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Tools - love 'em or use 'em, which do you do?

My tool box is a hodge podge collection over several decades. I still have most of a half inch drive assortment I bought in about 1959.
I haven't purchased much of anything in the last few years. I make do with what I have.

A few years back I thought I might be able to pull off the purchase of a Haas Mini mill for my garage, (they'll run on 220 single phase) but that hot flash cooled with the failure of the ecomony and loss in value in my houses.

Snap-On? I can"t afford Snap-On and when you see a Snap-On tool in my box, I can assure you it belongs to someone else.
 
one finger john said:
Bob, how can battery power exceed cord power ??? And for how long ???
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If the wiring (distance) and connections for providing electricity to the drill motor are the same, then you are correct, wall power would provide more energy to the drill motor. Most people use a 50' extension cord (can you say voltage drop at high loads) and for using that cord you now have two more points of heat and energy loss, the 2 plugs. The DeWalt has about 9" of heavy wire between the voltage source (battery) and motor. The plug in drill will have over 1400" of wire (you measure the lenght times 2 for both wires) so the peak current is limited. As far as how long they last, I have yet to meet a contractor that can run one battery down before his 2nd pack on the charger is ready for use. All of the above only applies to the 36 volt cordless.

BTW, you Europeans can still disagree with me and in your instance you would be correct because your wall voltage is 220 volts.

Bob
 
Im not getting in to this one.
Just one thing though. Imagine the number of TOXIC battery packs that have been thrown away after they failed.
Gerry
 
When i worked in a factory on the engineering side I used to get my work done very quickly (I know that hard to believe when you look at the T but there you go) so I had time to make things for myself. The 3 tool boxes are a result of my free time.
That was over 30 years ago.
toolbox2.jpg
toolbox1.jpg


The 2 stand alones were made from MS with alloy draws, each kitted out for what they held. The tall one was a wall cab for all my air tools and accessories.... now it holds a few cheap air tools and my consumables. Like Merlot and the things that are no longer acceptable which comes in packs of 20.

Gerry
 
one finger john said:
Putz, I have all my screw drivers (S.O. plus specialty drivers) in one drawer, with chisels, punches and hammers in another. Regular Snap On black mat on the bottoms of the drawers. What is the material in your drawers. Is it one piece for the base and one piece cut out for the tool? I like racks for the wrenches.
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LOL that isn't mine that is a pic I found.
 
I have a bit of a hodge-podge collection of tools, myself. About 10 years ago, I bought a large Craftsman cabinet and chest and slowly started trying to build a complete set of Snap-on tools for it. My Snap-on jobber decided to buy a liquor store and bailed out on the truck. And the new jobber apparently didn't care for the color of my money. He told me he just couldn't be bothered to come around each week, so I told him to stop by once a month, if he liked. I never saw him again. <shrug> One things I tend to chafe at, and that's going out of my way to put my hard-earned dollars in another man's pocket. I really like the design of Snap-on's stuff, but I've never seen a Snap-on tool remove a nut or a bolt a Craftsman tool could not.

Some people suggest I am OCD, but I want to make it clear I am not. If they ever get the doggone letters in proper, alphabetical order (CDO), then and only then will I consider being obsessive.

I am the guy that uses screwdrivers to remove screws, scrapers to remove stuck gaskets and chisels to cut things. Sure, you ~might~ be able to get Sears to replace a screwdriver you used for a lady's foot, but what if you need that screwdriver before you can get back to the store to get it replaced?

There are always a couple of clean shop rags near my boxes, so tools can be wiped clean before they are returned to the box. Nothing winds me up any faster than to reach in to grab a tool and end up with an oily, greasy hand as a result. It takes a couple extra seconds to wipe off a tool before it goes back in the box and I always take the extra time. Tools might pile up on the bench as I am working, but before the lights go out in the shop, they are all wiped down and put away. Even if I plan to come right back to the same job the next day. I spent too many years not being able to afford a lot of things and I guess that instilled in me a higher level of respect for the things I do have.

And I do tend to get a bit crabbit when someone wants to borrow my tools. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be," was a rule I learned as a child and it still works for me today. Come to borrow one of my tools and you're likely going to get me as part of the bargain. That way, I know I will get my tools back when you're finished with them.

But remember, I am not OCD. :winkn:
 
Mike said:
I am the guy that uses screwdrivers to remove screws, scrapers to remove stuck gaskets and chisels to cut things. Sure, you ~might~ be able to get Sears to replace a screwdriver you used for a lady's foot, but what if you need that screwdriver before you can get back to the store to get it replaced?

There are always a couple of clean shop rags near my boxes, so tools can be wiped clean before they are returned to the box. Nothing winds me up any faster than to reach in to grab a tool and end up with an oily, greasy hand as a result. It takes a couple extra seconds to wipe off a tool before it goes back in the box and I always take the extra time. Tools might pile up on the bench as I am working, but before the lights go out in the shop, they are all wiped down and put away. Even if I plan to come right back to the same job the next day. I spent too many years not being able to afford a lot of things and I guess that instilled in me a higher level of respect for the things I do have.

And I do tend to get a bit crabbit when someone wants to borrow my tools. "Neither a borrower nor a lender be," was a rule I learned as a child and it still works for me today. Come to borrow one of my tools and you're likely going to get me as part of the bargain. That way, I know I will get my tools back when you're finished with them.

But remember, I am not OCD. :winkn:
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hahaha that hits close to home.

Though I am not buying Snap-on, but Wright tools instead. My Christmas gift this year was a new 56 tool cabinet :D My wife seen that I had run out of room (well I nudged her a bit) in my older boxes and got me a nice new one.
 
Funny thing about the Snap-On guy. I thought buying one of those trucks was a license to print money, or at least steal it. I can't believe how quickly these people will leave money lying on the table.

That said, the oddest tool box I had for years was one in which I kept all the tools I found under the hood after one of my vehicles was worked on. I have always had the habit of pulling the car or truck out of the shop, then stopping and opening the hood. You'd be amazed the stuff I found!

Apparently someone else was amazed, because one weekend while my truck was at the (closed for the weekend) Cummins dealer in Dallas, all my tools were stolen. $500+ worth, at least. Never have completely recovered from that loss.
 
Hmmm, My work box or my at home box? The at home box is mostly Craftsman, just a small roll away and top box, most of the wrenches are mounted on a tool board next to the work bench

My at work box is a large Mac 1500 bottom, top and side box plus three other boxes filled with jacks, straps, chains and come-a-longs as well as all sorts of boxed tools. The hand tools are a mix of craftsman, Mac, Snap-on as well as others. It out weighs my daily driver buy 2900 pounds

Sure I lend tools, as long as your willing to leave a major organ as a deposit.... :stop:
 
Telman2 said:
Rooster57, I agree with everything you said until it came to cordless tools, I was a big fan of DeWalt, Makita and Milwaukee up until a couple of years ago when I came across Ridgid tools sold at Home Depot. They have a lifetime gaurantee on the entire tool including the most expensive part .................. the batteries. I have a bunch of Makita and Milwaukee battery powered tools sitting gathering dust because the batteries are too expensive to replace. When the Ridgid batteries wont hold a decent charge anymore I trade them in for replacements, yes they are rebuilt batteries but they work and they don't cost me anything.
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Telman2, How do you get the Ridgid batteries replaced? Do you just take them to the local Home Depot or do you have to mail them somewhere? Thanks
 
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