Completed: Snap-on SLX80A hard handle conversion, and its friends...

So I had a thread asking a few questions on adding a hard handle to an SLX80A long flex 1/2 drive snap on ratchet. Finally, got into the machine shop a few hours Friday, knocked the handle down to just over 1/2 in. Didn't get much else done till today when we re-opened. Knocked the extra meat off three more steel handles, and made 4 lime green hard handled ratchets. They turned out incredible. I'm pretty damn excited to test these out when I return to work next week!
From left to right I have an FHBF80, FX80, F841, and SLX80A:




Believe it or not, two wraps of this yellow painters type tape (more like non-sticky duct tape) was enough to protect the handles from the 4 jaw chuck. The first SDD8 handle fell victim to the chuck. Another SDD6 got very hot from drilling :-(

I machined all my handles to a .004 to .007 press fit, boiled the plastic handles, and pushed them on by hand, and a bit of tapping on the floor.


A final side project in all of these, as you can see, I have an offset flex head that is now a locking head. I bought an original FHBF80, because I couldn't put the offset handled ratchet in a lathe. I lopped off the extra 1/2 of steel on the end, and smoothed out the wings for the green handle. The hard parts was adding the locking mechanism. I threw the ratchet handle itself into the tool holder of the lathe, and used the appropriate drill bit in the jaws of the lathe to sort of work backwards, and drill two centered, stepped holes into the ratchet at the appropriate depths. The smaller hole I used a drill bit, but the larger hole required an end mill bit for a seat for the spring. That's still the easy part. Lastly, the little "L" hole for the lock button is 3/16ths, so I grabbed the right 4 flute carbide bit and put it into the mill, got the handle into the vise on the mill, and proceeded to plunge cut the holes I shadowed from my other locking ratchet. It was somewhat nerve racking, but after a few worried stops to check, I hit my other hole spot on and made the "L" for the lock. All the rest is just reassembly with new parts!

It works quite well, I'm really really happy with it. I need to take it back to the mill though, one last time, as the leg which you use to hold the lock out of the way to make it a free head was cut at too aggressive of an angle and you can't get it over all the way. This means its way too easy to pop out of place when you want it to stay over. That, and my larger secondary hole could be a tish deeper to take some tension of the spring. Either that or I could snip a coil from the spring as well to make it easier to use. Can't complain about 100% working on my first try, though. I'm really happy with it!

Here is a video of the facility I was able to use:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v...w&current=photobucket-23164-1345513038333.mp4

Note, this mill has a placard on it relating to WW2 most likely:

On the mill




Thanks for the inspiration, Part numbers, and machining tips to the Garage journal and its members. And to snap on for the parts ;-)

Nice job! Now you have to post them in the Green SO thread!

very cool, glad to see the finished product!

Having a machine shop to use is nice. I use mine all the time. They look great. Nice change.

It will be a hoot when you ware them out or someone else trys to turn them in for new ones They will not have a clue. Snap-on will think they lost some of thier records along the way. LOL keep up sosted on how they wrok.

Yea, I don't know what they would even think if I warrantied them. My one snap on guy said technically grinding on a handle like this doesn't void the warranty, but I'm not sure this is what he meant I'm going to drop by my home town snappy guy and show him the FHBF I bought from him on Thursday, I'm sure he'll be impressed. No more oil-absorbing handle

**Going back over these today, I would go with a .007 press fit if I had to do them all again, as the smaller handles I can turn on the ratchets metal shaft, although it takes quite a bit of effort. Like, so much that its reasonable to assume I would never achieve that during use, since you have to turn it in a circle around the ratchet. Still, next time, more press fit, and then just boil them to get them on.

Good Job, I miss the machine shop that I worked at that my Uncle ran.

Nice job! How do those little black lock levers work?

jeffmoss26 said:

Nice job! How do those little black lock levers work?

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You pull them down to move away some teeth from the head, and adjust the head as you want, then release to lock it in. If you pull the lever down and to the right, it will hold it out of the way and make the head free. The only thing that may screw you for converting is the need for the special head with teeth already cut into it. I wasn't too exited to cut the old head for the teeth as I don't have anything that will do that well at my disposal.

~Nick

Nice job!

It's a bit nerve-wracking taking a perfectly useable tool and loading it into a machine tool to hog away some portion of it, isn't it.....

gj67stang said:

Nice job!

It's a bit nerve-wracking taking a perfectly useable tool and loading it into a machine tool to hog away some portion of it, isn't it.....

