Icon only sells 6 points. All my sockets right now are icon and they are great. wished they made a 12 point versionColor me stupid, but I thought all the Icon sockets were 12 point, no?
I'm still sober if that matters...
I prefer the industrial black over the chrome.
I second the Wright sockets suggestion. I have Wright 12 point sockets in 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" drive. Excellent tools.
I am not sure what you mean by "not desirable".
I didn't realize Snap-On Black oxide wrenches had such a textured hammerscale look to them. Very cool.Was in the machine shop this morning and took a couple pics as promised.
Snap on makes a huge range of SAE 3/8” 12 pts. The big 3/8” one is 1”. Not sure if the 1/4” goes up to 5/8”. I use the 9/16” often, but not sure about 5/8”. As I said, none of these are impact sockets they are “G code” non-impact sockets.
The extensions are a mixed bag of 1/4” and 3/8”. I found that tray on eBay, and whatever I paid for it was too much, but I like these sorts of organizers, especially for extensions and especially for black ones.
Quick story, before I started where I work, a mechanic left an Allen wrench in a bolt head in an aircraft transmission. He just missed it. So did the quality inspector and probably a half dozen other mechanics. That aircraft came down pretty quickly, killing its crew. Allen wrenches are HARD. Keep track of your tools!
Here’s the wrench drawer if anyone is interested. This shop will probably maintain any heavy equipment I buy in the future (currently shopping for a skid steer). So the big sizes are helpful. Some have already come in handy. Most of my work so far has generally stopped at 15/16”.
For our UK friends, we call the hinging tools “spanners”. The non- hinged tools “wrenches”. Shown are “pin spanners”, “hook spanners” and “face spanners”. These are essential for many industrial applications, but I have them specifically for joints on my bridgeport milling machine. Not sure what these would be called in the UK, but I’ve heard people say we don’t use the term “Spanner“ here in the US and that’s not true. If anyone was interested in what those tools are, that’s what we call them and why I have them.
I gave these tools a quick wipe down with oil before I took the picture. Worth mentioning, you really have to routinely oil or protect these black oxide tools somehow. And regular reapplication is a must. Even the screwdrivers are black oxide. BTW, some of their handles were absolutely black during the Bridgeport rebuild. Horrible. They clean up fine. They almost look new in the picture and they absolutely are not!
Last, you can see how well my white crayon trick holds up. That was one of my first posts on garagejournal probably 10 years ago! I didnt do these wrenches 10 years ago, but it’s been several years. It holds up and it helps!
Sensing this wasn't sarcasm. Yeah, they don't have a textured finish. They are smooth and pretty when new. These wrenches are probably 20+yrs old. What you see is corrosion and gunk that I should be sanding off and refinishing. The 3/4" on the right (vertical) is how they look when they are new. The question is, do you remove the original black oxide and refinish the wrench with cold blue, or just use the cold blue as a touch up. I've done the latter. Cold Blue is not the same, not as durable, as black oxide.
We actually use very similar terminology.
We used those wrenches for fire fighting equipment. They were used to tighten hoses to nozzles and the fire fighting water mains. They used 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" connections.Was in the machine shop this morning and took a couple pics as promised.
Snap on makes a huge range of SAE 3/8” 12 pts. The big 3/8” one is 1”. Not sure if the 1/4” goes up to 5/8”. I use the 9/16” often, but not sure about 5/8”. As I said, none of these are impact sockets they are “G code” non-impact sockets.
The extensions are a mixed bag of 1/4” and 3/8”. I found that tray on eBay, and whatever I paid for it was too much, but I like these sorts of organizers, especially for extensions and especially for black ones.
Quick story, before I started where I work, a mechanic left an Allen wrench in a bolt head in an aircraft transmission. He just missed it. So did the quality inspector and probably a half dozen other mechanics. That aircraft came down pretty quickly, killing its crew. Allen wrenches are HARD. Keep track of your tools!
Here’s the wrench drawer if anyone is interested. This shop will probably maintain any heavy equipment I buy in the future (currently shopping for a skid steer). So the big sizes are helpful. Some have already come in handy. Most of my work so far has generally stopped at 15/16”.
For our UK friends, we call the hinging tools “spanners”. The non- hinged tools “wrenches”. Shown are “pin spanners”, “hook spanners” and “face spanners”. These are essential for many industrial applications, but I have them specifically for joints on my bridgeport milling machine. Not sure what these would be called in the UK, but I’ve heard people say we don’t use the term “Spanner“ here in the US and that’s not true. If anyone was interested in what those tools are, that’s what we call them and why I have them.
I gave these tools a quick wipe down with oil before I took the picture. Worth mentioning, you really have to routinely oil or protect these black oxide tools somehow. And regular reapplication is a must. Even the screwdrivers are black oxide. BTW, some of their handles were absolutely black during the Bridgeport rebuild. Horrible. They clean up fine. They almost look new in the picture and they absolutely are not!
Last, you can see how well my white crayon trick holds up. That was one of my first posts on garagejournal probably 10 years ago! I didnt do these wrenches 10 years ago, but it’s been several years. It holds up and it helps!
I've been impressed with Williams even their Taiwan made line it is exactly the same as Bluepoint for half the price
I have an older set of 1/4 drive deep MM from Tekton in 6pt. I like them they fit the bolts or nuts and they turn them, what does a “special”socket do that these Tektons don’t?
NO! F that Snap-On guy. Why should a customer have to genuflect before the Snap-On truck? If he doesn't recognize an easy sale screw him.
Then proceed to piss and moan about how hard it is to make a living, deadbeat customers, etc.Allergy to easy money seems to be common among the tool truck drivers. You can offer to meet them at one of their regular stops, to pay cash money and provide a list of what you need in advance but they'll still rebuff you.
I get a big rush using 12-point sockets on 12-point fasteners. The drive interface connection is intense man.
I have a set of these for 12pt and they have been good.
This: Sounds like you built one engine in how many years, and otherwise are a part time hobbiest, not a professional forty hour per week mechanic working flat rate.
My opinion, if you are going to buy cheap sockets, these are a REALLY bad idea. Buy cheap 6pts to work on your lawn mower. You have less chance of rounding the crappy socket or even crappier lawn mower bolt. Cheap 6 pts are often good enough. Cheap impacts can be indistinguishable from nice ones, at least when they are new.
