What are/(were) your most USELESS tools?

[Kracin]

hey i got one of those for a christmas present a while ago. i thought it was nice until i actually tried to get the wire hot enough to take solder... it wouldn't heat wire up enough to get solder to take, the only thing you could do was heat the solder up and let it drip on stuff, so i make a huge solder ball and after 10 minutes, it burned out lol. whoops.

 

[tbob]

One of those fit-all sockets

HEY NOW!!!! That is one of my most cherished pocessions. It was the first tool my son ever bought me for Christmas. He was about 9-10 years old and bought it from one of those cheesy infomercials with his own money. I've got it hanging on the lid of my box to remind me of what is important in this life and not sweat the small stuff.
TBob

 

[teal95]

Buell was part of Harley until they killed it.

American cars now are still a mix of inch and metric but they are slowly going metric. If you work on any older stuff though you have to have inch. I think with a 1/2", 9/16" and phillips I could take most of my '68 Mustang apart.

steve

 

[domer911]

Small and inexpensive, but annoying as hell and completely worthless: 11mm wrenches and sockets. I've never seen an 11mm fastener (although they will work on 7/16" in a pinch.)

I would have agreed with you about six months ago when I had to replace the hydraulic pipe on the CDS clutch line, mazda mx5. 11mm!! Totally bizarre. How many decades before I get to use that again?

Last weekend I put a new exhaust on my car. One of the 12mm nuts was not sized appropriately so I had to hammer my 11mm socket wrench around it to remove it from the manifold. Voila.

 

[Hawk]

Buell was part of Harley until they killed it.

American cars now are still a mix of inch and metric but they are slowly going metric. If you work on any older stuff though you have to have inch. I think with a 1/2", 9/16" and phillips I could take most of my '68 Mustang apart.

steve

You need a 3/8 as well.

 

[the gypsy]

Hi tbob, that was very nice and heartwarming that a 9-10 year old actually put some thought into what to buy you.
It is the thought that counts.

 

[yost69]

Wow there is definitely different opinions on "useless" items. Some of these I use all the time.

This:
Roto Zip

The Roto-Zip is very hard to control doing drywall - too much torque. It's OK if you have a hard border to guide you, but watch out if you're trying to do something freehand.

I wouldn't give up the rotozip for nothing when hanging drywall.

Tripple square sockets. Used maybe 2 or three times. That and 9mm sockets. I have not once used one. What are they supposed to fit anyway???

Volkswagens. Use em all the time.

a black and decker mini bandsaw, that piece was so worthless i threw it in the back yard and ran it over with the lawn mower for over a year. it was **** from the factory. i hated that piece

Absolute piece of junk. That blade will not stay on there for nothing.

This was the biggest pos I ever bought. Not only that, but I bought one for my FIL. Luckily for me, I've been married to his oldest daughter for 20+ years when I gave it to him or it could have ruined our wedding plans!

Ray

I fell for that one also.

Air powered grease gun on the drum. Haven't used it since I got my battery lincoln and everyone I've tried to give it to already has one collecting dust

LOL. First one I grab is the battery one. The other one just hangs there.

18mm wrench, never used it

Use it all the time.

my most useless tool purchase was a pair of lisle exhaust pipe hanger pliers.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0012S9A5U/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I use mine on almost every exhaust job. They are so nice my buddy uses mine also. How do you get the hangers off? Prybar?

pneumatic palm nailer.

years owned - 10
use - 0

I would not use anything else. I would rather not beat the **** out of my thumb and fingers nailing joist hangers.

 

[b974k]

Hey MP&C do you want to sell that stretcher I need to make a tube straightener and that would be a great start I would just put three rollers on it and the adjustment feature is already there

 

[Farmall450]

How does everyone hate on Robogrips when the reviews are so good on Sears?

http://www.sears.com/robo-grip-3-pc-robogrip-pliers-set/p-00930015000P

 

[Farmall450]

However, I will say for me it's cheap wire strippers. God do I hate those things...

 

[Paticus]

When I bought mill/lathe I was thinking of a lot of uses. For me the novelty worn off after I found myself spending 5 hours making $20 worth of parts. Fixing trivial things that can be easily replaced.

The guy that bought my mill had THREE lathes. I asked him what was the most practical thing he's done with them and he said he made his own CLUTCH TOOL ...you can buy clutch tool for less than $10!

Another guy bought a lot of lathe tooling from me and said he was retired and simply wanted to learn machining as a hobby. No practical reason.

