally use a scrub brush on. You can normally find a set of these for 10$
My wife tried them one time for the bathtub and she didn’t love them.
The toilet brush shaped one is awesome for cleaning car wheels, gets in alloy rims so well.
The little buffing wheels for drills aren’t bad either, they will do most small jobs and spot repair without getting a dedicated buffer.
These are great too. $10 set on amazon. Great for cleaning gunk off circular saw blades.
Just watch out for cheap ones that are flinging wire.
Freaking annoying pulling that out of your sweatshirt. Or stepping on some.
Mine freaking auto turns on when an impact occurs. Like closing the case, the draw or setting it down hard.
Annoying, but the batteries are cheap
Ah hell yeah, you can get into all kinds of nooks and crannies with those bad boys. Drill for low speed grime removal. Die grinder if you're looking to fling some wires off! Can also use them for buffing inner tubes and tires for patching.
You're gonna ruin your heat treat. Just use oven cleaner like the pros.
Wire brushing isn't going to anneal a saw blade. That's absurd.
Stranded brushes suck though. Knotted cup wheels on an angle grinder work far better. I have several and use the weeping frick out of them.
I just used those, and pumice, to clean my shower cubicle (moulding sealant) and toilet bowl (water stains)
The brushes were good, but the pumice was pretty amazing. You destroy the blocks very quickly, but even the abrasive mud that is produced is incredible to clean ceramic or metals.
Can't say anything about the sink, but the toilet part: when I moved in I noticed that the bowl kept getting darker and darker stains, despite occasional cleaning with a normal brush and some regular-ass toilet cleaning product. One day I walked into a professional cleaning product store open to the public and bought their commercial-grade stuff. A small squirt and very light brushing, lots of foam happens and the stains are gone. I figure there's iron or something in the water here and it shows up on the porcelain.
It's a locally manufactured product. Could very well be
M
U
R
ACID
T
I
C
or some proprietary blend of herbs and spices. Stop by any institution and ask the janitor what he uses as toilet bowl cleaner and what he tells you is probably the best you could get. They are certainly not using Scrubbing Bubbles.
>ACID
Check the MSDS for "hydrochloric acid" since muriatic is really an ancient term dating at least to the 1800s. Checking MSDS online is easy and a slick way to find out whats in the magic bottle.
You shouldn't use an abrasive pumice on ceramic. You'll end up scratching through the finish and exposing a more porous surface which will stain and become uncleanable.
Depends on the hardness. Glazing is pretty hard
agreed. Women seethe that a drill makes their homemaking obsolete.
agreed. Women seethe that a drill makes their homemaking obsolete.
you are going to frick up anything that isn't made of porcelain (which is lot of bath fixtures these days)
>pumice on enameled vitreous china
no
morons
>morons
..and yet, after a single rectification of some rather onerous looking water stains, my shitter is shiny as frick.
I don't plan to do it more then absolutely necessary, and I dont give a shit about the surface on my matte shower floor tiles - which pumice also cleaned oily muck from amazingly well.
So if the pumice is hard enough to actually cause surface damage; it isn't apparent yet, on anything I cleaned with it.
Keep in mind that its not like natural pumice; its extremely consistent and fine.
MURIATIC ACID
This thing. I use it all the time around the house, or repairing stuff. people here always give me shit for it, but it's awesome
Give examples of when you actually used it.
Missing fasteners happen. Sometimes your taking shit apart and pieces disappear into another dimension, that literally happened one time taking apart a BMX bicycle stem. Those ones have male and female threads, it’s good to have instead of grabbing two of everything at Ace Hardware that look pretty close.
*projected savings assuming they are handed down to my grandchildren and they use them to fix something
The one thing I would change is maybe the big scanner, get a cheap Bluetooth scanner instead depending on make of car and available apps/software
If you were going to make up a story, you should have at least said you lost the fastener to something big enough you couldnt walk it into the hardware store.
Odyssey Elementary… look it up, held together by an innovative wedge design. Loosen hardware, give handlebars a nudge, wedges shoot out and hardware reaches escape velocity.
So this is the thing that was far too big to walk into a hardware store with?
Sheeit, it looks like it originally came with 2 bolts in case you lost one!
Damn I had an early version or I lost the other one. Also that shit is often a display model at a bike shop and you buy it out of a glass case.
That was just the most impressive one where hardware escaped the solar system’s gravitational field.
I had AutoZone give me 2 different optional lug nut sizes for a Jeep once. One was metric, one was SAE. Glad I didn’t have to remove a stud from the car or buy 2 sets of lug nuts and waste the time to return one of them.
Thats a bit of a better story, Im just wondering where the other ~19 or so lug nuts (which you could have walked into autozone with) went.
I use that thing all the time when replacing rusted out bolts on my cars/truck
>I don't need the thing and I can't conceive of anyone else needing the thing
Why are you like this?
I bought the same thing a couple years ago. One standard and one metric. It's perfect if you have a ton of random bolts that you're trying to organize. It also worked well when I did a manual swap in my old Prelude and I wanted to replace critical bolts.
I feel you bro. People gave me all sorts of crap when they found out I like anal beads but I didn't let it get to me.
I like mine except for what the shitty rubber texture turned into. Sticky little c**t.
>life changing
double male extension cord.
$10
But more seriously, 5 minute epoxy, works better than super glue, and ways duct tape never could. I've never tested it but I imagine you could also print completely hollow 3D parts then just fill it with epoxy mix (if it doesn't desolve the plastic)
$5-15 depending on quantity.
>fill a hollow mold
>$5-15 depending on quantity.
Sound a lot more expensive than plaster of Paris.
>There are 3 different people posting examples of how they use it
And all "3" are complete and utter invalids who laud as seen on TV tools, made specifically for people who are too stupid to build anything.
Tell us about your Gator Grip and your Tiger Wrench!
Lets see your most recent hot glue repair!
