Hey Socket Manufacturers, Would It Kill You To.......

[jonshonda]

Stamp the size of the socket multiple times around the perimeter in as large of font and as deep as possible!!

I have good vision, but am so sick of having to hold and spin the sockets at obscure angles trying to catch the light just right to decipher the size.

A$$holes.

 

[lardy1]

I love my SK sockets. I hate their size stamping but I'm old and blind.

 

[dnschmidt]

Rookies, You should be able to tell the size simply by looking at it. Where's your calibrated eyeball.

 

[Bubba Fett]

A lot of socket manufactures can't even stamp it, but etch it instead.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Rookies, You should be able to tell the size simply by looking at it. Where's your calibrated eyeball.

Really wear marks on the drive and fastener ends should give it away.

SK gets a MASSIVE thumbs up from me on their impact sockets. The size is etched every 120 degrees at the hex end, so its always visible when in the tray. This is invaluable until they get worn enough to just look at them and tell the size.

 

[shawhite]

Stamping cost more. Etching is the norm for imported tools. Snap-on has pretty decent stamping in my opinion. Nepros uses a colored band to differentiate sizes on some of their sockets.

 

[ItsNemo]

My socket trays are marked or I put the sockets away with the stamping facing up or I know which one in the rail is the one I need based on position. Once they're out, it's pretty easy to eyeball the sizes if I'm working on something common enough (10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21mm). It's pretty rare that I need to actually read the sides of the socket.

 

[FMB4]

Yep, most everyday mechanics can 'size' their sockets at glance (once they've put year or two in). However, GM's use of both SAE and Metric fasteners made doing so a bit of guessing game.

 

[1cargarage]

Personally, I go by the fasteners' smell and match it to the socket. Took me a couple days to get all the sizes dialed in, but I've been 100% for a few years now.
Same goes for torque specs. I tighten until I smell the spec.

 

[Terra Nova]

HF has just the thing for you!

 

[Hammer1963]

Modern problems ....

 

[Blind1]

I use a white paint pen on my 10mm and 14mm sockets, as well as the 17, 19, and 24mm impacts.

provides a good visual reference and I can quickly count to the socket I need based on those cues. Touch up as needed.

 

[Mr_B]

Stamping cost more. Etching is the norm for imported tools. Snap-on has pretty decent stamping in my opinion. Nepros uses a colored band to differentiate sizes on some of their sockets.

Snapon stamping while neat and tidy has made no changes to be more visible or dual mark them .
Snapon made no effort on socket ergonomics in decades .

 

[Mr_B]

I would like see dual markings .
I won't buy any tools that only laser etched as it next to useless long term professionally.
When it comes to socket markings gearwrench was pretty much first do good large size stamping, toptul is fairly decent but not all range the same .
My vision good and socket wear highlights sizes fairly well on my socket rails but at times dual marking 180deg apart would be useful and smart manufacture (one large and the other small along with brand name/part No etc)
When it comes to good socket ergonomics/finish the germans japan and better effort taiwan have some good examples .
I was totally amazed likes of snapon/mac never caught on to better size markings and ergonomics decades ago, MAC did do some stuff with useful knurling (sockets and extensions) but it was never a true feature across the range .

 

[mikew13]

Easco used to make their sockets like that

 

[DAustin]

Some of the older Craftsman sockets had nice large numbers .

 

[humpty]

My Armstrong 3/4" set has the size stamp in the normal spot and then a big laser etch on the side, it is visually really nice. Too bad I rarely use the set.

humpty

 

[engineer2]

Most of mine are standing up in a socket holder. I make a game out of trying to pick the right size by looking at the business end of a socket. I'm right over most of the time or maybe one size off.

 

[dr_clyde]

I've never had a problem reading the size on my SO, Mac or SK sockets. Impact or chrome.

The cheap imports where the etching wears off, sure. But good quality sockets? C'mon...

