For decades I tended to get by with basic tools, despite doing major jobs in the `olden days`
Now though I`m tending to buy the vastly improved tools of modern times - the latest being one of those long rubber handled T40 drivers for Halfords. With the grip being rubber you can get a lot more torque on it , contrasted with the old shiny plastic handled, cheapo `stick the right bit in the end` job that has been in the box for far too long.
The same with more exotic bits of kit such as hose clip removers - where once I would have broken the old clip off and used a jubilee clip.
Modern tools are so good and you can buy things that never seemed available on accessory shop shelves in the 60`s.
Are you still adding or replacing tools, on a job by job basis like me? If so what are your latest acquisitions?
Edited by oilrag on 15/08/2009 at 08:25
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about one a month i buy myself a new tool. it doesn't take very long to get quite a set together. latest buys were one of those sealey ratchets you can rotate the handle to turn the ratchet head and a strap type filter remover for geting the oil filter of my mate's fiesta 1.8 d.
what's next? might be another decent big trolley jack. the last one went up the farm and never came back.
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I'd been wondering if that's what the AC/DC song Big Jack is about.
I suspect you could plot tool acquisitions on a curve against time. I don't do anything seriously mechanical, but I do home maintenance jobs and I cook, which both require tools. In the early stages you acquire a basic set because you don't know enough to choose or need anything else.
Then comes a middle phase when you start thinking of new things you could be doing if only you had the right kit, so a variety of specialized equipment starts to appear. You also gradually replace your basic kit with the good stuff you should have bought in the first place.
Finally, you reach a level of experience where you realize that you have most of what you need already, and that a sharp knife or a good set of screwdrivers will usually get you through. The rate of acquisition drops off sharply, and you tend just to replace the items you've worn out rather than broadening the range. The start of this phase tends to coincide with the realization that you're running out of storage space. };---)
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>>>>I'd been wondering if that's what the AC/DC song Big Jack is about.<<<<
I don't think so :) :)
It's actually about something quite different!
Pat
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Have everything i'm likely to need except for welding equipment.
The most recent purchase was a set of Halfords ratchet spanners at half price, haven't needed them on the car but one of them did good service on swmbo's embossing machine whilst waiting for the correct replacement to turn up..;)
To be honest i'm a bit of a hoarder and there's stacks of stuff i really should get rid of.
My best purchase was a good quality trolley jack, a must have in a DIY mechanics arsenal, for safety as much as anything.
Edited by Pugugly on 15/08/2009 at 11:34
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GB, having just read your post I can only assume that the swear filter (or one of the moderators) is a Chelsea fan! ;)
Got most of what I need; finding it is the biggest problem! :-(
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the swear filter (orone of the moderators) is a Chelsea fan! ;)
Never gave it a thought though you guessed right about the stock of weapons word..;)
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Not me - I coughed and the missing word appeared.
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Thanks PU...reputation!!? restored.;)
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When I decided to try to change my MX5 clutch I had read up one or two peoples experiences on't t'interweb and invested in a set of impact sockets with built-in knuckle joints as access is tricky. www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/cis127m...e
I don't begrudge paying 10% of what I saved by doing it myself for tools that can be used regularly.
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After about 40 years of DIY car servicing and repair I think I am now "overtooled" as I now only do basic servicing and brake replacements. I recently sold my valve spring compressor, no way I am going to "whip the head off" for a quick decoke of my 2.0 TDCI!
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Definitely over tooled.
The most expensive is that I have kept up my large bottle hire on argon/CO2 for my Mig. Used it about once per year for the last 5 years! However, if I get rid, I know it will be required the very next day!
2 sets of flexible head ratchet spanners (Halfords pro) - very useful luxury having 2 sets, both Xmas presents same year.
Running a second house abroad means that I also keep a useful selection, (but never the right ones), down here.
Careful car booting has enable purchase of some good quality items for the second house at very low prices - probably the best being a very rusty but very large Record vice for £2.
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Overtooled? nope.
Forced to buy a breaker bar to undo driveshaft nuts,, and torx and star drivers.. essentials.
LED lamp: great.
And knee protectors for laying loft insulation in a 180 year old house and diy maintenance..
Apart from that little change in 26 years.. (when I went metric)
Edited by madf on 15/08/2009 at 12:50
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When I started driving I used to do all my repairs with a basic tool kit, hiring special tools, lots of ingenuity and the occasional use of mild swearing to help things along.