Post your smooth, delicate, and almost transparent hands.
gaygit
>strong, tough, calloused hands from using my squeeze wrench
Billy Mays made me into a MAN
This is the annoying form of autism NOT like the movie rainman where you sperg out over someone measuring screws rather than driving to the hardware store and guessing 100 different thread pitches because then you could save $12
Not reading that. Still enjoying my dial calipers
>brags about owning dial calipers
>doesnt know how to use them
ive reloaded enough that if i didnt know how to use calipers i would be dead or maimed by this point
I’ll add to
and
If you’ve never had to go to the hardware store and guess the closest threads and either buy more sizes than needed or gotten the wrong size, you haven’t repaired much. At minimum, maybe you could bring the part with the other threads in, but it’s large and/or requires taking apart more of an assembly than you need to. And if it’s a part for a plumbing fixture or something electrical, that could mean shutting off services for a time to pull the part off and bring it to Ace Hardware.
God forbid you need a specialized fastener you need to order on the internet, I’m not sure they will let you ship them the assembly so they can find the proper bolt and send all of it back.
>If you’ve never had to go to the hardware store and guess the closest threads and either buy more sizes than needed or gotten the wrong size, you haven’t repaired much
If you unironically cant tell what a fastener size is by eye, you havent done much PrepHole.
If you cant tell fine thread vs coarse thread, you might need glasses.
If you havent spent $20 buying all the normal sized bulk fasteners and keep them on hand, you unironically dont deserve to be on this board.
The "maker" movement was a mistake
Show me where you can get a $25 assortment of all common sizes, from 4 to 1/2, that has at least 10-20 fasteners for each common length and not just random short lengths that could fit in a bin. I'll even allow chinesium garbage.
>And if it’s a part for a plumbing fixture or something electrical, that could mean shutting off services for a time to pull the part off and bring it to Ace Hardware.
You do realize that your tool checker is missing most of the Machine Screw sizes, and has no NPT plumbing sizes at all right?
NPT is easy enough, and if it’s an odd size machine screw, then you can rule out 4-5 thread sizes you don’t have to buy at the hardware store, so life is still easier with the thread checker.
>NPT is easy enough
True, thats the crux of this conversation. Almost all of it is "easy enough" with minor experience.
Once you start doing fabrication, or restoration or any discipline really, you realize only a handful of sizes ever get used for said application.
Context clues and visual cues, and just its actual size are pretty easy to guess what it is.
If you were real worried about it, you grab your caliper and hit it, you know right away what it is.
And if you CANT do that yet, you need to be paying more attention and getting more experience with your projects.
Spending $20 on a gimmick crutch tool is dumb when you should be building up a stock of fasteners and trying to actually learn your craft.
Dont you feel a little shame sitting here implying that you need some shitty tool to tell what a m10 bolt looks like, despite being mr mechanic man?
But they aren’t. But again, stay mad because people like different things than you.
First of all, no I don’t have a rack of nicely organized bolts from 3mm to 12mm, plus SAE. But even if I did, I just find it easier to quickly check with a tool. I get that some people don’t need to. My boomer dad couldn’t even wrap his head around it ( I had him buy it for me as a present ). He literally couldn’t conceive of a situation where’d he’d use it, because I’ve seen how he works. He’s got to take the bolt or nut back to his garage, dig through a bunch of drawers to find the match. Or he’s gotta remember to bring the bolt, but then he stops off at the hardware store on the way home from work and forgot the bolt. So he just buys two or three boxes of whatever he thinks it will be. It’s easier for me to have one tool I can reach for, that I can carry up a ladder, or take out to my car, or take to a friends house.
I diy shit man. I don’t do this every fricking day. If you dropped a 8 mm bolt and a 10-32 in front of me, I wouldn’t know which is which. I wouldn’t know where to start guessing. And I’m ok with that.
So much mad. How do you navigate real life without imploding from anger at all the “morons” out there?
You know what else Dad? I don’t change my own oil, and I wait 5-7000 miles between changes. I sometimes use a pair of pliers to turn a nut, if that is what is closer to me than a ratchet. I’d rather buy a small, more expensive ziplock bag of bolts than have another whole box of bolts, even though it is cheaper. I pay $6 for an iced mocha at Starbucks. I’d probably pay $10 if I really wanted one before I would go home and brew some coffee for 50c. Cuz idgaf
Stay mad gay
>You know what else Dad? I don’t change my own oil, and I wait 5-7000 miles between changes. I sometimes use a pair of pliers to turn a nut, if that is what is closer to me than a ratchet. I’d rather buy a small, more expensive ziplock bag of bolts than have another whole box of bolts, even though it is cheaper. I pay $6 for an iced mocha at Starbucks. I’d probably pay $10 if I really wanted one before I would go home and brew some coffee for 50c. Cuz idgaf
>Next thread. "Why am I so poor, I can't afford anything! Boomers have ruined everything!"
T. Not a boomer.
Too bad. At least they have an excuse for being the way they are.
Do you frickers not have nicely organized bolt bins full of bolts to check threads with? Lol. Lmao even!
And all of you with your calipers know you can use them to measure the major diameter of the threads too right? And then a simple screw pitch gauge found in most tap and die sets will tell you your thread pitch.
Not gonna lie, i do own a screw checker too, but really haven't used it at all.
>dude why would you use 1 tool when you could use 2 separate tools and a reference chart
Nah, seriously I just go to my bins and get the right size the first time by checking against old threads if it's something I'm not sure about. Most the time I can just grab what I need by sight and knowing whether what I'm working on has been standard or metric hardware up to that point.
But occasionally I will get some truly oddball shit and will have to break out the calipers and thread gauge. But here's the deal. Your screw checker isn't going to have that odd thread either. And neither will most common hardware stores.
>Your screw checker isn't going to have that odd thread either
Not what it's for. It's for casuals who don't have bins upon bins of every common size, and need just one or a few, and it greatly simplifies that process. We get it; you guys are like arduino haters, who can't stop gatekeeping.
>It's for casuals who don't have bins upon bins of every common size, and need just one or a few, and it greatly simplifies that process.
True, and those moronic casuals need called out for being stupid.
It would cost you like $25 to buy bulk fasteners at the hardware store, it blows my mind people havent actually done that but are proud to say they order fasteners at 300% markup on amazon.
Example of odd thread and application please.
Not that anon, my JET bench grinder manufactured in like ~2010.