 

[dr_clyde]

Most of mine are standing up in a socket holder. I make a game out of trying to pick the right size by looking at the business end of a socket. I'm right over most of the time or maybe one size off.

Are your holders not labeled? I find it is easier to read the white letters on the tray than it is to try and read the socket while still IN the tray.

 

[engineer2]

Are your holders not labeled?

No, they are the cheap-*** plastic ones from HF. I don't have room for Hansens and the like.

 

[JradM]

I've never had a problem reading the size on my SO, Mac or SK sockets. Impact or chrome.

The cheap imports where the etching wears off, sure. But good quality sockets? C'mon...

I struggle at times to quickly ID my Williams USA sockets. It's not that I can't read the stamping, it's that it's roughly the same size as the stamped part number and it's in the same position at the end.

Sometimes I end up spinning a socket around a couple times to figure out which is the size and which the model number.



I mean, I get Williams USA isn't as expensive as Snap-On or Mac, but it's not Gearwrench either. I think they are really nice sockets and my one complaint is that the size marking isn't obvious enough. If it was a larger font, located in a different part of the socket or if they left off the part number - problem solved.

 

[dr_clyde]

I have had pretty good luck with putting red paint in the low spots of the chrome, then wiping off the excess. The letters jump out after that.

 

[CJM8515]

i dont typically look at the sizes, anyone whom has been wrenching for awhile sorta knows what size something is.

but i much prefer stamped than that etched bs

 

[javyLSU]

SK gets a MASSIVE thumbs up from me on their impact sockets. The size is etched every 120 degrees at the hex end, so its always visible when in the tray. This is invaluable until they get worn enough to just look at them and tell the size.

Yep, and the size markings are also lined up the same way on every socket, which kept my OCD at bay when I was using a socket organizer that held the sockets fastener-side up. Stampings are also nice and deep. My favorite impact sockets

 

[FuzzyTiger]

Wera has a whole color coding system for most of their tools so a 10mm socket and a 10mm wrench will have the same color band all the way around. They also do it for their bits so you can identify philips vs posidrive and so forth.

Nepros has colored rubber rings they sell which you can use to create your own color scheme but that only applies to their sockets.

 

[ChefRex]

HF has just the thing for you!

NO!

 

[Walkers]

Rookies, You should be able to tell the size simply by looking at it. Where's your calibrated eyeball.

Yeah, used to have one of those. I could spot my half or 9/16 across the shop. Then I took a job turning big wrenches. 1-1/16 was the smallest and the torques went into the thousand pound arena. After doing that for over a decade I was hard to readjust again. My eyesight shooting me in the foot didnt help.

 

[Kscardsfan]

I have had pretty good luck with putting red paint in the low spots of the chrome, then wiping off the excess. The letters jump out after that.

I’ve been really tempted To try that myself.

 

[ste6168]

I am not a mechanic by any means, but use tools daily... Am I the only one that never has an idea what size I need anyway? For example, I come across a nut or bolt that needs to be loosened, I don't know that say the bolt is a 1/2" and grab the 1/2" socket. I look at the bolt head and grab the socket that looks closest in size. True size really doesn't matter...

Am I the only one?

 

[dscheidt]

HF has just the thing for you!

I have some of those as my road bag sockets. it's a lot handier than I would have thought (and they're better sockets than I expected, too.). Annoyingly they're not consistent between drive sizes: the 1/4 and 3/8 10mm are different colors. a wipe of paint makes them a whole lot easier to read.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

If you work on the machine often enough, you get to know what sizes. I even got to point where I knew the bearing #s off the top of my head.

But I agree. To make worse, sometimes the size is in the product # , the size is kind of hidden. Small lettering to boot.

 

[lardy1]

I keep DBE's on the wall behind my main bench. If I don't know sizes I usually establish what the job will need with those before I touch my socket drawer on a lot of occasions. I also know my socket set ranges and can identify sizes by counting from the ends of the set. I've never wrenched daily so I don't intuitively reach for the right sizes. My sockets are on Ernst rails and standing up jammed together so seeing even good stamping has its obstacles. Using multiple ratchets keeps me from leaving sockets laying around loose.

