What Brand is most cost effective while quality?

[Techniker]

It *****, basically you work the time required and get paid what it pays because you are moving on. Rock and a hard place. Companies get away with it left and right, have been for decades. There were times where I went in to work and was there all day and never earned a dime for the day. *****.

That's true enough. It's the same story for medicine, though things have gotten a lot better than they used to be.

When I graduate, I will have ~$320,000 in debt- at 8.5% interest. During residency they pay ~$50,000/yr which may not sound that bad until you realize that you've spent 8 years in school and, instead of making money, have been racking up debt, and you're putting in 80+ hours a week. The great thing is that you get slammed by the Treasury. You have ~$2,000 a month to pay back in debt. You are classified as a student so they can work you more hours and below minimum wage and federal labor laws. But the Treasury taxes you as an employee and not a student. So you live off of $1,000 a month in NYC.

They can do it because you have to go through residency and it's just a temporary stage of your training.

-Techniker

 

[NY Old Guy]

That ***** yet the hospitals charge so much for care. I have a friend who recently had a premature baby that spent a month in intensive care in the hospital. The bill was $400,000, luckily his insurance paid 100%.

 

[stopdroplol]

I work in aviation

Good point about the cars getting more sophisticated, if that is the case techs pay will have to go up as their technical knowledge increases.

Can I ask what Degree & Certificates cost you 50k-80k? And did you start working immediately for a big carrier? I find that rapid advancement kinda hard to believe unless you're doing something very technical like avionics. Everything I've read says the big carriers are the only ones that pay that kind've money but you have to have 15, 20 years experience to even be considered.

Not saying I doubt you, just wanna have a better understanding of the industry. I plan on becoming and A&P in case my #1 career choice falls through (ATC). What would you say the modern degrees/certificates a new aeronautic mechanic should go for?

 

[pipsters]

Can I ask what Degree & Certificates cost you 50k-80k? And did you start working immediately for a big carrier? I find that rapid advancement kinda hard to believe unless you're doing something very technical like avionics. Everything I've read says the big carriers are the only ones that pay that kind've money but you have to have 15, 20 years experience to even be considered.

Not saying I doubt you, just wanna have a better understanding of the industry. I plan on becoming and A&P in case my #1 career choice falls through (ATC). What would you say the modern degrees/certificates a new aeronautic mechanic should go for?

I'm not a mechanic, I am a pilot . My company seriously can't hire enough mechanics though, they start and a month or two later they are gone and at Boeing making way more money.

ATC is a pretty sweet gig, federal job with federal pay (high) and retirement (pension). I kissed it off when they took a 30%+ paycut a few years ago but they undid that because of the quality of people applying. Now I'm out of the age by the time they call to interview. So that is out. I would encourage anyone who is interested to go for it though, it's a good gig.

 

[Techniker]

I wouldn't worry too much about ATC falling through. From what I've heard, the FAA is actually more worried (read: panicked) about losing their ATCs as more and more are approaching retirement and there isn't anybody to replace them. At one point, I thought they were actually offering incentives for people to delay retirement.

For you guys who have the opportunity to go into this professionally (ATC, A&P tech, auto tech, machinist, etc.) I really envy you. It looks like one heck of an interesting life.

-Techniker

 

[pipsters]

I wouldn't worry too much about ATC falling through. From what I've heard, the FAA is actually more worried (read: panicked) about losing their ATCs as more and more are approaching retirement and there isn't anybody to replace them. At one point, I thought they were actually offering incentives for people to delay retirement.

For you guys who have the opportunity to go into this professionally (ATC, A&P tech, auto tech, machinist, etc.) I really envy you. It looks like one heck of an interesting life.

-Techniker

The problem isn't getting hired it's passing the training. That being said it's still pretty difficult to get hired even now, there are a lot of college kids that majored/minored in it that go to the head of the line. And you are up against an age limit of 30 I believe to be in class.

 

[nflfreak43]

ok guys.. im saying this... im not gonna buy only one brand of stuff... there will be some of my Harbor Freight Stuff in my boxes... the stuff is pretty solid but idk bout every day 8-9 hours of use a day good.... havent tried it yet...

 

[c_mccann]

the Wiha screwdriver deals on Amazon are tough to beat, great product at Sears pricing

 

[bobemmerich]

Ok, when i wrenched for a living I bought into the Snap-On thing. Cost me about 30% of my pay a week. I sold them at a loss later on. My recommendation is buy the best quality stuff you can afford and upgrade from there. A decent 300 dollar starter set from Sears(CMan) is probably most of what you'll need to get started. Buy the specialty stuff as needed from there. Just my .02

 

[strnjss]

did anyone notice he said "cost effective"? Everyone's voting for Snap-On, which is about as far from cost effective as you can get!

I know people around here worship SO, but there are plenty of quality tools out there that are affordable.

Blue Point for instance is just about equal to SO in quality, but much cheaper simply because they're made in Taiwan. Carries the same warranty too!