If you think you have real use for mill/lathe, why not bring your work to machine shop?

Or send your blueprints out for 3d printing?

Mill/lathe/grinder/metal stock/tooling take so much space - I think you'd have to have volume in thousands of dollars in machine work each month to really justify keeping your own tool room, buying machines, buying tooling, buying metal stock, and learning the trade.

Damn.

I love my lathe and use it non-stop. It didn't take thousands of dollars worth of stock, equipment, tooling either. Anybody interested in a lathe- Buy one used with all the tooling. You can be fully set up for less than 1k if you are diligent. As you can tell by this thread some people consider a lathe the MOST USELESS tool LOL, which is crazy to me, BUT that means you should be able to find a good deal.

One man's trash is another man's treasure

 

[ZRX61]

A few days ago I was given a box of free tools. One of the tools is a hoof knife....


I don't own a horse.

 

[kazlx]

Damn.

I love my lathe and use it non-stop. It didn't take thousands of dollars worth of stock, equipment, tooling either. Anybody interested in a lathe- Buy one used with all the tooling. You can be fully set up for less than 1k if you are diligent. As you can tell by this thread some people consider a lathe the MOST USELESS tool LOL, which is crazy to me, BUT that means you should be able to find a good deal.

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Totally agree. I use my stuff all the time for things I can't buy. Maybe it's different in other places, but in Orange County, good luck finding a machine shop that wants to make you a $100 part. That's usually what I do for other people because they get turned down at machine shops. Most aren't going to change setups or have some guy take a break to make some goofy part.

 

[Jim Riseborough]

I agree, a smaller dremel works much better.

 

[JakeKohl]

HEY NOW!!!! That is one of my most cherished pocessions. It was the first tool my son ever bought me for Christmas. He was about 9-10 years old and bought it from one of those cheesy infomercials with his own money. I've got it hanging on the lid of my box to remind me of what is important in this life and not sweat the small stuff.
TBob

Ooohhh. I tell my wife that if the commercial looks like they're talking directly to her for me and you have the thought "I can't believe my husband doesn't have that already", chances are they're trying to get the wife to buy that tool for their husband because they know he wouldn't ever buy it...that, and most tools that promise to do many exceptional things rarely do any single one of them well.

 

[ormachine]

A few days ago I was given a box of free tools. One of the tools is a hoof knife....


I don't own a horse.

Now you can go out & buy a horse so you can use your NEW tool ! !

Hope this helps

 

[zurud]

My wife

 

[AnEv942]

HEY NOW!!!! That is one of my most cherished pocessions. It was the first tool my son ever bought me for Christmas. He was about 9-10 years old and bought it from one of those cheesy infomercials with his own money. I've got it hanging on the lid of my box to remind me of what is important in this life and not sweat the small stuff.
TBob

Ahh..mines a Gatorgrip. good for a 3/4". Ive used a few times, though not in a long time. It lives in my truck. My dad bought it for me, confined to his chair last few years of his life, his input from the world was infomercials.. My mom told me later he actually used the phone to place the order. Dam..
Anyway kinda funny how some stuff gets associations attached to them.

Simular to TBobs story my son bout same age, saved his his money and bought one of those quasi military 'survival' knives for my bday-, early '80's. He was so proud of it..Still have it-doubt he even remembers.

As far as useless/ Craftsman combination Quick wrench. There only saving grace is the box end. Otherwise awesome USA made extended length wrenches- ruined by notching open end. EVERY time I grab one I cuss..prefectly good wrench. One day, I'm sure Ill ruin, but I'm welding and regrind.

 

[ScottsGT]

For me, a few.
3/8" butterfly impact. Too damned awkward to hold.
Root zip. Just no use for the noise maker.
Triangular vibrating sander. Has with the little 2" triangle head. Never found a use for it.

 

[MP&C]

Hey MP&C do you want to sell that stretcher I need to make a tube straightener and that would be a great start I would just put three rollers on it and the adjustment feature is already there

Sorry, that's kinda the reason I bought it. Haven't firmed up exactly what it will become, but the wheels were turning when I first saw it..

 

[bwitt]

Craftsman Flux-Core welder. No matter how much practice, I could never get it right. It had two voltage settings; high and low. Bought a true MIG off craigslist and my welds have never looked better (and waaay faster to set up and use).

RoboGrip - me too, every time I try to use it, I revert to the Channelocks.

