Safety Wire Pliers

[Graham08]

I know there are a few aircraft guys on here...so what brand of safety wire pliers do you have?

I just bought a set of Milbar's from Aircraft Spruce...so far I am not impressed. I use these on my racecar projects, and had always used my Dad's Snap-On's but now that we are not sharing shop space anymore, I don't have easy access.

The first use of them was to wire a couple bolts last night...late of course. They are too stiff to be used easily as pliers...it's a two handed operation to open them. I have them soaking in PB Blaster as I type this to hopefully free them up. Parts of them are plastic, and at first they wouldn't reliably twist the wire when you pulled the knob...turns out something was loose in the knob...which is also plastic.

I ponied up the extra bucks to get a set of USA pliers...and was expecting something more like the Snap-On's I've used. Any recommendations on a better brand, or who makes them for Snap-On?

 

[kidatari]

I've used many a pair of Safety Wire pliers during my time in the Air Force, and my recommendations are either Milbar, or Snap-On. Unfortunately, the choices are a bit limited, as it's a specialty tool. Which Milbar ones did you get?

I have a set of generic HF safety wire pilers, and they suffer from the same problem that your Milbar ones do :\

 

[Graham08]

They're 9W's with the spring return. I guess I'll be patient and see if they loosen up for me.

 

[nissan_crawler]

Snap-On is Milbar. I like the ones with the rubber in the jaw, and the wavy jaws. I broke my pair with waved teeth and had to get a pair with regular teeth, due to not being able to wait, and I hate them.

 

[Merkava_4]

Parts of them are plastic, and at first they wouldn't reliably twist the wire when you pulled the knob...turns out something was loose in the knob...which is also plastic.

The Milbar's I have don't have any plastic on them anywhere, but they are from the mid 1980s. I think you should send them back to Spruce and get your money back.

 

[planenutok]

I have these in the 6" version. Use them every day, They work great.

http://www.browntool.com/productselect.asp?ProductID=469

 

[nissan_crawler]

The Milbar's I have don't have any plastic on them anywhere, but they are from the mid 1980s. I think you should send them back to Spruce and get your money back.

Are they the ratcheting/reversing ones, or standard safety wire pliers?

All the ratcheting/reversing ones I've ever seen from Milbar are plastic. Oh, and the plastic is just fine. I probably went through 10-15 spools of wire on mine, when the return spring broke.

Just get a new pair. Pliers vary so much from one to the other in every brand. I can walk on the Snap-On truck and dig through 10 pairs of side cutters before I find one that's acceptable.

 

[Merkava_4]

Are they the ratcheting/reversing ones, or standard safety wire pliers?

They only turn one direction with you pull the rod. Never heard of ratcheting safety wire pliers.

 

[OctaneMotorsports]

They only turn one direction with you pull the rod. Never heard of ratcheting safety wire pliers.

Ratcheting means after you pull it out to twist the wire the rod pushes back in and resets itself for the next pull, just like a ratchet does.

 

[BrianAltenhofel]

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/2913,243_Safety-Wire-Twister-Tools.html
Those haven't failed me yet.

 

[nissan_crawler]

They only turn one direction with you pull the rod. Never heard of ratcheting safety wire pliers.

That's why they're metal. The ones with the plastic knob you don't have to let go of the plier or knob to let it go back in. You can also reverse the direction of them. I would go nuts with a standard pair.

 

[Graham08]

Small update...after getting the twisting action fixed, they are an acceptable set of pliers. I used them at the track this weekend...only problem now is getting them loosened up, but they seem to be getting better with use.

Thanks for the replies...