I lost the arbor nut, turns out its a reverse thread 1/2-12 BSW
I know that a lot of big chink tools in the 70s-80s used BSF and BSW threaded shit for some reason, some bench grinder to this day do.
Another one sitting in my garage is a nice Millers Falls hand vice I have. Its missing the handle that threads into the side. Its a 3/8-20 NS thread. I still havent gotten around to making a new handle for it.
If you work on any vintage british car or motorcycle they use BSF and BSW.
I wont even get into vintage machine tools having custom TPI fasteners. We had to make custom TPI gib screws for an old screwmachine lathe in the shop.
Do you honestly believe that oddball thread sizes dont exist?
>Do you honestly believe that oddball thread sizes dont exist?
Who the hell said that? It was a legit question. Of course oddball shit exists. I was curious about what other diy'ers encounter outside of the most common fasteners because it most likely points to cool and unique projects.
I just take a picture next to a ruler and count the TPI.
>tfw it’s metric
Are the knockoff cartridges any good? I have been disappointed with cheap HP refill cartridges. One set was awesome, go to reorder on Amazon and the brand is gone, so I try to find the next highest rated, and that one frickin sucks and it takes a couple pages of printing before it comes out 80% as sharp as the OEM HP ink.
These are good if you don't need accuracy or you can calibrate it for your specific surface type.
Speaking of cheap tools…
We all know Lowe’s sucks for most stuff unless you’re trying to pick up a married housewife, but this is a reminder that you may want to cougar-chase every blue moon and check out the clearance sections.
Since nobody actually shops at Lowe’s, tons of their useful stuff just sits around until they do a reset of tools a boomer’s wife would buy and it goes on clearance.
>200pc Dremel accessory set for $10
IME, the Dremel branded bits are a little overpriced, but they’re better than the no-name cheap assortments on Amazon
>$11 10” Knipex Cobras
Like $40 on Amazon. They didn’t have a spot, but were sitting on top of the Wiha pliers on some power wing thingy in the <18” of space they gave Wiha. They had 5pc Wiha screwdriver sets for dirt cheap a year ago
A couple more honorable mentions. I got a 2pk of Spyder 40T 10” blades somewhat recently on clearance for like $20 as well. Can’t go wrong with super cheap consumables. The Spyder 7-1/4” 24T 2pks of blades can be found for like $6 as well.
Pretty much all of the Klein Packout type boxes were on clearance for maybe 10%-20% off, and a few of the sets like picrel were on clearance, which is a good deal considering there’s never really sales on Klein stuff, and this was already a good buy at full price.
Lots of Craftsman kits on sale. Some Kobalt wrench sets too. They had the 5pc jumbo wrench sets, like the 7/8+ and 20mm+, on clearance for around half off.
Oh and basically every Kobalt bare tool was on clearance. The next aisle over had some good deals too, like $79 for two of their newer high output 4.0s. No telling if they’re going to kill the brand or they have Gen2 stuff coming, but they have been getting rid of lots of Kobalt 24V at certain stores ever since the Craftsman came around.
If you’re already on the Kobalt 24V system, stock up now. If you’re looking to get on a new battery platform, you may not want to risk getting stuck on a platform that’s dying.
I thought this was the "life changing tool" thread, not "mediocre everyday tool sale" thread
$11 Cobras are life changing breh. Cobras for every common folk!
If you’re a sparky and deal with 4 different sizes SAE of fasteners all day, then sure, go to the van and grab another screw for that receptacle.
>people finally give you benefit of the doubt, saying you might have the ability to not be a total hack
>"nah, im going to argue for days about how much of a hack i am"
SAD!
About the thread thing? Hey man this is DIY where you might not know M6 from 1/4”-20 or whatever the hell. If you’re in one trade with a bunch of common fasteners, it’s much easier, which is why I said even I can tell 1/2” from 3/4” NPT and I’m a moronic shitposter.
The “thread checkers are dumb” anon was making moronic points to argue with numerous people who enjoy having a thread checker necklace. This is the internet after all.
> this is DIY where you might not know M6 from 1/4”-20 or whatever the hell.
True, board is filled with larpers and makers who are too stupid to realize a Honda doesnt use SAE fasteners, or that bolts literally have markings telling you if its SAE or Metric.
I love how you continually lump yourself in with such hacks.
Even machinists use thread checkers, like my (rich) shopownerbro who gave me mine from a pile a salesdroid gave him. It's easy to memorize what's common to your daily tasks though.
Machinist use pitch gages.
But as was previously posted
thats far too much work for the average maker to do.
He of course has those, the checkers are for quick checks because they don't require measuring the major diameter AND using the pitch gauge. Checker lives on his desk, pitch gauges in his Kennedy box. For fast matchup of hardware on repair jobs they're ample.
I also have both. Checker hangs where I wrench near disposable HF calipers (which work fine checked against standards). My pitch gauges stay with tap and die set in my Kennedy box along with Mitutoyo and Tesa calipers I wish to preserve.
BTW keep an eye out for auctions as I'm seeing more lately including a whole Nucor warehouse being auctioned for removal since it had not finished construction. Bidspotter listings etc are pretty good.
I like the auctions who filter idiots by requiring a deposit which is not used in the bidding, just as proof bidder is serious (the transaction is a money request subsequently cancelled, standard with the big auction firms). Keeps out the nosepickers. When asked your "probable spend" always say several grand. That's another trick to filter the shitbirds.
I'm not seeing recession level auctions yet but smell a soft recession coming which would be nice for self and bro to finish our equipment collections.
>BTW keep an eye out for auctions as I'm seeing more lately including a whole Nucor warehouse being auctioned for removal since it had not finished construction. Bidspotter listings etc are pretty good.
Just checked them out. Mostly cannibis and brewery related stuff. My go to auction sites are big iron, auction time, purple wave and of course the iron planet and gov planet auctions. Never actually bought stuff off of gov planet yet, but thought about it. Big iron and auction time have been good to me for buying farm equipment.
Post pics of tap and die set
keep your eye out for EV related businesses going under. Maybe score some sweet batteries.
a tool cant be life changing if it sits unused in the garage for the rest of your life
nor can it be cheap if you only took a picture in the store so you could pretend to have bought it to impress anonymous strangers on the internet
sadly this is the closest tripfriends can get
Ohhh babygurl you know I didn’t leave that Cobra sitting there for somebody else to find.
