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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.

 

[ecotec]

Vessel screwdriver and metric Allen bits and an Olsa bolt sizer.

 

[Dankotaru]

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.

That's a killer deal. I've used these on so many different projects around the house, cutting everything from cable to artificial turf. Love these scissors, they're fantastic.

 

[L.Cheapo]

Chinese wire wheels scare me to death. I imagine forgetting safety glasses at a key moment or picking porcupine quill-like wires out of my body. I try to find USA, European, or Japanese products and run them well below rated rpms.

I had a cheap wire brush explode on me many years ago when I worked in a shop. I looked like I pissed off a porcupine. Bristles were stuck in my clothes, my arm, and my face. Fortunately I wore safety goggles or I'd probably be half blind. One entered my face just below the goggles. Had a no-name cutoff wheel explode back then too. Took a chunk to the cheek.

I only buy USA made wire wheels and abrasives. I'd venture into Japan or certain parts of Europe if I absolutely had to.

 

[four.cycle]

^ I fully expect the thing to fly all to pieces on me. Most of them seem to. Again, I'll just stand clear of the thing and out of the line of fire.
There are no "guards" or "shields" on this machine - so I can go at it from the side/top/rear if I want to.

 

[lund]

I had a cheap wire brush explode on me many years ago when I worked in a shop. I looked like I pissed off a porcupine. Bristles were stuck in my clothes, my arm, and my face. Fortunately I wore safety goggles or I'd probably be half blind. One entered my face just below the goggles. Had a no-name cutoff wheel explode back then too. Took a chunk to the cheek.

I only buy USA made wire wheels and abrasives. I'd venture into Japan or certain parts of Europe if I absolutely had to.

Edited since I made a bad mistake on the rpm and diameter scaling (reversed; worked in head and was wrong -- duh!) This version is fixed.

Some tips to reduce concerns:

* Use good quality wire wheels and discard them after a significant number of hours or they show sign of deterioration (hard for cheapo me to do). A wire breaking off can be a sign that a lot more are ready to break.

* Of course always wear protection, especially for eyes, with wire wheels. Goggles or a full face shield are best. A heavy leather apron also helps. Plus leather gloves.

* Use them on relatively low rpm buffers or grinders with smaller diameter wheels. Yes, this means the work takes longer. But it is way safer. The centrifugal force acting of the wire is proportional to d x (rpm)^2 where d is the diameter of the wheel and rpm is the rotations per minute of the wheel. So larger wheel diameter linearly increases the force. But the force increases with the square (rpm x rpm) of the wheel rotations per minute. So wheels generate much more wire stress quickly as rpm increases. A smaller diameter wheel on lower rpm has dramatically less wire stress translating to dramatically more safety margin. Go lower rpm with smaller wheels and live with slower progress.

Stand a bit to the side of the wheel in case something breaks or the wheel snags a work piece and throws it (another danger).

If you do these the likelihood of a bad mishap is greatly decreased and you can use the wheels with much less stress. Handheld wire wheels on angle grinders probably need even more care in use.

Hope this helps.

 

[LXCam]

OPM time, but it’s still fun when the stuff comes in it’s like Christmas

 

[rharman]

Realized one of my allen wrenches is awol, so another set arrived

But.... Now, everyone in that new set has a sibling except for one poor lonely soul.

 

[Squankum]

I bought a De Walt nozzle schnozzle. Had it on my wishlist for a few years. Thought it was a just a floppy hose, I was wrong. You can set a curve to it and it holds it, which is neat.



Something screws in here. Uh.... just went and looked and their short hand-sized blow gun (which I don't have) comes with various options to screw in such a hole. For what I'm doing with it first, I think I can do without, just happy to have the wind. Long term, I should figure it out. My set of CAPRI blow gun screw-in tips are of a much smaller thread.



Oh wait, it does come with one venturi tip:




$25.99 Amazon. COO China.

DEWALT Flex N Stay Air Blow Gun, 12 in. Extension - Amazon.com

DEWALT Flex N Stay Air Blow Gun, 12 in. Extension - Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[bugnut]

But.... Now, everyone in that new set has a sibling except for one poor lonely soul.

Roger absolutely correct, and then as I was putting them in the drawer I was stuck trying to decide if I should put the old set in the give away box or just keep the 2 of each. Dad gummit!

 

[ETJ]

Imperial wheeling machines 2" wide soft upper wheel for HF style basic English wheel.

 

[SouthernIllinois]

Air shears and an extra set of blades from Eastwood.

Indexing pry bars from Olsa.

Gloves, welding clamp and semi-deep metric 3/8’s sockets from Hobo Freight all of which were on sale.