Clamp on oil filter wrench (like a giant pliers). Never fits the filter and if it does fit, the jaws are so wide open you can't grip the filter and the handles are too far apart to be of any use. Just stick with the good ol' band style filter wrenches if you need them.

HF spinning laser level. Used once to hang a drop ceiling. Was way to hard to get it level and then the beam was really dim.

Craftsman Flare Nut wrenches. Tolerances are so loose on these they always destroy the fitting. Got a set of Snappys off eBay and never looked back.

Snap-On ratcheting adapter that turns a breaker bar into a ratchet. Luckily it came with large box of old SK and SO tools that I only paid $20 for.

 

[zacker01]

That's too bad

I understand what you are saying about them ... it would be a pain to have to stop and reconfigure your tool setup before you start working on your project again, but for guys like me who have very limited shop space, something like a Shopsmith is my only option

.02

I thought of selling off my stand alone machines for a shop smith until someone said id get aggravated setting it up all the time.. so I never bought it. it would be nice to have the room id gain NOT having different machines though. Maybe I can by a shop smith for each configuration? lol...

My most useless tool has also gotta be the Roto Zip!

 

[Rod N]

All the cheap tools that came with my wife when I married her.

 

[KellyfromVA]

The Harbor Freight 1/2 Ton Capacity Capacity Pickup Crane with Cable Winch. After stupidly drilling holes in my truck bed and installing this disaster, while attempting to lift a 6 cylinder engine block into my pickup, the winch catastrophically failed (teeth stripped), dropping the block 4 feet to the sidewalk. This after I had just driven three hours to pick up the engine block and paid the seller of the block cash. Oh and one other really worthless set of wrenches clogging up my roll-a-way: Crows Feet.

 

[Letsgobowhunting]

I wouldn't exactly say a mill and lathe are useless. In your scenario it never made any sense to have them. But for some people the lathe and mill are the basis around everything that they do.

I have a lathe and a mill and do not use them much. But, when it is time for the kids to do a school project, other kids are using cardboard or wood, my kids are making things out of plastic or aluminum. They are very handy but not for the average guy. I thought i would use them more than i do but have no regrets of getting them.

I buy tools that i will probably never use. Bought a set of snapon weatherhead sockets from a retired deisel mechanic. Hope i never have to use them.

 

[Capt Chrysler]

"Snap-On ratcheting adapter that turns a breaker bar into a ratchet. Luckily it came with large box of old SK and SO tools that I only paid $20 for."

****, I used a 1/2 ratcheting adapter all the time>>>>>>>>>>>


Capt. Chrysler

 

[SH7mi]

A straight screw driver bit for a screw gun. Even the ones with a sleeve still slide off the screw.

 

[Dimitri]

Inch size tools are almost (not quite completely) useless to me.

They are virtually useless, to the point where I think I have under 5 inch sized sockets in my tool box, and no wrenches etc sized in inches.

Dimitri

 

[MFortie]

One of my ex-brother-in-laws?

 

[synchro7]

I have a set of stubby wrenches that are 10+ yrs old and never been used... Not sure what I was thinking..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Start working on airplanes, you'll need them.
Same thing for crows feet, open end and fitting style.

 

[truckaddict]

For me, a few.
3/8" butterfly impact. Too damned awkward to hold.
Root zip. Just no use for the noise maker.
Triangular vibrating sander. Has with the little 2" triangle head. Never found a use for it.

i use the triangle sander lots, well enough to keep it around. making furniture, comes out when you get into intricate detail.

 

[GarageWarrior]

Damn.

I love my lathe and use it non-stop. It didn't take thousands of dollars worth of stock, equipment, tooling either. Anybody interested in a lathe- Buy one used with all the tooling. You can be fully set up for less than 1k if you are diligent. As you can tell by this thread some people consider a lathe the MOST USELESS tool LOL, which is crazy to me, BUT that means you should be able to find a good deal.

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Totally agree. I use my stuff all the time for things I can't buy. Maybe it's different in other places, but in Orange County, good luck finding a machine shop that wants to make you a $100 part. That's usually what I do for other people because they get turned down at machine shops. Most aren't going to change setups or have some guy take a break to make some goofy part.

So what do you work on that you can't buy parts for??

Do you do machining as hobby ... umm ... for fun , or do you do machining because it's PRACTICAL?

