Anyone have a source for inexpensive wrenches sold individually? I'm putting together separate maintenance tool sets for each of my machines and I'd rather not shell out for Craftsman (much less Mac/Snap-On).
Thanks.
JP
You'd rather round off the nuts and bolt heads? If so, check out Harbor Fright.
I did the same thing and it sure made life in the shop easier. Each machine has it's specific setup/adjustment wrenches, hex keys, etc stuck to magnets near the point of use. No more wasted time searching for them.
If you have a HF store near you they sell individual wrenches and cheap(in both senses of the word) hex key sets which are plenty good enough for the TS throat plate levelers, BS guide blocks, etc.
Art
Harbor Freight, Ace Hardware, garage sales, Cash Converters (franchised operation like a pawn shop only they just buy and sell used goodies including tools, etc.) Google to see if one's near you.
Three 15 dollar sets of Stanley combinations and two of hex keys did it for me. Mix and match, with hex keys held on magnets, wrenches hanging on hooks. Color code the hex keys, because you may have metric/imperial problems which old eyes can't easily resolve. Tape works fine.
Sockets are one set garage, one set workshop.
Yeah - that would be penny wise and pound stupid. I'm not planning on wrestling with any corroded nuts or bolts so I think the tolerances and quality of steel even in cheap wrenches should suffice. I'll use the "keepers" if I need to really torque something - which I shouldn't have to do if the machines are kept up.
JP
I usually go with the blue or orange BORG's house brands.
Snap-on, off eBay. My machines tend to be big, old and English. So a lot of their nuts are either imperial, or even Whitworth. As size isn't such an issue with woodworking machines as it is with cars, then they only use the same couple of sizes for everything - no 14mm and 18mm heads, just to fit in the tiny space.
So when those one or two odd wrenches and sockets go past on eBay, I grab them - usually cheaply, because none of the car fettlers are interested. They're usually got the owners name on, and all seem to be Canadian Snap-on for some odd reason, but they work fine for adding to the machine toolsets.
My own car-fix box is of course full Snap-on (or Facom) Cost a bloody fortune and several years that lot did, so I don't want to leave odd ones wandering around the workshop.
Since we are both in Ann Arbor, I would be interested in what you find here. I have a Jacobs Power Collet that I have installed on my router table. It might work for everything, but from what people tell me, I will probably use the standard collet for some things like larger bits.
The nut on the Power Collet is 1 1/4 inch and with all my wrenches, I don't have one that large. Harbor Freight has a jumbo set, but it costs $29 (as I recall) on sale. I did not see (and did not ask) if they had singles, so if you find one, let me know
Will do. Coincidentally, I am right now looking at a flyer I got in the mail for a "Cummins Industrial Tools Truckload Tool Sale" that's taking place right here in town today. Looks like Harbor Freight quality, but maybe they'll have the odd wrench for sale cheap. Further bulletins as events warrant.
JP
HF has some junk, BUT my son and I have multiple sets of combination and impact socket wrenches from them. All seem to be the right sizes and have proved immune to much mindless abuse, like pounding with hammers to break things loose. We get the black ones, but I don't know if they are better than the shiny ones or not.
If you can tolerate the idea of low pay in the third world, they are fine.
BTW, we also have a couple of the 4" angle grinders, which have held up fine for a couple of years.
Garage sales??
I've picked up several old wrenches and odd sockets out of "bargain boxes" at garage sales...
of course, you could just convert as many as possible to allen head and hang an allen wrench on the machine with a magnet..
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
Northern Tool has the polished Chrome design and they are quite cheap and IIRC also have a life time guarantee.
Fri, Oct 21, 2005, 8:04pm (EDT-3) snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (Jay=A0Pique) for some reason asked: Anyone have a source for inexpensive wrenches sold individually? I'm putting together separate maintenance tool sets for each of my machines and I'd rather not shell out for Craftsman (much less Mac/Snap-On).
C'mon Jay, you had to ask? Yard sales, garage sales, flea markets, pawn shops (a last resport as far as I'm concerned), steal 'em from your kids (then immediately paint them and deny even seeing their tools), bargain paper.
You live in Ann Arbor? I was born there, and raised about 16 miles north. Too damn cold for me to ever live there again.
JOAT If it ain't broke, don't lend it.
- Red Green
Well, I just got a fistful of Craftsman wrenches at an estate auction a couple weeks ago, seven or eight wrenches... six bucks.
Good old snap-off, I'll stick with my Britool and Metrinch for most things, but snap-off screw drivers and deep sockets are almost unbeatable.
What's Whitworth?
Thanks, Barry
Wrong set. The Jumbo set currently on sale starts at 1-3/8" 1-1/4 is a bear, you could have a small size sets and a large size set and still not have a 1-1/4"
About twenty shillings. ;)
Whitworth is the bastard size used on Triumph motorcycles and such.
Whitworth is an Imperial standard invented before the USA was discovered, but I am surprised as the USA is so backward in adopting the otherwise worldwide metric measure that they don't still use it for everything. Especially as it is such a rough and ready style.
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