 

[MarkH]

It was the first thing I saw on the HF sockets why not each size having its own color? They end up being the tools we loan out along with a pink ratchet when we get the rare request to borrow something. Seems they always come back.

I loved it when Craftsman etched and stamped sockets. We do not have the luxury of working on the same machine or similar ones. They are red, yellow, blue silver and green. We also have to do alot of work in what we describe as inside the belly of the beasts. It takes a couple minutes just to get into working position. We start the job going it has been a couple years since we were in there. What size socket to we need, ???????? Cannot remember and the book does not say. OK it is one of these. Usually a mix of SAE and metric. So you put all of them in your pocket and since you cannot see the size it is try them til they fit. A slow process. If you took in 5 sockets it always number 5 that fits. With the etched ones eyeballing the retainer said it was one of two sizes to try. One SAE and one metric much faster since we could see the size without having to try it.

A vote for easier to read.

 

[ultgar]

Another option is to label the sockets with insert tags.

 

[nbpt100]

Another option is to label the sockets with insert tags.

I like the idea. Years ago I bought some labels to put on the outside of a socket set that had hard to read markings. It seemsed like a good idea at the time. It did not take long before they wore off. The ones that have not worn off are the ones I have hardly used. These above are better protected but can still rub against a bolt. And when you have to use a punch to drive out a jambed in nut what do you do? How robust are they and how well do they stay in. Are they magnetic?

 

[VolvoRyan]

I mean, I get Williams USA isn't as expensive as Snap-On or Mac, but it's not Gearwrench either. I think they are really nice sockets and my one complaint is that the size marking isn't obvious enough. If it was a larger font, located in a different part of the socket or if they left off the part number - problem solved.

Snap-On is one of the worst offenders, IMHO. I have a set in chrome and a set in impact from the last year or two, and neither are easy to read. The impacts have a needless NASCAR outline font for the size that's fairly shallow... so when they get greasy, they're even harder to read. I've been filling the size markings with White Out, and wiping away the excess. I'll have to try the red mentioned above on the chromes.

-Ryan

 

[VolvoRyan]

I am not a mechanic by any means, but use tools daily... Am I the only one that never has an idea what size I need anyway? For example, I come across a nut or bolt that needs to be loosened, I don't know that say the bolt is a 1/2" and grab the 1/2" socket. I look at the bolt head and grab the socket that looks closest in size. True size really doesn't matter...

Am I the only one?

For "homeowner" stuff screwed into wood, I don't sweat how well it fits. Whatever. I'm mostly removing 75 years' worth of other peoples' stuff. I got the world's cheapest set of tools from Amazon when we bought our first house a year ago. We only just finished moving in June. Those tools are now all scrambled in a bag. It's terrible. Just give me something close! When I get time, I'll sort out that storage mess. I just get little joy out of "homeowner" work.... though I find the furnace fun. The furnace gets the right-sized sockets.

The garage is the total opposite experience.

-Ryan

 

[The Frisco Kid]

I use a white paint pen on my 10mm and 14mm sockets, as well as the 17, 19, and 24mm impacts.

provides a good visual reference and I can quickly count to the socket I need based on those cues. Touch up as needed.

I like this idea for my home sockets... what kind of paint pen do you use that is fine enough to get into the small nooks and crannies without spilling over?

 

[dscheidt]

I like this idea for my home sockets... what kind of paint pen do you use that is fine enough to get into the small nooks and crannies without spilling over?

I use a markal lacquer-stik like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BXJ91A/?tag=atomicindus08-20 (which I buy from mcmaster carr, they're lots cheaper there, but harder to link). This is exactly what they're made for. Rub them on the surface, they fill etching lines, wipe the extra off. It helps a lot of if the item being marked is warm, use a heat gun if you don't have good sunshine to do it for you.