SO driver handle self destruction

[Cargo]

I have a Snap-On black hard plastic handle phillips screwdriver. Over the course of about 2 weeks, the middle of the handle turned a chalky white on the surface, then started to crack, then broke in half, and is now in several pieces.
I have not actually used it in the past three months that I can remember and did not ever use it around battery acid or harsh chemicals that I can recall.

I picked it up by the blade and set it on a chunk of rubber when I noticed the white just starting to show - thought it was dirty - and would clean it after the current thing I was doing. Forgot about it for a few days and was a little reluctant to touch it when noticed again. Seemed to progress rapidly after that. The number is/was ssdp42 no 2.

Anyone ever had this problem? Or know what can do this to a SO handle?

 

[fordbroncodave]

yah i have a drawer full of self destructing snap on screwdrivers. all i need is a phone number and the location to send them too to get them replaced

 

[rsieracki]

about how old would you say it it? i had a few older ones (70's vintage) do that but never a newer hard handle

 

[Cargo]

Not sure on the age. Not working in a shop anymore so I don't have a truck/dealer to go to. Does SO provide handles to the truck guys for warranty replacement? I may be able to catch a truck stopping by someplace. Don't know if they would help me or not though.

 

[mrshaun]

8777627662 option 2 and chad has the address on his SIG line.

 

[mrshaun]

we usually replace the whole screwdriver in this case. no questions asked. the drivers that have been around for acouple of years are good, the new guys may not know what to do in this situation.

 

[chadster1]

address in my sig

 

[Bolster]

That is a contour grip handle SO driver, likely 1962-1988. Self-destruction is a known issue for Tenite.

See the thread on Snap-on handles:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75662

 

[mrholeshot]

It's what happens when you don't make tool payment, lol

 

[KEH]

I'm in the process of getting one replaced for the same reason. Will post results when possible.

KEH

 

[mkdive]

yah i have a drawer full of self destructing snap on screwdrivers. all i need is a phone number and the location to send them too to get them replaced

I thought Chad even posted in the thread you had a while back on how to warranty the ones you have???

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58947

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63423

 

[wreckercologist]

repeated exposure to chemicals, specifically brake parts cleaner will do that. I've had a few of the new style handles bleach white from parts washer solvent too.

 

[DanCo]

Gotta love the Snappy warranty policy, it would be cool to set up a camera to do a time lapse of the destruction.

 

[Autoguy]

I saw some like that in dealer showroom in KSA

 

[blue dog]

Are you sure you were not stirring plutonium or kryptonite with that poor screwdriver?

 

[fordbroncodave]

I thought Chad even posted in the thread you had a while back on how to warranty the ones you have???

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58947

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63423

my forum search doesn't work. it always says thread not found or no matching words.

i knew i posted it but couldn't find it myself

 

[mrshaun]

send them to snap on with a list of what the screwdrivers are. they will replace them with the superceded numbers in the computer. also put all of your info on the list in the package. you can also call and ask about how to send them in as well.

 

[Cargo]

Are you sure you were not stirring plutonium or kryptonite with that poor screwdriver?

Well... not actually stirring really ... at least not with the handle.

 

[Toolhorder]

It's a common problem with the older screwdrivers, even had a headlight clip installer break apart on me. Not a problem always got new ones from the dealer. Only crappy part if you care is that you get instink handled stuff back. I wish SO would listen to their customers and bring em back. I keep hearing it's an OSHA thing now from the dealers..

 

[mrshaun]

I had two of them this week and had the newer hard handle in black on the truck. the guy was shocked that I had new ones so quick.

 

[Frank]

How hard is it to make a quality screwdriver handle? Geez, never seen that before. Seems like you gotta try a lot harder to make one this poor.

 

[Red Green]

How hard is it to make a quality screwdriver handle? Geez, never seen that before. Seems like you gotta try a lot harder to make one this poor.