I found a pair of small doyle on the road the other day.
ngl, I'm triggered because it's a flat head.
Is koballz really an 18 V system, like the fake dewalt “20 V” maxxx system?
No it’s 24V. DeWalt’s 18V aka 20V system is 5x 3.6V cells in parallel. Kobalt and Flex have 24V systems, which is 6 cells in parallel, but I guess it would be 21.6V using the nominal voltage like Milwaukee and Makita 18V.
Also all of the 12V tools are 3 cells, so they’re technically 10.8V nominal. Bur 18V is closer to 21V fully charged, 12V is like 12.6V fully charged, and 24V is 25.2V with max charge
With respect to performance, it all depends on motor and batteries, but I guess 24V and 6 cells makes it a little easier to get higher power tools, which is why Flex does real well in all these max power tests. But there’s a lot more to it.
I think you mean series. Parallel cells have the same battery voltage as the individual cells.
Yes meant series. My proofreader was out to lunch. Don’t listen to anything on PrepHole ever.
I mean it was 5 consecutive pics on an IMAGEBOARD. Please explain how to post correctly on an IMAGEBOARD.
Also filter anon is missing out on the good deals at Blowe’s.
>I mean it was 5 consecutive pics on an IMAGEBOARD.
>Please explain how to post correctly on an IMAGEBOARD.
i agree, that kind of crop is moronic
Kek
I also run a YT channel where I’m a gay animated bear talking about the sales at Harbor Freight. Go check it out!
frfr ik ur jelly of my $11 cobras
>I also run a YT channel where I’m a gay animated bear talking about the sales at Harbor Freight.
You have literally spent the last 6 years regurgitating people like him on here
Because I AM HE BEAR!
I’m also AvE but don’t tell anybody because my secret canuck identity outside of Vancouver must be hidden.
>I’m also AvE but don’t tell anybody because my secret canuck identity outside of Vancouver must be hidden.
I knew you posted on this board, you dont care people know who you are now?
It’s anonymous ya c**t!
I have a little like 8” blade one, somewhere between a pruning saw and a drywall saw, in my small go-bag, have considered ditching it from the bag but that stupid thing comes in handy once in a blue moon.
>Habor Freight releases tons of new brands to clarify their lineup
>Doyle pliers and screwdrivers are the new “Best” and supposed to be the replacement for Klein
>Wait, we forgot Icon! That’s the new “Best-est” and is nothing but Snap On and Knipex copies!
>tfw the Doyle line has Knipex copies too
>new loppers and snippers for yard work, just like the ones Klein sells, right?
>Doyle! Your replacement for Klein, Channellock, some Knipex unless you want the Icon Knipex, and now Fiskars!
Also the Fiskars trimmers must be about the same price as those Doyles. I hate Harbor Freight so much.
What exactly is the point of this post?
Its straight rambling about nothing.
Just ignore him, he basically uses this site as his personal blog because no one in real life listens to him either.
>Its straight rambling about nothing.
Yes
Pls send AIM address so I can have you photoshop all of my pics.
Why do you walk around taking pictures of the most moronic shit ever? It has to be something pretty unique for me to think, "Hey i should take a picture of this!"
The Kobalt and Flex 24Vbattery packs are also going to be 20% longer and heavier than other 18V battery packs because there are 20% more cells. Picrel isn’t the greatest comparison because the Ridgid pack has more plastic on it, but you would be able to easily see the difference with a 2.0Ah DeWalt pack and a 2.0Ah Kobalt pack
Pretty much this.
Yeah, they're useful. The tone generator variety for data cabling as well. Don't work too well on shielded cable, though.
so happy to know that this exists
Wonder if that’s the circuit breaker finder or a wire tracer.
I got the Klein one first, realizing it’s sort of useless for the issue I needed to tackle because it’s worthless on a dead outlet. Got the cheap HF tracer which is actually pretty neat because it can do stuff other than 120VAC typical outlets, but I was hoping it would go deeper. Not very effective behind drywall, and I need to find where this unpowered 120V circuit goes bad. But I didn’t want to spend $$$ on this one outlet.
One day I’ll figure it out.
Buy a used dynatel 2273 off ebay. They used to be a lot cheaper. Seems like these advanced tool guys have a bunch and paid to be on top
I have the same Klein set too with the tester pen and the adapter set.
I assumed Klein was overpriced, but you really can tell the difference in quality just by holding one. They use a very high grade plastic on these and their screwdrivers. Their shit is solid.
I got the Klein NCV with the dual voltage range and laser pointer. I have no clue why the NCV has a laser pointer, but the cat enjoys it.
I got the wife one of those Dremel Versa scrubbers for Xmas. Women love getting cleaning supplies as gifts, trust me.
Remember covid when there was a shortage of picrel temp guns? The cheapest ones like picrel were going for like $40 on ebay from whoever had them in stock lmao
This little modular pick set saved me so many times, hooking and retrieving dropped things in tight spaces, catching and removing belts and o-rings.
I had the General Tools precision screwdriver deal with the same exact style of handle and case except it’s driver bits instead of picks and hooks. It was horrible, the bits did not hold in place at all, and it’s not like you can get that much torque through a tiny handle.
I’m surprised you haven’t lost all of the hook style picks when they fell out behind a wall or into an engine bay or behind a body panel.
Wrt thermal cam for short repair were you doing through hole stuff? I don’t really frick with through hole stuff much these days. I’d imagine it’s less effective for that because of what you mentioned like parts are wrapped and/or encapsulated. Plus the parts just being much larger would probably make them take a bit more time to heat up whereas an 0402 cap that shorting will get crazy hot basically instantly. Although I’ve been burned pretty bad by shorted through hole caps and have seen them explode pretty spectacularly so I dunno
couldnt live without this
a frying pan?
This guy is fricking UNHINGED
First day on PrepHole?
We have lots of larpers and crazies, but Bepis takes the cake, and he does it on 2-3 other boards simultaneously
I despise him too. Fricking e-attention prostitutes.
