Make Sure You Use Good Tools

[whirlcool]

I've been doing some work on our Maytag/Whirlpool Series 300 dishwasher. I needed to change out the door latch. Normally not a problem.. but

You have to take the 11 screws off in the front door to take the interior panel off to access the latch assembly. They used Torx 15 screws. So I take out my handy "Tuff Tools" Torx set and start to take the screws out. It was a disaster. The screws wouldn't budge. The T15 bit kept slipping out of the screw. I was worried that I'd strip the screws. The size of the screws seemed to be about a Torx 16, of which we know that size does not exist.

So while I am figuring out what to do, Karen said "maybe it's your tools that are the problem." I never considered that. I never considered that since I have used this Torx driver set before with no problems. I just thought that the screws in this dishwasher were cheap Chinese crap.

So I go down to the local ACE hardware store and buy a set of Craftsman Torx Drivers. I then took them home, used the Craftsman T15 driver on the screws of the dishwasher. The result was excellent. The formerly difficult screws came out like they should. Not much effort to get them turning.

So the problem was that the tools I was using were not precision sized. This is the first time I came across something like this. But I learned a lesson. Some cheap tools are just not worth the cost savings!

 

[whirlykenmore78]

Just One Reason:

I always spend the extra money for Craftsman hand and garden tools. Much better build quality and a full lifetime warranty.
I can only hope that the Craftsman name will not become Crapsman the way Kenmore became Kenless.
WK78

 

[stan]

I'll remember

this story next time I have trouble.
They always say " right tool for the right job"
Thanks for sharing Whirlcool.

 

[Ultramatic]

I'm a firm believer of using a good tool...

 

 

Most of my stuff is Craftsman and Stanley.

 

[hydralique]

I love Craftsman tools, for the occasional mechanic like me they’re great. I’ve rarely broken one, even those I’ve had thirty years, and the best part is quick and easy availability at Sears at reasonable prices. I’m under no delusions that they are the equal of professional brands like Snap-On and Mac, but those cost way more and availability can be a PITA for non-professionals.

For me one exception to Craftsman is when working with pipes I really like Rigid tools

http://https//www.ridgid.com/ca/en/wrenches

 

[Ultramatic]

..when working with pipes I really like Rigid tools.

 

 

What a coincidence. I do too.

 

[tolivac]

Rigid plumbers tools-the BEST for that use.Found a Rigid pipe wrench by the side of the road after the roadsides were mowed.Then it was the Alamo flail mowers-wrench was fine except for a couple flail blade marks on the handle and a small chip out of the jaw inserts.Wrench still works!!!A word about Craftsman tools-new ones are being made in China-hand tools-so if you want the "Best" go for Craftsman hand tools that are older from yard,estate,and second hand tool stores like ReTool.Swap shops sometimes get the good old US made Craftsman toolkits.Oh yes,have LOTS of Rigid tools at the transmitter site and older Craftsman ones.

 

[circlew]

Klein

also makes great tools. I have several - screw drivers, nut drivers, wire strippers, hex keys, etc. Been very pleased with them. Most of their line is US made. Ideal is also a good line of tools for electrical work.

 

[polkanut]

My dad has quite a few "Riverside" brand tools which were sold by Montgomery Ward.  Very heavy, and great quality for being over 60yrs old.

 

[tolivac]

Klein is excellent-have many at work.

 

[d-jones]

Having been a professional mechanic for the last twenty years, many of my hand tools are made by Snap-On. Most of the remaining tools are SK, a brand that seems to go somewhat unnoticed by a lot of folks, which puzzles me since they're a decades old really high quality U.S. made brand that can be found in tool shops all over the country. The only Craftsman tools I have are one set of professional series combination wrenches that they only made for a few years. For the most part I'm not a fan of their product line, though that wasn't always the case.

 

Early in my career a friend of mine(also an aircraft mechanic) pointed out some cracks in the chrome plating of a number of my Craftsman sockets down at the business end, explaining that this was due to the metal flexing under the chrome when the socket had some hefty force applied to it. This is something I've never seen on sockets made by any of the high end manufacturers. The chrome may wear away, but it won't ever flake or peel away. One of those Craftsman sockets sliced my thumb and index finger up pretty badly one afternoon while I was using it in an really tight space that I couldn't see into, so I was working by feel. The socket was attached to a universal, which in turn was attached to a long extension. I had my left hand around the socket using my fingers to loosely keep it in place while my right hand worked the ratchet. I didn't know it, but a razor sharp portion of the chrome had pealed back from the edge of the socket and was slicing into my fingers every time it went by. I never felt a thing and didn't have a clue that anything was wrong until I saw the blood trickling down my arm. Within a few days all of my Craftsman sockets had been replaced by Snap-On and SK.