The oldest thing I had to fix up was 1950's forklift. I THOUGHT I'd have to get some parts custom made, but actually was able to buy everything I needed either as direct replacement or adapt from other automotvie applications (starter, hydraulics, brakes master cylinder, etc).

Typical automotive jobs I've been bringing to machine shop - resurfacing cylinder heads, turning brake rotors, valve grinding - were all under a $100. For cylinder heads it might be a bit over a $100 depends on the shop.

How much $$$'s worth is in climate controlled shop space that is being used up by the lathe/mill/surface grinder, tooling and metal stock? I figure it would be a hundred bucks a month or more. And that's just fixed cost, month after month regardless if machining equipment gets used or not. Some choose to ignore that cost, because it's indirect - but dry, accessible, heated/air conditioned floor space is rarely truly free.

For cheap equipment - typically it's cheap equipment that needed repairs, parts and additional tooling = time and money. More importantly what's the total cost of having equipment setup and working in your shop? So you buy a 14 ft gear head lathe with a 20" chuck for $500, but what's your total cost with rigging, moving and setup included?

Do you keep track of how much time you spend machining parts and how much $$$ your end product is worth vs how much $$$ your time is worth?

 

[goose_on_fire]

One of those "drill presses" that's just a stand you strap a regular drill motor into. I still don't know what I was thinking

 

[colin39]

One of those "drill presses" that's just a stand you strap a regular drill motor into. I still don't know what I was thinking

yep been there done that and also wondered why

snap on ultra shallow 3/8th socket set an rachet, 2 years on and never used why

 

[dr_clyde]

Can't say as I've ever used my car battery puller. Most batteries have handles these days. I usually avoid the "gimmick" tools, but somehow i ended up with one of these.

My shop couldn't function without machine tools. I have two mills and would consider a third if the price was right... Lathe work is something I couldn't do without. Custom fabrication is just that. Custom. For instance, stainless steel sanitary pipe fittings are ungodly expensive, and there are very many different varieties of some so I can't keep a shitload in stock. Many times I need to machine custom fittings out of purchased ones in order to make it work. Plus, some things cannot be bought. Today I made a series of brackets that convert a 60 year old drop-pack machine from 6 packs to 12 packs. Impossible without a mill. Well, the argument could be made that a surface grinder could do slots... But I don't have one of those. Yet.

 

[Chaz]

I bought a "Tubeshark" tubing bender. Its a pricey ****** (about 4 grand with some dies) and while its a beautiful American made tool that works flawlessly, I really don't use it often enough to justify that kind of purchase. What's done is done I guess.

 

[Farmallgray]

I use the robogrip style pliers when doing welding and fab work. They are great for picking up parts that are too hot to handle.

I use my lathe all the time and would love to have a mill. I work on antique tractors and pulling tractors. Both often need parts that you can't buy and would cost a fortune to have custom made. I have a lot more time than money so I can spend a couple hours making a part that would cost $50 to buy or have made. Tractor pulling is all about saving weight so I'm constantly making parts from aluminum that are only commercially made from heavier materials.

Everyone has aspects of their projects that they do and don't like to do. What they like to do, they aquire the knowlege and equipment to do, while the things they don't like to do, they pay someone else to do. That is why a lot of this stuff is so subjective.

 

[Banjorear]

"Snap-On ratcheting adapter that turns a breaker bar into a ratchet. Luckily it came with large box of old SK and SO tools that I only paid $20 for."

****, I used a 1/2 ratcheting adapter all the time>>>>>>>>>>>


Capt. Chrysler

Me too. Love that tool. h

 

[n8n]

E-torx sockets. Bought a set in 1988 for a job on a Dodge Omni. Haven't owned a vehicle since, that uses these fasteners. But after 26 years, I'll never get rid of them because you know that Murphy would take that opportunity to kick me square in the nuts.

My Jeep Cherokee uses them for the bolts that hold the front unit bearings to the knuckle, I think Grands and possibly Wronglers use the same setup.

I have a complete many-piece S-K Torx socket set and was annoyed to find that a Saab 9-3 uses an E-torx for the front caliper carrier to knuckle bolts that is larger than the largest in my set. So I had to drive to NAPA twice (once to order, once to pick up) to finish the job.

 

[n8n]

11 mm bolts are used to fasten intake manifolds on diesel engines.

11mm is a standard head size for DIN fasteners. For being a "standard" why are there three different columns in this chart?

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/metric-bolt-head-wrench-size-d_1458.html