About 20 years ago, when more money was available, I bought quite a few new tools for future jobs but never needed them. For example, after years of spending hours lapping valves with a gob stick I bought a lapping tool to fit an electric drill. But never needed to use it and now probably never will.
Maybe I should buy some tools for sorting out DMFs, DPFs, bodywork and electronics and hope that I never need to use them!
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had a clear out last week and threw my lapping tool and paste out
should have donated it to a museum really it was that old
i think you never have enough tools but often just make do and bodge
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Has anyone (true pros excepted ) ever used up a whole tin of grinding paste? I'm sure most last a lifetime if you can find where you put it.
I now have a (virtually unused ) valve spring compressor but it was so much more exciting using a screwdriver!
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The last time I used a valve spring compressor was on an old Fiat Panda 750. I had to borrow a neighbour's motor bike compressor as mine was too big for the valves.
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Has anyone (true pros excepted ) ever used up a whole tin of grinding paste?>>
I had a double ended tin of paste, (coarse/fine), which I binned when I sold my valve spring compressor, (see above). It must have been 30 years old, plenty left, and last used on a Mini head, a real one, not the BMW copy!
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I now have a (virtually unused ) valve spring compressor...
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Me too. It is in its original box. There is absolutely no chance of me ever using my mint OHV version that, having beeen used once about 30 years ago, has been sitting there patiently wanting to be wanted :-(
I must get round to trying to flog it.
Of course I have a battery fluid tester but all three batteries in the families cars are sealed :-(
Ramps and l stands art in the depths of the shed along with my little Tapley brake test unit.
My tyre valve tool is a nice little device but i do not recall using it.
So I am overtooled for the jobs I am now prepared to gently attack.
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I'm terrible for struggling though a job and then afterwards seeing and buying a tool that would have made it a lot easier, only to never need it again. I've got so many brand-new shiny tools!
If you ever go the US then Sears is fantastic for random tools.
What I do now is to keep a note of things I'd like and get the kids to buy them at birthday / fathers day / Xmas and that way I get something shiny and interesting to add to my collection rather than them completely waste their money on something random.
Edited by Bill Payer on 15/08/2009 at 17:27
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Knowingly overtooled and still aspiring!!
I'm always under the false impression that my next purchase will make me a more competent and capable home mechanic. I have found recently though when doing jobs that I have very few gaps in my kit. I usually own the required tool these days . It doesn't stop me wanting more or wondering how I ever managed to get by without gadget x when I see it advertised.
I am finding out that the more complicated a tool is, the less useful it probably is in practice. I have a plasma cutter that I rarely use. It takes too long to set up. I have half a dozen other simpler options to cut metal that win out instead. I am weaning myself off cheap tools too. Fiddling with corroded parts in cofined space is bad enough without having to overcome the limitations of substandard kit as well.
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I'm definitely 'overtooled' but I rationalise this by comparing the cost of tools to the cost of garage labour. The garage loses every time. I've still got my over 40 year old AF/Whitworth (remember them?) East German Chrom Van socket set. Well I've broken newer branded sockets over the years but that lot still soldiers on just in case I come across a 50's British car or an old steam engine needing work . I suppose I'm an addict, really. Last week's car boot find was a complete welding kit, used once. £80 for a pristine Telwin MMA welder with expensive added twist fitting electrode holder, 5kg pack of 2.5mm sticks (only 3 used), 4 magnetic clamps, 3 mole clamps, leather apron, leather gauntlets, and the best prize, the Starparts V1 Plus auto-darkening helmet still boxed with unopened pack of replacement shields - online prices for this alone £50-£60. Private seller who bought that lot for one job. Salesman's dream. Over £200's worth. Must be worse than me! Prefer MIG personally but I'm sure the buzzbox will come in handy sometime - in fact I've spotted it looking longingly at my worn old rotovator wheels!
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i lost a spanner today, not much to worry about you say BUT
it's a THIRTEEN mil! bad luck untill i find it.
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I once lost my very favourite spanner.
It was quite a wrench.
(ouch)
Sorry!
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i might get a new spanner, just socket an see.
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Bloke takes his Japcrap to Mechanics because engine is making a horible rattle. Mechanic looks inside engine and says I was socking for that socket for years!
An old joke but sadly some truth in it.
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>>An old joke but sadly some truth in it. >>
All your cars have a horrible Rattle...:-)
Only joking...
Edited by Stuartli on 17/08/2009 at 21:31
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Pug the joke is a bit of the mechanics socket set fell off into the engine. Bloke comes back saying its making a rattle, the mechanics stray tool caused it.
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