Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

This was an interesting morning. Def some cool tools i need to get.

And I was a few jack stands short so a few bricks took care of that.

+1 for the bricks. lol

Now for some high tech stuff....The first two are not really for the household, but i still think they are pretty sweet.

3D wax printer: Prints objects in wax, which you then send to an investment casting foundry to get made out of steel, aluminium or whatever. Extremely cheap (relatively) for those one off custom jobs.

post-80150-0-19224200-1296701255_thumb.jpg post-80150-0-72561200-1296701274_thumb.jpg

Desktop CNC milling machine & lathe: Doesn't do steel, but works great in aluminium, rubber, tooling board etc. Great for making cheap moulds for plastic/polyurethane components. Made some custom urethane washers for my mates forrester. Worked a treat.

post-80150-0-73772200-1296701664_thumb.jpg post-80150-0-90927500-1296701680_thumb.jpg

UV chalk: Great for noob's who cant weld straight like me :P

post-80150-0-34229200-1296701770_thumb.jpg post-80150-0-51607400-1296701793_thumb.jpg

  • 2 weeks later...

I'm thinking about a set of flex head ratchet spanners like these: http://www.vektools.com.au/kincrome-7pce-flex-lock-gear-spanner-p-1806.html

Other ones dont have the angle lock - is it important?

Can the angle lock be left disengaged on the kinchromes? I'm thinking that in some cases you might want it to swing to get around obstacles.

Duncan, I have an engine stand sitting in my garage you coulda had, only used it one time. I'm gonna bring it to the next SAU event and whomever gets it first can have it.

Couple of new tools for the garage...

Crescent wire strippers; Craved is right, these wire strippers are absolutely brilliant, work perfectly every time and save a heap of time. If I knew how good they are I would have bought them 10yrs ago.

1844.jpg

Kincrome screw extractors; won't take long im sure before they will be needed.

19157C__38586_thumb.JPG

Irwin marples chisel set; no use just yet but i'll find a use for them now that they are in the toolbox.

164419.jpg

I have started an industrial electrical apprenticeship about a month ago and its getting to the point where I really need my own spanner and socket set.

I need a 1/2" drive ratchet with ~10-25mm size sockets, and 5-25mm spanners.

Hex key and screwdriver type socket attachments would also be very nice aswell, as would a 1/4" drive ratchet and some smaller sockets (but not necessary).

Although I want to get the best value I can, I am also armed with enough money for a house deposit and want to get real top notch tools that will last me a while. Can anyone point out where I should go, any good sets that are available, brands I should look for or any online toolshop that is good?

www.transquip.com.au is probably the best online toolshop i've seen (discovered by Neil on here).

I can't see why a Kincrome set wouldn't do the job for you, very reasonably priced too! I can't think of a Kincrome tool that i've actually broken (but have broken many other brands before buying the equivalent Kincrome tool).

www.transquip.com.au is probably the best online toolshop i've seen (discovered by Neil on here).

I can't see why a Kincrome set wouldn't do the job for you, very reasonably priced too! I can't think of a Kincrome tool that i've actually broken (but have broken many other brands before buying the equivalent Kincrome tool).

Well I actually just bought a kinchrome 3 drawer "add on" toolbox from bunnings today, it had a big scratch so I returned it for another, and the new kinchrome drawer sets lock is f**ked so its not a very good first impression for meunsure.gif. Everyone else at work has sidchrome tools, and they all get their tools mixed and and then argue about it so I would prefer to not get that brand either.

I'll have a squiz at transquip now

I don't think you should write off kincrome so quickly.....I have used them heaps.

Unfortunately sidchrome is like snap-on, just not quite as expensive. Very much overrated today, although they did have much better tools years ago.

One option you should consider, some tool brands sell blow mould cases with spanner and socket sets in them. Each has a set location so you can see what is missing. And it closes up to be easily portable

Well I tried to reason with myself and buy a nice sensible ~$300 set of sockets and spanners, I really did.. Yes, warranty will be easier to deal with, I won't have to watch out for them being stolen as much, they are good enough for what I need and they cost alot less.

I just couldn't help myself in the end though, and now there is 565 euros of stahlwille tools leaving germany and heading to Australia.

  • 2 weeks later...

Don't know if this will be useful for anyone else, but as I am an apprentice electrician I have been looking at gettting a bunch of 1000V rated pliers, crimpers, multigrips/vicegrips and whatnot. I stumbled upon this website which I thought had pretty good prices and reasonable shipping costs: www.chadstoolbox.com.