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You have no idea. Ok, well maybe you do ;-) I was a bit panicky when my second or third handle was cutting like garbage, I mean, like .030 or more variation over the whole 3in i was cutting, and I overshot my target like crazy. But I got a new cutter and reset it and the next pass was butter, so I just labeled that one for a smaller bit.

Also, when my one handle started melting on the inside, that had me worried too, as I was short on the SDD4 handles in the first place so I couldn't deal with melting one.

But the first ratchet came out awesome, and all the other ones fell into place really well too. I had to glue just one handle as it was way too easy to spin on the handle, but all the others are sufficient. I found that I prefer the .007 or so press fit though, I just don't at all want the handles to be able to be moved once installed. Boiling them is a must if you go that big though, but it only takes 5 mins so its an easy step.

You could probably tell I was nervous starting this though, I just kinda winged it through the whole process, I sorta knew where I wanted to end up, but I just kinda stumbled through the whole process. I love our 1940's era machine shop though. Kinda neat stuff.

Neat project, but I'd also cringe at the warranty implications of turning down the handle. I'd prefer to machine a stepped inner steel sleeve to fit snugly on the standard ratchet handle, then cross drill for a couple of roll pins either end. Then I'd fit the plastic handles over that.

This would leave a stock handle with just a couple of minor holes in it if anything warranty related comes up, they're not likely to query that if the break was elsewhere. If I was a warranty checker, with no other information, I'd see those turned down handles and assume it had been modified to fit a handle extension.

But, like I said, nice work and you're braver than me. Oh, and as is tradition round here,


YOU ****

VolvoMan said:

Neat project, but I'd also cringe at the warranty implications of turning down the handle. I'd prefer to machine a stepped inner steel sleeve to fit snugly on the standard ratchet handle, then cross drill for a couple of roll pins either end. Then I'd fit the plastic handles over that.

This would leave a stock handle with just a couple of minor holes in it if anything warranty related comes up, they're not likely to query that if the break was elsewhere. If I was a warranty checker, with no other information, I'd see those turned down handles and assume it had been modified to fit a handle extension.

But, like I said, nice work and you're braver than me. Oh, and as is tradition round here,


YOU ****

Click to expand...

I considered an approach that would leave the handle mostly un-modified, however, the plastic handles I wanted to use were smaller at their smallest point than the handles are in their largest point. Either way, it worked out all right. I didn't put a lot of thought into keeping the handles out of the lathe because it didn't seem as though it was a big deal to me.

I Feel its more likely to break at the fork than the handle, as that is still the thinnest steel on the whole thing, and because of the heat treatment process, there is more heat build up at the ends, creating a stronger, harder portion of steel on the end of the handle. Even without thinking of it, its very apparent when trying to cut it, the tip is much harder than the rest of the ratchet.

TY, as well

Those ratchets are awesome!

Following up for any who are interested. I have been using these quite a bit recently and I'm pretty happpy with them. The few issues I've ran into are one or two off the handles spun hhere or there in use. So I removed them, made a small cut on the steel with a grinder and added a few drops of. Gorilla glue. That solved that. The big one doesn't have that issue though luckily. The upsizzed sdd8 handle is perfect for the long handle ratchet. I love it for sure.

The offset flex handle is great with the lock, but kind of akward to use, but the non locking flex with straight handle will get you into trouble due to its free head. The handle gives you more power so you can also make bigger slips if not locked in. So be carefull. I also feel with the 3/8ths ratchets it may be too eay to break faastners if you aren't carefull. Whoops.

Love them thoguh. They get very dirty, but clean pperfectly with brakleen. The black lettering doesn't hold up to that though. Haha

Following up for any who are interested. I have been using these quite a bit recently and I'm pretty happpy with them. The few issues I've ran into are one or two off the handles spun hhere or there in use. So I removed them, made a small cut on the steel with a grinder and added a few drops of. Gorilla glue. That solved that. The big one doesn't have that issue though luckily. The upsizzed sdd8 handle is perfect for the long handle ratchet. I love it for sure.

The offset flex handle is great with the lock, but kind of akward to use, but the non locking flex with straight handle will get you into trouble due to its free head. The handle gives you more power so you can also make bigger slips if not locked in. So be carefull. I also feel with the 3/8ths ratchets it may be too eay to break faastners if you aren't carefull. Whoops.

Love them thoguh. They get very dirty, but clean pperfectly with brakleen. The black lettering doesn't hold up to that though. Haha

I'd love to see the look on your snappy guys face when you need to warranty a rat

Dan

Sweet job!