Now that you mention it, you might be right!That's interesting to learn. My guess came from looking at this photo.
Personally prefer the screws through the head into backplate design because if the threads ever strip you've only ruined the backplate instead of the ratchet body. Considering Nepros ratchets aren't cheap throwaways, they're keepers that you hold on to long term, and the screws on the 1/4" and 3/8" ratchets are tiny it'd be an actual improvement to switch to this design if they're going to bother making changes. As I said though I expect it's a form over function choice. I wouldn't say it's uncommon these days either, all my ratchets are modern fine tooth and most of them screw through the head into the backplate.
At this end of the spectrum/price I'd rather a band of knurling than a rubber ring on their sockets. If quick identification is what they're going for they could add a painted groove as well similar to Wera sockets. Either way don't see the point of a little rubber ring on their ratchet handles, personally would rather they were finished completely smooth if there isn't a need for a groove for the join.
I agree about prefering metal knurling, I have concerns about longevity on the rubber, especially when exposed to fluids. The edges are kind of sharp when you remove the rubber though, I may see if I can bend a brass strip into place or maybe thermo-form plastic as a replacement at some point.
That's fair, as I said before none of this is a big deal, more nitpicking. I just thought as they've bothered to make changes to their 3/8" ratchets it'd be worth changing to the screw through head design as well. I took the fact they hadn't as a form over function choice but as you've outlined there's more to it than that. I've seen people referring to Nepros as heirloom tools, just seems a shame to potentially ruin such nice ratchets because of a little screw versus fitting a new backplate, even though there are disadvantages to the screw into backplate design. As you say ideally people would just take care when rebuilding their ratchet and it wouldn't really matter either way how it's designed but stripping the threads on a ratchet body can and does happen.
Neither are great durability wise, as you say though it's quicker to swap a rubber ring versus reapplying paint. Don't think anything will beat ensuring you buy sockets with stamped sizes and painting them yourself if colour coding/visibility really matters to someone. I get that some people treat Nepros like jewellery and aren't going to want to apply paint to them or anything like that, there's no perfect solution.
Beautiful.Picked up one of the new Koken 1/4” 72 tooth ratchets on a recent trip to Japan. Playing with both in the store, the 72t model seemed to have ever so slightly higher backdrag than the old 36t model. The head on the Koken is smaller and thinner than my Nepros. Really tough choice between these two.
Could you provide more info on the Nut Grip? I would like to check that out.
https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=Koken+nut+grip
To be fair I would be hesitant to google “nut grip”https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=Koken+nut+grip
Its Ko-Ken's holding function sockets. Two ball bearings squeezed by an outer coil spring.
very close to spitting my beer on the computer screen....
There's a good cutaway view and description here: https://kokenusa.com/pages/nut-grip-sockets
Reviews seem legit and there's a price history on camelcamelcamel. It looks like it's just a really good time to buy.
Can expect nothing but quality from Mitutoyo. However, I specifically bought the fake digital calipers off of Aliexpress for my own home needs. I think they were 25-30$ at the time. For that kind of money, probably the best calipers on the market - or at least, way better than the generic chinese digital offerings for 15-20$. At least, they are really "absolute", which is a feature I always missed on cheap digital calipers. If you really take some precise measurements, it's best to have something that's true to size to calibrate them anyway (like, if you measure something around 50mm, calibrate them with a 50mm bearing and you'll have a very exact measurement). But that's something that is needed even with a genuine mitutoyo if you really want to be exact. I have genuine higher end Mitutoyos at work, they're nice for having the carbide tips but overall I'd say the chinese ones at home aren't notably worse. Only thing I noticed is that there's some discrepancy between the ID and OD jaws (I think 0.02mm), but that's definitely the hardest thing to grind accurately and it's fine if you know about it.I just got these calipers in today. They look quality-made as I expected with the exception of the plastic flex hinges on the plastic case, which will eventually crack/break. Oh well, maybe I'll rig up a nice case for these metric calipers and my inch calipers. If I hold the head and bounce the slide a little the needle moves (see the pic), but when I open and close it the needle goes back to zero every time. Just shows the nature of the dial mechanism, and that I'll have to be careful with these calipers.
The youtube vid "17 Warning Signs Your Mitutoyo Calipers Are Fake" by Clough42 at
is about digital calipers, but the points in common with my dial calipers indicate I have a genuine Mitutoyo product. All his points about typograpical and printing minutiae jive, as do the points in common between his digital calipers and my dial calipers and the construction/manufacturing of the cases.
All in all, I am very satisfied!
In terms of accuracy, digital calipers aren't really better. They may make you assume they're more accurate for having a 0.01mm resolution, but if we're reasonable a caliper is not the right tool to use to measure anything below ~0.05mm, it just won't be consistent. Advantage of digital is how easy it is to read and how you can zero it wherever you want, but nothing more. Dial calipers don't need batteries (though digitals last for a long time so it's not really a big issue) but they're also very accurate. Vernier are cool for always being an absolute scale (to be honest, dial too) and very cheap and also just as accurate if well made, but hardest to read (especially in a dimmly lit garage).
I use an old Starrett case for my Mitutoyo calipers.
I believe TOP typically designs their wrenches with metal handles first and then offers a dipped grip version as an extra. That way they can use a single forging and if the grip does wear out, you can cut it off and still have a functional handle underneath. A very practical approach.
I’m not really a fan of soft grips because my tools end up getting nasty one way or another. So as soon as I ordered the Fujiyas I just cut the grip off.
I bought these IPS skinny-jaw pliers at Amazon-US for $24.08 (price includes shipping from Amazon-Japan).
They arrived promptly, 6 days after ordering. The width of the jaws tapers from 4mm down to 2mm. Overall length is 7.5"
In the last 6 months I've had roughly the same experience. Shipping costs for amazon.jp tools used to be 15-20% on an order of, say, a dozen items. Now it's 30-40-50%.
thought I was the only one seeing an increase. bought some items a few months ago with cheap shipping. Now just yesterday was going to purchase some screwdrivers and the shipping was almost 50%. came out to be 174$ for 80$ ish worth of items.