Out of curiosity, I handed the list of tools I wish to purchase, which came to about $436 incuding shipping from this site, to one of our sales guys at work and asked him to see what the cheapest price I could get locally was with our trade discount from 3 different shops. The cheapest he could find for the same knipex tools was $884, ranging up to $1200. My boss and another bloke at work also ended up ordering some gear off the site as well, so postage cost me even less :D .

  • 2 weeks later...

good choice. the stahwille tools are good. hazet is good too. I'm still pretty fond of snap-on and have had tools that I got second hand and they have lasted me 15 years plus how ever long they lasted the first owner. and I've always had warranty honoured. all the mechanics I've worked with have all used snap-on and they use their tools a lot more often and harder than I do. any problems they have had have been replaced under warranty regardless of how old the tool is.

I do agree though that snap-on quality has dropped a little bit in the last 5-10years though they are still one of the top tool makers in the world, and certainly not rubbish. they are definitely over-priced though. 20 years ago there is no doubt their tools where streets above the others, especially if you work with hand tools every day. now they are good but not so clearly 'the best'. if you can afford them though snap on still make great gear and have good warranty support in aus.

for side cutters and pliers Knipex are the go. they are the best i've used and their designs are often copied.

I've found the kinchrome stuff to be a little bit hit and miss. some of the stuff is fantastic. some of it is a bit average. but they do offer good value for money and most of their tools are certainly good enough for home/hobby use. I will say I don;t think I've ever had a really bad experience with their stuff, just some that was not 'fantastic'.

Joe was asking about thin wall sockets for wheel nuts. there aer some out there (i forget the brand) that make thing wall sockets for wheel nuts that have a plastic sheath on them too. great for using with rattle guns as the sockets won't mark your wheels (if they touch the plastic just wears down a little).

this is what they look like:

2AST7870.jpg

duncan is right on the torque wrenches. the deflecting beam type wrench is by far the best. they can be expensive though but they work. I've had a cheap kinchrome torque wrench and it had to be re-calibrated 3 times. I wouldn't use it for anything important that's for sure. now I just use it as a breaker bar...

some great tool ideas in here. I like the snap-on spring type hose clamp remover. very clever.

  • Like 1

good choice. the stahwille tools are good. hazet is good too. I'm still pretty fond of snap-on and have had tools that I got second hand and they have lasted me 15 years plus how ever long they lasted the first owner. and I've always had warranty honoured. all the mechanics I've worked with have all used snap-on and they use their tools a lot more often and harder than I do. any problems they have had have been replaced under warranty regardless of how old the tool is.

I do agree though that snap-on quality has dropped a little bit in the last 5-10years though they are still one of the top tool makers in the world, and certainly not rubbish. they are definitely over-priced though. 20 years ago there is no doubt their tools where streets above the others, especially if you work with hand tools every day. now they are good but not so clearly 'the best'. if you can afford them though snap on still make great gear and have good warranty support in aus.

for side cutters and pliers Knipex are the go. they are the best i've used and their designs are often copied.

So far I am quite happy with my stahlwille 1/2" drive socket and spanner set. By buying it overseas it only cost me marginally more (but then + shipping costs) than what it would have cost me to go out and buy an equivalent kinchrome set here.. The spanners are brilliant, only problem is keeping watch over them because everyone else has those ratcheting spanners that break very easily. Most people at work have sidchrome ratchets, compared to them the stahlwille ratchet mechanism is abit smoother, seems to have a few more adjustment points and it will start ratcheting on a bolt that is only providing little resistance compared to the sidchrome ones (so you don't sit there doing up, then undoing a bolt). My only concern is that the ratcheting mechanism inside the head fits abit loosely, and I can wobble it around by a good 2mm. it has done this since new and i'm not sure if this is a problem or an indicator of a problem in the future

Now the next bit of gear I need is a cordless drill (preferably 18v and one with hammer function). It funny, everyone at work is a diehard fan of a different brand and is absolutely convinced that their drill is the best drill by far. Theres the dewalt guy, the milwaukee guy, the bosch guy and the makita guy all in my ear about which brand I need to get. For this reason, I have been looking at the hitachi rangetongue.gif hahaha.

i have ordered all my knipex gear from America, some components of my order arn't ready yet so i hope it ships soon. I also bought a 10" IREGA brand shifter for around $26 from that same site, strangely it is made in the same country as Snap-on shifters (spain) and it bears a striking resemblance to the snap-on one. i think i found which company snap-on source their shifters from. Also looking at some grip on locking pliers, another OEM supplier for snapon at a fraction of the price. How many more of their products are just rebranded stuff from other companies?