 

[whirlcool]

I had a SK tool set way back in the mid 70's. Little by little the pieces got lost or not returned from borrowers over time. I agree, those were very nice pieces. I bought them at an automotive tool shop.

Are the SK Tools being sold today the same quality as the ones sold in the 70's?

 

[tolivac]

Can go along here--Snap-On and SK are the absolute best-these are marketed of course to pros--not to home folks or hobbyists.Have seen ony a couple Snap-Ons here-in the motor maintance pool area of our place-for the company vehicles-occasionally they get "borrowed" to work on transmitters.To outfit this whole plant with those tools would cost a fortune-each guy here is issued a roll about toolkit-have Crafstman tools in them.So far no peeling chrome-but good thing to watch for.In transmitters they don't get as heavily worked as in machine shops or vehicles.

 

[vacosaurus]

Craftsman tools are also beginning to be made in China. I just exchanged a broken tap handle I had. They honored the lifetime gaurantee with no problem but the new one was made in China and did not have any markings that said Craftsman on the actual tool. The packaging said Craftsman and waranteed for life. I do not know how you would redeem a broken Craftsman tool if it did not say Craftsman on the tool in the future. Mabey I would have to save the packaging for decades or lose out on the gaurantee. Next time I go to Sears I am goin to ask them but I fear this is a first step to eliminate their lifetime warantee.

 

[vacosaurus]

Craftsman tools are also beginning to be made in China. I just exchanged a broken tap handle I had. They honored the lifetime gaurantee with no problem but the new one was made in China and did not have any markings that said Craftsman on the actual tool. The packaging said Craftsman and waranteed for life. I do not know how you would redeem a broken Craftsman tool if it did not say Craftsman on the tool in the future. Mabey I would have to save the packaging for decades or lose out on the gaurantee. Next time I go to Sears I am goin to ask them but I fear this is a first step to eliminate their lifetime warantee.

 

[d-jones]

whirlcool - The last SK tools I picked up were purchased in the late 1990's, and they are very high quality. Not quite at the same level as Snap-On, but close, and for about half the cost.

 

It's interesting that Craftsman sockets no longer bear the name Craftsman. How would you exchange them in the future with no markings to identify them? If that's true it's very odd.

 

[revvinkevin]

 

 

A bazillion years ago my grandmother started buying Proto tools for me a piece at a time for B-day / Christmas / etc gifts.   As I remember they were mostly sockets & extensions, etc.   I then started buying some Proto bits & pieces when I had some extra $$ saved up.    I never had a large collection of Proto, but what I had usually sufficed for what I was doing at the time.

 

One year (again Christmas or a B-day) I got a set of Craftsman something (sockets, screwdrivers, don't remember now) and that was the beginning of the end for Proto in my tool box.   Proto was becoming increasingly harder to find (or perhaps Craftsman was just easier to find) and with every Sears having a large tool department, I was like a kid drooling in the preverbal candy store every time we went to Sears. 

 

I have also purchased a few unique MAC and Snap-On tools here and there.   But being I am not a professional mechanic, I cannot justify paying the additional 3 or 4 times the $$$ for them over Craftsman, just for the convenience of them coming to my work every week.   Granted Snap-On does have unique specialty tools you won't find at Sears, etc, and yes yes I know the quality of the tools are better, but as I use them, I can't tell the difference.

 

Kevin

 

[cfz2882]

facom

I bought quite a few French-made "Facom"tools back in the early 2000s and they are really good-got some from "griot's garage",others off ebay.

 

[vacosaurus]

I also had a lot of Proto tools I bought and recieved for gifts when I was a boy in the 1960's. I took care of them and never lent them out to anybody and still have and use them to this day. I really enjoy the feel of them in my hands they are a very Quality tool. I think Proto and S&K were made by the same company. I think Stanley now owns Proto. Proto had the better finish as compared to S&K but S&K is still a high quality tool. Both have a lifetime gaurantee.I rarely ever broke one of these brands and when I did it was not the tools fault it was usually me doing something I should not have done but they still honor the gaurantee and replaced it. It seems to be more difficult now to find a place that sells the tool line and services the gaurantee. I also started to buy more Craftsman tools because of the easy availability and ease of getting a defective tool replaced.They had a professional line of tools that was very high quality and highly polished and I would say looked and performed every bit as good as Snap On. I have bought these and would highly recomend them. Regards Bill,