Never in my life didI ever think I’d see one man so absolutely triggered by thread checker enthusiasts.
You know me, constantly triggered. So worked up I no longer post with a tripcode because I get so angry when randos on the internet complain.
probably just re-iterating things from higher in this thread but
>knipex twin grip pliers
great for hose clamps, great for everything. if it can't get a screw loose it will at least rip the head apart in the process
>icon ratchets
cheap but they feel real nice and make me happy
>decent multimeter
total game changer having a multimeter with long leads and having an extra set of leads with alligator clips on the end. helps diagnose everything and has saved me a ton of money on replacing sensors that still work.
>cordless impact, sawzall, angle grinder
more expensive but obviously useful. you can take these three basically anywhere and they do things that are sometimes even impossible by hand
>cordless heat gun
this one is probably unique. I bought mine to try and remove a windshield at a junkyard. it didn't work for that, but I've wound up using it an enormous amount for things I never anticipated to. great for heat shrink obviously, also nice for warming up your hands at a junkyard. My wife borrowed it for about a week to unlock her old truck in the morning when the locks were frozen shut. I use it to reheat old adhesives to get stuff to stick in the cold etc etc etc.
best $80 I ever accidentally spent.
>knipex
pic related is a game changer for dykes. every pair should be in the bolt cutter format. its so buttery smooth and worth the money.
you in 40 years will appreciate the lack of Arthritis, and the increased productivity.
used it to splice thick gauge red top horse fencing and it made it go so much faster.
I have a set of WISS mini bolt cutters and I have never been a fan. Good diagonal cutters go through most shit that will fit in the jaws of the mini bolt cutters, and anything the dykes don’t get through that fits in the bolt cutters, the handles on those Wiss ones end up super wide and it’s hard to get a good bite on them. Maybe the knipex are better but I wouldn’t spend $50+ on them without finding a good use for them first.
muratic acid
Plug and feather set for splitting concrete and stone.
Absolute must have, it's low powered enough that it won't damage electronics that you work on.
Seeing all the posts about pliers, but nobody mentioning locking pliers
If you were to have just one set of pliers, the locking ones can be handy in so many more ways. You just don't know until you own a pair.
Sure, they're quite as comfortable as regular pliers for simply being used as a wrench, but once you're dealing with a stripped bolt, need to reach in to an awkward place or, ofc, clamp something down.
Vise grips are Chinese garbage. Get Malcos if you want American style, or Grip Ons if you like having based euro style pull release
Malco stopped making them a year or two ago.
You can still find them. For a minute, the price went down after they stopped making them, not sure what it is now.
Supposedly Snap On bought up a lot of the equipment to make the Eagle Grips, so you will still be able to buy good USA locking pliers for the forseeable future, but I’m sure they will be 2x-3x what the Malcos cost.
Just think if Malco had worked with Home Depot and did a holiday special with a 7” and 10” curved jaw pack in a shipper with a big American flag for like $39.99…
Sure, $40-$50 would still be a lot of money for two vise grips, but not so expensive that guys wouldn’t snag them or get them as a stocking stuffer. And rhe company wouldn’t lose money on them at $20ea, then word would get around fast that they’re the best vise grips anybody has sold for 25+ years and dudes would be buying them like they do for $40 Klein linesmans even though there’s plenty of cheaper competition.
>Vise grips are Chinese garbage. Get Malcos if you want American style, or Grip Ons if you like having based euro style pull release
Old vise grips were pretty good. The Bremen ones from HF are good for clamping stuff for welding, but the jaws of course aren't as sharp or hard as the Malcos.
I bought a couple pairs of the Malcos and keep them locked away from the welding vise grips just for when I really need them to grip and bite and twist out that absolutely fricked broken bolt or screw or whatever emergency thing I need them for.
the hardware stores around me are so old and low volume you can sometimes still find 40 year old made in usa crescent wrenches or vise grips in the original packaging (not the original price tho)
I go looking for used Peterson Dewitt vice grips. They can be beat to crap and rusty but still work better than a new china built set.
specifically, I recommend keeping a pair of straight jaw vice grips in your car to pinch cables. Saved me twice when a brake line burst and I could just clamp it off and run with 3 brakes to make it somewhere. Also mechanic's wire, which is like a dollar for 50 feet to hang your exhaust back up when it falls off, tie things down, etc.
Had a window regulator shit out on my car so I pulled the door card real quick and stuck some vise grips on the rail to hold it up til i cold get the parts.
As far as the wire, not a bad option, but I’m partial to zip ties. Run a handful together and get some length. Not the best for a hot exhaust though.
I have stainless zip ties they're great.
Cheap endoscope.
Just used it today to relearn a Masterlock dial lock's number after shimming and opening it.
Have used it before to inspect an engine internals, gun barrel before buying the gun, blocked drain pipe and wife's vegana
>Have used it before to inspect an engine internals, gun barrel before buying the gun, blocked drain pipe and wife's vegana
I can imagine you sitting there in the kitchen as it gets later and later with your endoscope in hand. When finally your wife comes through the door from her "girls night out"
"You know the drill" you say gruffly. Your wife begins sobbing gently as she climbs up on the table...
Keep your fetishes to yourself.
>Keep your fetishes to yourself.
Hey man, you're the one that just HAD to mention that you endoscoped your wife's vegana...
Someone is jealous he doesn't have a wife to stick an endoscope inside
The 30-year-old scooper
i gagged
Dont forget that time you used it to find your boyfriends prostate
>Dont forget that time you used it to find your boyfriends prostate
wow what an idiot. that's what his tounge is for!
I just bought one at Temu. Can't wait it changes my life.
>I just bought one at Temu. Can't wait it changes my life.
Based Temu shopper.
I just put in another order from there. Some tools and whatnot.
Pretty sure temu is state sponsored and China is coating products with hormones and other chemicals
>cheese knife
fouciño for the win!
A few years back I bought a full set of the various sizes of Vise Grip brand locking pliers from the 70s or so. Got them in and cleaned and greased them, and they have been great. I'll add on that the Stanley locking crescent wrench is a really great tool as well.
anyone have any recommendations for a good, sturdy pair of scissors? (aliexpress preferred)
I bought a pair of yellow handled kientools ones 3 years ago. They can still be pushed through paper despite being used on stupidly thick rubber and other silly shit I should have used shears on.