Uh the screwdriver is somewhere between 22 and 48 years old And Snap-on is going to replace it for him

 

[vssjim]

This happens all the time with S-o stuff as my 3/8 plastic handle ratchet is dying and it has nothing to do with getting something on them it is some type of problem of mixtures of chemicals they made them from. The only thing mine is from the seventies and I didn't want the newer larger handle and my boss has Tri-aminic handles which they haven't made for along time.

 

[mrshaun]

How hard is it to make a quality screwdriver handle? Geez, never seen that before. Seems like you gotta try a lot harder to make one this poor.

\
Frank most of the ones I get were made before I was born ( 1979) SO I think it is cool that guys are still using the same tools from their early days as a mechanic. Then I hand them a new one and they are thrilled that their investment back this is still worth keeping.

 

[Bolster]

For my part, I love the old contour grip (tenite) handles, and hope mine hold together. I don't want even a "hard handle" (power grip plus) handle, or an instinct handle, as replacement.

For me, those contour grips were done right and nobody ever made a better shaped handle. Mac copied em, SK copied em, loads of Chinee copy em, for a good reason: they're great.

 

[Frank]

\
Frank most of the ones I get were made before I was born ( 1979) SO I think it is cool that guys are still using the same tools from their early days as a mechanic. Then I hand them a new one and they are thrilled that their investment back this is still worth keeping.

As do I. I grab my old tried & true stuff passed down through the family before I grab the new wrenches out of my box. I was thinking of all the Craftsman and some other makes of screwdrivers I have that are 30, 40, 50 years old and never had any handles come apart.

 

[fordbroncodave]

whats the phone number? what option do i choose?

i have a couple of those old black screwdrivers that look like they are still intact and a few that are sweaty. do i send them all in even though they are all from the same set and all in the same screwdiver drawer?

what about the tri handle screwdrivers? nothing are wrong with mine other then being old and very well used

 

[bgott]

My boss had a set of four torx drivers, NIB, with those handles. He got the set from his dad, opened the box and found that all of them had disintegrated. They had never been used, the old man bought them years ago and set them on the shelf. Snappy replaced them, no questions asked.

 

[mkdive]

Here is a driver in a ebay auction that looks like it has one foot in the grave the other on a banana peel......

http://cgi.ebay.com/19-LONG-Phillip...062?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35aa728ade

 

[truckdriver]

Here is a driver in a ebay auction that looks like it has one foot in the grave the other on a banana peel......

http://cgi.ebay.com/19-LONG-Phillip...062?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35aa728ade

That one may self destruct before the auction ends.
It seems that the only ones that do this are all black. Never seen the other colors do this. Maybe the pigment used contributes to this. If anyone has seen another color do it let me know.

 

[Greatbear]

This reminds me of The Andromeda Strain.

 

[MaximRecoil]

For my part, I love the old contour grip (tenite) handles, and hope mine hold together. I don't want even a "hard handle" (power grip plus) handle, or an instinct handle, as replacement.

For me, those contour grips were done right and nobody ever made a better shaped handle. Mac copied em, SK copied em, loads of Chinee copy em, for a good reason: they're great.

I agree. Those 1960s to 1980s Contour handles were the perfect screwdriver handle (in terms of feel) in my opinion. I don't own any Snap-on tools (though I just ordered a Snap-on 4-in-1 reversible screwdriver with the Power Grip Plus handle from their site), but when I was a teenager in the 1980s, my father worked at a local garage and the tools they had there were mostly Snap-on and Mac. The Snap-on screwdrivers had the Contour handles, and the Macs had very similar handles (though I didn't know who was copying who at the time). I loved those screwdrivers. Snap-on should bring them back, perhaps with an improved material.

 

[TAMPAGT07]

Planned obsolescence.....I've had just about every one of my Snap-On rubber mallet tips just fall apart in the drawer. Some of which I had never even used. I even had one completely desintegrate....

 

[mrholeshot]

I like the contour handles but some of the most commonly used like a #2 phillips the handle was a bit small.