Recent content by Neoumlaut

I'm a welder and we use a bunch of different brands, they're all fairly similar. The only ones to avoid are the super low end ones - harbor freight, the 'forney' brand ones, etc.

Well I've fixed the problem although I'm not completely satisfied with it. It seemed like the jam was caused by the top ball bearing wedging against the top plate, so I just removed it, and now it works! It now ratchets like it should. My guess is the top ball bearing is too large (it's...

I took a few pictures in case anyone had seen a similar design - I've never seen a unidirectional ratchet before.

I've had my precision instruments split beam wrench for a few years now and it's never ratcheted, I was always under the impression it just had a fixed head. The other day I was looking at it and thought, "that sure looks like a ratchet head" and of course it is. I opened it up and there's...

One thing to keep in mind is that higher end digital meters will have an analog bargraph display. The analog facsimilie isn't just to emulate a classic meter, they update 10x as fast as the digital display, giving you the same functionality as a classic analog meter. I'd argue that analog meters...

I would throw a few ball bearings in, give it a couple shakes, and see if anything comes out. A little rust on the inside is ok but if large chunks are flaking off you're starting to lose significant amounts of the wall thickness.

This is cool but the real question for me is could this lead to reversible grinders. Being able to reverse a grinder allows you to work safer in tight spaces where the grinder only fits one way, but isn't possible with a normal arbor nut.

Machinists aren't working on rusty fasteners in tight spaces, so having fancy wrenches isn't as important. You can use any old wrench to tighten a drawbar, even a crescent wrench, for example. I think the only tools they really need to be good quality are hex keys.

I bought the set because they are so absurdly cheap compared to knipex pliers. They do work, but very poorly. If you just need to clamp down on something they work ok (and they do hold very tightly thanks to the cam action) but if you want to "ratchet" them tightening a fastener they jam up.

Count me in!

Lead solder is not banned and available at any distributor you used to buy it from.

I've got a little bit of an unusual question regarding ratchet tooth count. It seems like every company these days has 80+ tooth ratchets, and it got me thinking. What is the lowest tooth count used in a ratchet? As far as I know "normal" coarse ratchets have somthing like 32-36 teeth, but...