Look up 12" stainless scissors on ebay and buy some of those. I have gotten them a few times and even given them as gifts. They plain kick ass and are great for cutting through large fluffy stuff like foam or insulation or tough stuff like carpet and rubber. Even mud flaps and some conveyor belting. Hell i have even used them for cutting sheet metal a time or two. Get a couple pairs. One to absolutely abuse and one for finer work. I have only had to throw out one pair when my kid dropped them on the concrete floor just right and one handle snapped off. But they are cheap so no big deal.
I just go Fiskars for tons of gardening and scissors and that stuff. They’re not cheap AliExpress stuff, but they’re not super extra special premium, however I have had so many cheap scissors and cutting toos be absolute trash after a couple uses and the Fiskars always works as expected for years to come. It’s the “buy once, cry once” except their stuff isn’t even prohibitively expensive. I have like 3 pairs of no-name scissors/shears around the garage that I’m waiting to replace with Fiskars when I see a replacement version I like at a fair price.
If you want to be cook, get the Engineer shears that are made in Japan, they’re supposed to be nice.
What are you cutting? The harbor freight shop shears are great for cutting stuff you shouldn't cut with a scissor and quite affordable.
Drum augurs
I use my fish tape for this, I've unclogged the septic and gray water circuits, fixed a leaking air conditioner and run a few miles of wire with it.
>fish tape, fixed a leaking air conditioner
Please elaborate.
I imagine he’s talking about the condensate drain?
Damn that thing is intense, probably above my needs. I just wanted a wire tracer that I could crank up enough to see through maybe some conduit and a layer of drywall. The Harbor Freight one does its job when you have access to the wires in a box or panel, but not beyond that.
I think most of them aren’t built to go through walls unless you step up to something like that 2273 underground tracer. They’re made so you can pick a wire out in a box, and if the signal was strong enough to go through walls or dirt, when you’re in a box trying to trace wires, you would have a strong signal across the room.
I saved those from the few C rats I was issued but carried a stainless G.I. pocket knife which has much better mechanical advantage. Now my various Leathermans open cans when camping because mechanical avantage is pure win.
My Edlund 11100 is a real life changer because I could easily one-hand large food cans while recovering from shoulder replacement. The cost spread over decades is utterly painless as with any productive, quality tool.
Used to rip through pallets of 64oz pizza sauce cans with one of those bad boys as a kid.
Great box cutter and wont nick ya
bet it would be great for jack-o-lanterns
Combination squares of varying lengths
Coping saw
Japanese pull saw
gaffer tape
pack of 100 carpenters pencils that you scatter into every drawer, desk, shelf, and toolbox you have
seconding the laser thermometer
>pack of 100 carpenters pencils that you scatter into every drawer, desk, shelf, and toolbox you have
Sometimes you've got to dig deep to find the gold in threads like these
Carpenter pencils suck dick, I dont want a bunch of them laying around
I did the bulk big orange square ones for a time. But they suck for precision unless you're just doing rough framing. I went and got picrel for $15 on amazon and haven't gone back.
20 years ago they (the blue black and gold ones) were architects/draftsmans pencils.
Also now there is this refinement on the carpenters pencil. Accurate, shadey, and calligraphic.
I keep going back and forth on snagging those big ones. Lowe’s had the Ox brand ones on sale, but they’re still about as much as a 3pk on Amazon with 3 different colors. I don’t want to buy a piece of shit on Amazon or spend $60 for 3x Ox or that popular green name brand plus the colored leads unless they’re that much better than carpenter pencils.
WHY ARE YOU PAYING AMAZON TO MIDDLEMAN YOUR GLORIOUS SINO-FREIGHT?
https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-LEAD-PENCIL.html
Because maybe I want it in a couple days and not 6 weeks from now?
Once I bought a flashlight from Ali for like $30 as a Christmas gift for someone. 2 months AFTER Christmas it finally arrived...WET. The whole factory box was soaking wet like it washed up on shore having floated over from China.
Two months is so 2020
I typically get 12 day delivery, or less. Unless it has seafreight-only contents.
...and yeah, you cant expect to order during lead-up to any of the major holidays and get prompth delivery. Especially now that the pool is closed to infidel ships in the middle east.
>uuuu I want to buy thing but maybe I won't
No one cares about your life.
The amazon retractable permanent markers are pretty dope too. They're bigger and fatter than the Sharpie brand ones.
Very useful using one handed and you don't have to pull the cap off with your teeth.
I do that for welders soapstone sticks for the same reasons.
>pack of 100 carpenters pencils that you scatter into every drawer, desk, shelf, and toolbox
I do this with bulk packs of plumbers tape. Then every time I grab one it's always dried out and rotted and I have to hit up my stashes all over the house and vehicle.
something that has improved my life that seemed so obvious but i just didn't fricking think about til i saw someone else doing it: put a 10" folding pruning saw in my toolbag. when I have to work outdoors in a place with a lot of overgrowth, it will clear a working space in minutes, and this mf actually rips construction lumber hella fast, as well as any other soft material you need to cut, you just have to account for the wider kerf. I feel like a moron for using a fricking recip-saw blade handle and those tiny recip blades for so long for this shit
nice I keep one in my truck, trees and branches fall across roads all the time where I live
Even the cheap shitty arc-hardened ones from harbor freight are great.
I use one for cutting coolant hoses in salvage yards. The reach goes where my recip saw is sometimes inconvenient.
>pumice
Just the blocks, they are easy to break, and disintegrate extremely rapidly, so you have to develop a technique for holding them while maximizing thier usefulness before they get thin enough to snap. But a handfull of broken bits is still useful as grit.
Some do come with handles, but thats not really useful except for making them snap more easily.
Using them in conjunction with one of the drill mounted brushes listed above is quite effective.
Do some hand work on the corners and grout lines, then hit it with the brush. Don't allow any mud to escape till you have finished pushing it around and brushing everyhting.
