What an Idiot

[vartz04]

So yesterday at work, were paving, one of the rollers goes down, ( i do not work for the paving contractor, rather our firm is hired by the municipality to observe construction/perform engineering tasks)

So the mechanic comes out, I shoot the **** with him a little and then he gets to work i hear the impact going and then it stops and a lot of cursing. He was trying to break this rusted to hell 1-1/2" nut with a 1/2" drive impact gun.

Eventually after a few attempts i hear F this Fing thing and he hurles it into the field next to where the roller was parked.

I make note its location, and drive back over there after work to go see if its still around.

Sure enough i find this gun laying in the weeds

I looked it up online, its $129.99 brand new from sears. Says 580 ft-lbs of torque. The only thing so far Ive seen wrong with it is the mirror finish is scratched/peeling, I rotated the tires on my truck yesterday after work just to get a chance to use it, and it works great.

 

[Diesel_Crawler]

So who is this guy and were can i follow him around?

 

[oldtools]

Nothing better than free tools.

 

[vartz04]

seriously, i never usually work with this contractor, but i lucked out this time. It was good cause it was a rough day lots of problems, questions, concerns ect, im surprised in the 3 hrs between seeing him throw it and going back i hadn't forgotten where it was.

 

[volvo420coupe]

It wouldn't bust loose a nut that was probably torqued to over 500 ft/lbs in the first place?!? What a piece of ****! Have fun with your paperweight, LOL.

I consider the person who chucks a good tool in the first place an idiot, but I don't have words for the person who doesn't go back later after he calmed down.

 

[Chris Adams]

Gee, want to bet he charged it to the job as expended, or broken by the job.
Seen the guys working for the city toss perfectly good tools away, didn't care. They ain't paying for them.

 

[-B-]

Tool throwers are tools, they deserve to loose their tools and jobs. Good for you grabbing the gun it should serve you well as it owe you nothing.

 

[TruckTech]

Tool throwers are tools, they deserve to loose their tools and jobs. Good for you grabbing the gun it should serve you well as it owe you nothing.

+1

I have to say though, I bought that same impact awhile back when I was a tire/lube monkey and its not the greatest. But you cant beat free tools!

 

[Mike83]

Tragedy of the commons, or in this case ***** for the owner of the contracting company. Laborers, carpenters, mechanics etc don't care about company owned tools as much as their own, unless they are somehow held accountable.

 

[fordracing200]

I was going to buy that gun, but my sears was out of stock...They gave me the 710ft lb proffesional model for the same price, my fitting was clogged up on my air line so I thought the gun was a joke and returned it However, I always wanted to try the 580ft lb version. How'd he ever get the bolt loose?

 

[Skyline]

I had that same gun, and all the time I had it, I thought the problem was my 5hp compressor not putting out enough cfm or pressure. Then I got an IR2135 and realized that the problem was just that the gun sucked. I think I got something like $20 for it on eBay. I think Craftsman dramatically overstates the torque capabilities of their air tools.

 

[norry]

How'd he ever get the bolt loose?

+1 to that! Did he come back with a 3/4" or 1" drive?

 

[EvelOne]

I had that same gun, and all the time I had it, I thought the problem was my 5hp compressor not putting out enough cfm or pressure. Then I got an IR2135 and realized that the problem was just that the gun sucked. I think I got something like $20 for it on eBay. I think Craftsman dramatically overstates the torque capabilities of their air tools.

I have both the craftsman and the IR2135, and there is no comparison. The IR is great and I keep it at work. The craftsman is a decent gun for at home to rotate tires, etc. but I also got it for the club price 89.99

 

[vartz04]

3/4" ratchet with a pipe on it and his fat a$$ hangin off the pipe

 

[old salvage]

3/4" ratchet with a pipe on it and his fat a$$ hangin off the pipe

He probably doesnt use a breaker bar and eventually the ratchet will pop.
I'd go back and take a look for that too.