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[NitroExpress]

You enabling son of a *****. I just made another CAT tools order, but skipped the ratchets.

How are these?

I’m a fan of the Stahlwille ratchets. They are the main reason in going through the hassle of sorting through the Cat catalog and order process. Definitely an improvement over the low tooth Williams on offer at Cat.

 

[NitroExpress]

I’d love to have a private dinner with whomever decided that at CAT, and ask what lead to this. And the Stahlwille ratchets dressed up CAT style look sharp! Hope they serve you well & you’re happy with them!

Kind regards,
Olli

I’m GUESSING that Snap On won’t sell high-tooth count ratchets to Cat and the technicians at Cat are probably looking for more than 36 teeth, being it’s 2026 and all…

 

[d.mcfarland]

I’m GUESSING that Snap On won’t sell high-tooth count ratchets to Cat and the technicians at Cat are probably looking for more than 36 teeth, being it’s 2026 and all…

Snap-On won't private label their best selling offerings to a lower priced seller. Every dealer in the country to instantly have a class action lawsuit.

I'd guess they don't mind the yellow handle pliers because 1) they are still wholesaling at the same essential price and 2) not like yellow seems to be a best seller in the automotive world anyways and also 3) the warranty doesn't come out of their pocket.

 

[lund]

I’m an electrician and this is mainly for anchors with 1/2” holes. It is not a one size fits all solution nor meant to be. The collection capacity is greater than the universal one I already have that fits via the side handle. This will be just fine to get me through a day of running pipe.

The capacity on this is about the same as every manufacturer’s integrated solution I have seen. Most of those being Hilti.

I also have a 5 gallon rigid vac with a bag in it and a hepa filter. That uses a device that suctions to the wall when holes get bigger and stuff gets serious. This I mainly use for SDS core bits.

There is no such thing as dry grinding masonry on a commercial construction site anymore. Residential is the Wild West and they will be lucky to even have a guard on the grinder.

It makes sense on what you say. Use context always matters. I was hammer drilling many deep holes (100s around 5/8" diameter) to epoxy threaded rod in old concrete in retrofit projects. That generates a large volume of concrete dust (airborne in a fine suspended powder) and non-aresolized powder both in the drilling and subsequent hole clean out (whether vacuum collector on the drill or not, a lot will brush and vacuum out the hole). Anything to cut it down is good. Even cleaning out shop vacs post drilling is a chore and a good HEPA filter is needed. The dust gets everywhere ... somewhat like in drywall compound sanding: no matter what you do in the chain things seem to get dusty.

It is good that commercial construction is now more careful on dust exposure. It is easy to see where long term exposure is bad for ones health. Tradesmen should do the best they can and should certainly never smoke since that can compound potential health problems from inevitable exposure. Wet grinding concrete is definitely the way to go. Wet core drilling is the norm. But to my knowledge, hammer drill holes in concrete seem to be more commonly done dry. SDS is a clear winner for hammer drilling anything more than a very small hole in old and very hard concrete.

 

[designer485]

Picked up some NOS Klein Scissors at the swap meet for $10. I can't pass up USA made Klein tools when I see them cheap.

 

[oled]

Knipex Alligator 300mm (12") with plastic grips 88 01 300
... I quickly appreciated some advantages of this design

I prefer the Alligator also, and own several sizes of those, and an NWS with a similar design. On top of the things you mentioned, I feel like its mechanism is less affected by dirt. It just works. It's simpler. The Cobra has some small parts and fine tooth stuff that needs to be clean to work.

 

[oled]

I wanted a sanding attachment for my Multimaster, but ended up ordering this set instead, as it was on sale (or some kind of Fein campaign, as the box actually has printed "- 50%" on it).

It takes up way too much space in that L-boxx, but maybe I can use the box for something else. All this stuff is going in my drawer with blades etc.