It's harsh on skin if you rub it on yourself, but hand holding it to clean other things isnt a problem.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006174029637.html
if you need to put in a nail, a hammer is a "life changing" tool. most of you are just discovering the right tool for the job
…and then you buy a nail gun!
See
crescent np11
Hey I have a couple pairs of those... They do werk bretty gud. Been using them to pull some nails out of pallet wood. Also if you salvage pallet wood one of these pneumatic nail removers is a freakin time saver and a half. For best results get an old oil barrel and pull the large bung, or a lid for a trash can and put a 2" diameter or so hole in it and put the nail that you are about to shoot out of the board over that hole so it contains the nails. A normal burn barrel with an open top will still have those nails ricocheting out of the barrel and then you gotta pick them up.
https://www.amazon.com/Air-locker-professional-Nailer-Remover/dp/B003X2QM3G/ref=sr_1_5
I used to think that all multi-bit screwdrivers sucked until I tried this bad boy. I do a LOT of allen head screwing for work and this thing has replaced my T handles for all applications besides when I need the length/slimness of the T handle. I also got the version with phillips, flat, star etc. Been using them both for years now. Specifically talking about the Megapro one I at least know that it's held up.
If you can accept the extra length why not use a drill
Drill too fat to get in the narrow spaces to screw down circuit boards and other shit I deal with. I also like feeling out the tension by hand on a lot of the stuff. There's a few I work with that I do use a drill but those are only specifically 1/8"
for me its this drain unclogger and a telescopic treebranch pruner
Wew lad wait til you try a pole saw with the little chain saw. The dangerous part is you will be tempted to lop opp big ass limbs that are almost out of reach, and then it might split your head open. But then your wife buys you a dope new ladder for your birthday because she doesn’t want you to die on the top step of a 6ft wooden ladder that is older than you.
I got the cheap HF 120V electric pole saw and it’s not too bad. Wanted to get a cordless one but I barely use it at the new house with the smaller trees.
I shipping-taped (beats duct tape because stronk) my corded chain pruner to a long PVC extension, then turned on and off with powe strip (after taping the trigger of course). Glorious safe extra reach.
That’s hella PrepHole!
A utility knife with those trapezoidal blades. They are so much better than the slidey ones. A lot of them can't be opened with one hand, but there are some that can like the one Milwaukee makes. I'm pretty sure that if it was fixed blade it'd be illegal in many countries.
For anyone who does mechanical work, a magnetic parts tray is an indisposable tool.
Those new silicone trays are pretty nice too, I’ll lay the large or medium right across the top of the air box or battery when doing engine work.
Also those plastic pans from the hospital. Super useful when pulling apart lines and bullshit full of fluid, especially when you don’t want brake fluid dripping.
I use one just for loose stuff in my garage so nothing ends up in a tire. I probably should go through and clean it up sometime soon.
I had this exact thing going for awhile until I finally got sick of it and tossed it into different junk bins.
I finally threw out all of those dogshit 5mm hex keys that come with shitty flat pack furniture.
I collect all useful stainless (I can always add magnets as desired) especially restaurant equipment like steam table pans, baking sheets etc. The combo of a sheet for disassembly and separate stainless containers for cleaning parts as groups is glorious.
I look out for standing sinks to use as shop sinks outdoors (I keep one next to my rain barrels) and stainless tables which I can also leave outdoors. I degrease, sandblast, weld and grind outdoors so I don't have to clean up the residue which just settles into my railroad rock work areas.
Bread pans from Dollar Tree are nice for sorting nuts and bolts and disassembling things in groups as well. They also stack nicely when empty so they don't take up a ton of room.
Dude, you bring a chick over to your workshop and you’re like “check out my breadpans with rusty screws in them”
No.
They’re gonna want to see some festool SysTainer or millwaulkee PackOut action.
>Dude, you bring a chick over to your workshop and you’re like “check out my breadpans with rusty screws in them”
They're merely for sorting them out not storing them you smoothbrain.
>No.
>They’re gonna want to see some festool SysTainer or millwaulkee PackOut action
>$11
Amazon sent me one for nothing, no idea why.
Also sent me an iPad case for an iPad that I didn't own, again, for nothing.
Wish they'd send something that was actually something I wanted for free although the temp thing is pretty handy.
Every so often in life you get a return on the Black tax.
I know a guy that bought a small electronic device for about $75. They sent an entire factory bulk box of 6 because the order puller didn't realize. So...onto ebay the other 5 went.
closest thread i could find...
Can anyone recommend a power driver like pic related, but with a brushless motor. Or does such a thing exist.
Ive used pic related every day for like 10 years, and its great, just want to upgrade. The battery life in particular is my biggest complaint.
Requirements are to fold like pic related, have a torque adjustment, and have thumb operated buttons like pic related. Just also want brushless and lithium battery.
Look on amazon for cordless screwdriver. I have the new Ryobi 4v one but there's no torque adjust.
>delivers most torque
automatic disregard of video basically.
I work on precision electronics. the LESS torque the better. the panasonic i posted has to be modified to deliver less torque to even be usable for what i do. this is accomplished by either removing a spacer (for the clutch spring), or cutting the spring shorter
you stupid fricking animal skip to the spreadsheet at the end he tested the minimum torque load of the models that had clutches and several of them could not exceed 1 in-lbs of torque to create a reading
lol ok thank you
>minimum torque load of the models that had clutches and several of them could not exceed 1 in-lbs of torque
hmm that sounds promising.
my modified one i generally use at setting of 3. at setting of one i can literally hold the bit with my fingers and the clutch will slip. 1 in*lbs is somewhere in the general range i use mine at
Better yet, skip the whole video because Project Farm is fricking garbage in every way.
There are very few other sources on the internet performing objective variable controlled experiments to quantify tool performance. Not all of his tests are perfect and his humor varies from weird to cringe but it's one of the best review channels available.
If you dont have experience and knowledge in said tools or products in the first place, the objective data means literally nothing.
His tests are bad, his tool selection is bad, and all of the data is pretty much worthless to anyone who doesnt already know better (the people who dont need the tests).
There are no other channels doing it, because his data is meaningless. He pushes things to failure far outside of what a real workload is, which is in no way relevant to long term longevity in a normal setting and workload.
