DAPPH
as dyslexik as I'm daft
- Messages
- 6,499
- Location
- Near to Cross Hands Llanelli SouthWales GB
Gear Wrench are good. Facom if you can afford them.
Get the cheapest you can buy lest some t*at steals them during your training & apprenticeship .
Depending on what sort of mechanic you intend to aim for …….. I wouldn't ever go for a " complete mechanics set of tools " in wheeled cabinets ... you'll never use half of them .
I used to have two steel tool boxes one a big 20 kg strong 2 foot x 1 foot x 10 inches tall three layer cantilever tool box and a 15 kg one approx. 20 x 10 x 10 hinged lid box with two removable steel tray inserts 1.5 inches deep in the top for small things or to use to hold liquids /oils being drained off or for washing small parts in . The big 3/4 & inch drive stuff plus a few big spanners were in a big hinged wooden case ( well over 30 kg ) I was a mobile mechanic for a big plant hire company that had 60 kva generators , tower cranes , all manner of heavy plant as well as small hand stuff so having my gear in boxes was a godsend ..... when going out on a mission
Once you get established and can see what being used around you then buy along those lines ..don't go and buy every sodding tool on the earth or you'll be broke for ever . Hazet used to be excellent quality at a reasonable price , so did the original Britool & Japanese Elora . In have two Britool torque wrenches .. TIP always back off the setting when you have finished using them ..they stay good that way .
The American Snap On stuff is way over priced IMO & it's heart breaking when some turd steals bits or all of it , I've seen mechanics cry when thousands of pounds worth of their Snap On has been stolen / gone missing .
If you look online see if you can buy ex mod sockets / tools . They tend to be of a reasonable quality and are not tooo expensive . That said I have several Facom tools ...mainly a set of mole type pliers , a power drill operated nibbler and a gert big pair of long lever pop riveters for putting in rivets with a 5 mm nail ( aka 10 mm x 15 mm long heavy duty truck body rivets )and a range of Facom extra deep bi hex sockets from 5 mm to 17 mm & then the common spanner sized extra deep sockets ( often brought a few every time I passed a shop I knew sold them if I had the readies to hand ) Like has been said buy decent ratchets , ones that have a lot of fine movement rather than the cheaper ones that only have 12 or so positions, for occasionally you will be needing small movement ratchets .
I also have a reasonable range of ratchet & open jaw metric spanners real cheap " Work zone " stuff from Aldi ... They have had a lot of use in the ten years or so I've had them , so much the shiny chrome plate is wearing off leaving the bodies with the copper under electro plating colour on them . .
I also have a 15 inch speed brace and a " 18 " inch swingler bar for 1/2" sockets . .. Very useful when you have access covers with 40 or more nuts to put it in place evenly for a water tight seal .
Only buy what your need such as a good set of bi hex off set ROJ's , a set of bi hex offset DE's to 25 mm and all the sizes in between , a good set of engineers screw drivers including a small electricians instrument 1/8 blade one and cross points get your self a reasonable quality multimeter too that has a 10 amp shunt on it , two ball pene hammers one a toffee hammer the other a 2.5 lb ball pene engineers hammer on a wooden shaft , a 12 inch stainless steel ruler inch one side metric the other or one with both scales on one side and tapping & threading inf etc on the reverse. A set of punches ..dot & pin punches of 1/8 ,1/4 & 1/2 inch plus a 9 inch long 3/4 " quality cold chisel . A good pair of insulated handle side cutting pliers & a hardened steel cantilever action set of nippers for chopping nibbling away at hose clamps , split pins , springs and cable etc . A pair of 6 inch long brass drifts 1/4 & 1/2 inch . If you can get one a simple clamping 4 inch long hand vice …. for when you need to hold thin material and drill it or clamp brake hoses off . or hold stuff together for drilling or welding .
It might pay you to get hold of a set of imperial & metric feeler gauges too .
Socket wise I was brought up on bi hex sockets in 1/4 , 3/8 1/2 and 3/4 square drives . Each set has short tee tommy bar & T, 6 & 12 inch extensions and a knuckled universal joint . There was very little I could not do, but occasionally I was happy to buy a few hardened high impact hex sockets not just for wheel nuts but for corroded nuts that a bi hex would just slip over .