Edited by Crackfox
  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I think you're really missing the point. The spec is just the minimum spec that the fuel has to meet. The additive packages can, and do, go above that minimum if the fuel brand feels they need/want to. And so you get BP Ultimate or Shell Ultra (or whatever they call it) making promises to clean your engine better than the standard stuff....simply because they do actually put better additive packages in there. They do not waste special sauce on the plebian fuel if they can avoid it. I didn't say "energy density". I just said "density". That's right, the specific gravity (if you want to use a really shit old imperial description for mass per unit volume). The density being higher indicates a number of things, from reduces oxygen content, to increased numbers of double bonds or cyclic components. That then just happens to flow on to the calorific value on a volume basis being correspondingly higher. The calorific value on a mass basis barely changes, because almost all hydrocarbon materials have a very similar CV per kg. But whatever - the end result is that you do get a bit more energy per litre, which helps to offset some of the sting of the massive price bump over 91. I can go you one better than "I used to work at a fuel station". I had uni lecturers who worked at the Pt Stanvac refinery (at the time they were lecturing, as industry specialist lecturers) who were quite candid about the business. And granted, that was 30+ years ago, and you might note that I have stated above that I think the industry has since collected together near the bottom (quite like ISPs, when you think about it). Oh, did I mention that I am quite literally a combustion engineer? I'm designing (well, actually, trying to avoid designing and trying to make the junior engineer do it) a heavy fuel oil firing system for a cement plant in fricking Iraq, this week. Last week it was natural gas fired this-that. The week before it was LPG fired anode furnaces for a copper smelter (well, the burners for them, not the actual furnaces, which are just big dumb steel). I'm kinda all over fuels.
    • Well my freshly rebuilt RB25DET Neo went bang 1000kms in, completely fried big end bearing in cylinder 1 so bad my engine seized. No knocking or oil pressure issue prior to this happening, all happened within less than a second. Had Nitto oil pump, 8L baffled sump, head drain, oil restrictors, the lot put in to prevent me spinning a bearing like i did to need the rebuild. Mechanic that looked after the works has no idea what caused it. Reckoned it may have been bearing clearance wrong in cylinder 1 we have no idea. Machinist who did the work reckoned it was something on the mechanic. Anyway thats between them, i had no part in it, just paid the money Curiosity question, does the oil system on RB’s go sump > oil pump > filter > around engine? If so, if you had a leak on an oil filter relocation plate, say sump > oil pump > filter > LEAK > around engine would this cause a low oil pressure reading if the sensors was before the filter?   TIA
    • But I think you missed mine.. there is also nothing about the 98 spec that supports your claim..  according to the fuel standards, it can be identical to 95, just very slightly higher octane number. But the ulp vs pulp fuel regulations go show 95 (or 98), is not just 91 with some additives. any claim of ‘refined by the better refineries’ or ‘higher quality fuel’ is just hearsay.  I have never seen anything to back up such claims other than ‘my mate used to work for a fuel station’, or ‘drove a fuel delivery truck’, or ‘my mechanic says’.. the actual energy densities do slightly vary between the 3 grades of fuel, but the difference is very minor. That said, I am very happy to be proven wrong if anyone has some hard evidence..
    • You're making my point for me. 95 is not "premium". It is a "slightly higher octane" version of the basic 91 product. The premium product that they want people to buy (for all the venal corporate reasons of making more profit, and all the possibly specious reasons of it being a "better" fuel with nicer additive packages) is the 98 octane stuff. 95 is the classic middle child. No-one wants it. No-one cares about it. It is just there, occupying a space in the product hierarchy.
    • 98 and 95 have to meet the same national fuel standards beside the actual RON.  91 has lower standards (which are quite poor really), so 95 is certainly not 91 with some octane booster. It would be an easier argument to claim 98 is just 95 with some octane boosters. Also RON doesn't specify 'quality' in any sense, only the octane number.  Anything different retailers decide or not decide to add to their 95 or 98 is arbitrary and not defined by the RON figure.
×
×
  • Create New...