If you unironically watch his channel and make purchases based on his tests, you are a complete and utter fool.
alright, i guess i should consult the REAL source of tool reviews, which is uhhhh, uhhhhhhhhh
Whats it with zoomers who need someone to hold their hand for every single solitary decision they make?
Please mr social media man, you have great authority because "were gonna test that!"
I needed to put my diagonal cutters into a hydraulic press and cut hardened steel pins yesterday, thank god you had already done that test mr social media man!
I would have bought the Irwin model you recommended, but they had been discontinued before you even released the video!
>no counterargument
ok
>>no counterargument
There isnt much counterargument to "I need an influencer to dictate what I buy"
Its just telling about you.
>I need an influencer to dictate what I buy
That's a funny way to say "I like to inform myself before I buy something". Are you just salty you don't have internet fame to show for your tool hoarding?
>That's a funny way to say "I like to inform myself before I buy something"
There are hundreds of models from countless brands, from all different price points and quality.
You can inform yourself, pinpoint the exact tool you need with a little research.
Instead you need Todd to influence you on the 6 random models he happened to buy on amazon (so he can post the amazon affiliate link so he can get a few bucks off your purchase). It always includes discontinued stuff, and random fake amazon brands.
Dont pretend his shitty tests and his abysmal tool selection is "informing yourself" in any real capacity.
Its shitty entertainment for consoomers looking for new things to consoom.
So basically you wrote tldr that went nowhere, YouTube reviews are research homosexual.
We use linesman pliers for barbed wire fence work on the family farm. In the early 2000s we bought 4 sets of kleins because there are up to 4 of us working at a time. All 4 after a good 20 years of hard use cutting and twisting thick steel wire are worn out, they take an incredible amount to cut and the teeth just don't grab very well anymore. After watching his video on linesmans, the channellocks and knipex mogged everything else considerably, and the kleins performed very mediocre in comparison. So I bought channellock replacements and so far they've worked great. I found the video and data to be very useful. The channellock uses a high leverage design to make cutting easier at the expense of a lower failure load than every other brand, but I'm never going to apply more than basic grip strength force on them so that's irrelevant
>I found the video and data to be very useful
What was useful?
The test showing all the grips were within 5inch lbs of each other, which is completely insignificant?
Cutting a single piece of romex which was piss easy for all of them was a good test?
Going from romex immediately to a fricking 10D nail was a good test?
The data showing the 10D took more than the average grip strength for every pair of pliers to cut something you would never actually cut with it?
Cutting deck screws that permanently damaged every cutter and was twice the human grip strength?
Failure load by smashing them in a hydraulic press was a good test and useful in the real world somehow?
You use them to cut and twist steel baling wire, what of that data was actually useful for you?
We both know you bought the channellocks because they were cheap and were near the top of every cutting test.
Hilarious.
Its pretty well known that Channellocks harden their cutters more than other brands.
Thats why they chip more than other brands, and why they dont last as long as others. Their dykes are notorious for this, being slightly easier to cut out of the box and then not standing the test of time at all.
That hardness is also why it had one of the lowest failure load in his hydraulic smash test.
You looked at the data and came to the exact wrong conclusion, you plan on using pliers for 20 fricking years but bought the ones notorious for not lasting.
Cant make this shit up.
> Failure load by smashing them in a hydraulic press was a good test and useful in the real world somehow?
Of course it is.
Boeing wings designs are tested to failure, along with just about everything else in this world.
The concrete mixes are tested to failure. That’s how we know how strong shit is.
C’mon man, please go out in the world and experience it instead of being a hikikomara. Or woman… I didn’t mean to assume your gender today.
Sure the manufacturers do when they are designing the tools.
Now tell me what usefulness is it to YOU that Project Farm does it, when you will never be putting more then 70lbs of grip strength into the pliers?
>you will never be putting more then 70lbs of grip strength into the pliers
Interesting claim. Care to prove it?
Did you know the grip strength of an average person can reach over 110lbs?
>Did you know the grip strength of an average person can reach over 110lbs?
But we are talking about your weak milquetoast hands.
Answer the question. What usefulness did you get out of seeing the obvious, manufacturers use a safety factor when designing their tools?
Was this news to you? Did Todd open your eyes?
You didn't answer, sorry.
You don’t want the chinese cutters that say, in really fine print: “copper or aluminum wire only” because they are made of unhardened mild steel and only look superficially like the thing they’re supposed to be.
> never be putting more then 70lbs of grip strength
Bullshit… i use my tools. You never have. Today I had to put my crimpers in a vice to tighten a lug on a wire. I want the ones made of steel, without chinesium slag, garbage and cracks in the metal body.
t. works for a living
why didn't you list that in your requirements?
i said requires adjustable torque. as long as it has that, it can probably be modified to be less (most clutches work the same, and the spring can be lightened or put under less tension). ones without adjustable torque arent really modifiable (you would have to add a clutch mechanism)
>unfortunately the forward reverse is on the body
what a fricking moron, thats the best spot for them. is this guy a fricking lefty or something, frick off
you are quite upset for someone that just got some free info
“Upgrade” from a panasonic?
Not bloody likely.
Why not fix it, replace the motor with a brushless (which won’t make that much difference), replace the battery, and/or drill a hole and lead out a high current plug so you can power it forever from a 3.7 V DC supply when working at your bench.
> inb4 “it’s my only screwdriver and I can’t take it apart with itself”
>“Upgrade” from a panasonic?
>Not bloody likely.
well, good to know theyre well regarded, i certainly love the thing.
really i just like brushless motors, and despise NiCd batteries. I bought some batteries that are labeled as NiMH but who really knows.
brushless and lithium are just sort of natural upgrades/progressions i can think of. making it wired is not a terrible idea, but i do prefer battery.
having not watched the video you posted, just looking at the thumbnail, 2 do not have folding handles, and the 2 that do are not thumb operated. but i will watch, maybe theres good info there. thnx for link either way
I won't call it cheap but the stream light flipmate is the most useful trouble light I have ever found. We got some at work and after using one I went out and bought one for home. Use it everywhere, car repair, household appliance repair, anywhere I need light. We left one in an engine bay at work and it was found later on the road run over and bent but still working fine.