 

[GeorgiaHybrid]

did anyone notice he said "cost effective"? Everyone's voting for Snap-On, which is about as far from cost effective as you can get!

I know people around here worship SO, but there are plenty of quality tools out there that are affordable.

Blue Point for instance is just about equal to SO in quality, but much cheaper simply because they're made in Taiwan. Carries the same warranty too!

Did you notice that we were telling him to take advantage of the 50% student discount while he could? There was a reason for that....

Using that discount with Matco, Cornwell, Mac, Sears and Snap-on will save a begining tech a LOT of cash.

 

[King Bojack]

While that seem like it would be the case it seems that the complete opposite is happening

As I'm in the Asset program too and am just getting started in the biz (finally finish up my internship hours for good tomorrow w/ just a few more classes) I see a HUGE problem with the independent shop/big indy chains/Jiffy Lube places holding wages/prices down for every one. The industry has competed itself into the dirt. It's like a grocery store w/ .00001% of the volume that would make up for it. The brutalness of the industry is what's keeping me on my toes concerning tool costs. I dreamt of a nice US made box and toolset of the nicest SO/Matco quality until I saw the prices. I think it went like this then I climbed aboard the C-Man/Taiwanese express.

 

[Chadro]

ok guys... in the Fall im going to be leaving Harbor Freight probably and moving to either St. Louis or Champagne, IL and going to school in the Ford ASSET program to become a Ford Technician.

I was wanting to know what brand of hand tools would be the most cost effective but still be quality and long lasting..

heres the options:

1. Stanley Tools (MAC)
2. Silver Eagle (MATCO)
3. Blue Point (SNAP-ON)
4. Kobalt
5. Mac
6. Matco
7. SNAP-ON

I didn't notice the St. Louis part of your thread. I know the guy that used to instruct for the Ford ASSET program at STLCC, he runs the diesel program now. If you haven't got your foot in the door yet, hurry! That program as well as the entire auto program at STLCC fills up VERY fast. So register for classes as soon as registration opens up. I took a couple of diesel classes there just so I could say I have a certificate but they don't fill up very fast, guess nobody wants to work on trucks.

We have a lot of great Ford dealers in metro St. Louis and they are almost all Union to my Knowledge. I'm not sure if your from around here but it is a pretty inexpensive place to live and the wages are good.

 

[shampoop]

Snapon while you have the 50% discount.

 

[grom]

Being a student with a discount myself, I have an opinion that many probably will not agree with here. Telling everyone right now, I'm not trying to ruffle feathers.

My best friend's father growing up owned his own auto shop. I helped out a lot in there, and the one thing I noticed is that he has one small snap on box from the 1950s, and snap on ratchets. This was a three bay shop with tools enough for each bay.

He had four large boxes. Each a Cman. Each was full of sockets, ratchets, wrenches, ratcheting wrenches, ect... pretty much staple stuff.

It was mostly Cman and SK stuff. And his SK stuff was all hand me down. He ran this shop very successfully for years and years. And this was on Long Island, NY, so vehicles have their share of rust and seized fasteners, ect.

I think many, many techs convince themselves that they need SO and anything else is garbage. Truth of the matter is that if you're a tech, your tools make you money. If you're blowing half the three quarters of your profit on it, you're going to be like a lot of techs out there complaining that tool prices are ridiculous and techs today can't make it. Put simply, that's BS.

The only SO thing I will buy are ratchets. I have Cman chrome sockets and SK impacts, my wrenches are a mix of both, and when it comes to stuff that is not precise, you have to remember its a hunk of steel poured into a mold and then stamped. If it's a punch... it's a g-damn punch. If it's pliers... really man, it's pliers. I'm going to school for diesel, and I have no problem getting pointed at and laughed in a shop for my "inferior" tools -- I'm smiling at the end of the day because I know it's my knowledge that gets the job done and my pocket is fuller because I didn't bury myself in debt just to slave for someone else.

Just my .02.

-Matt

 

[84bimmer]

IR also has a student program. They had some fliers floating around my school last semester. There were some great deals to be had there. 50% off.

Here's a link:

http://student.airtools-online.com/...4b0f2d6ee5e862b1c2cfd8c03180797ae1c76bb17ae7a

 

[sparky7]

A large amount our A&P's working on turbine equipment use Craftsman tools. With overtime these guys are making 6 figures, so it's not like they couldn't afford "the best".

Id like to know where A&P's are making 6 figures these days. Really.

 

[sberry]

I got to agree with some of the guys here, not that one isn't good but tools have gone so competitive in the last few years that with a little shopping and a grand a guy could have pretty significant head start and agree to buy some specialty stuff as its needed. Ain't no point getting something that spends 99.5 or more of its life in a box sucking up interest and depreciating. There is even stuff so cheap anymore that its almost disposable prices.

 

[jeffk14]

Id like to know where A&P's are making 6 figures these days. Really.

The top 3 or 4 carriers are topping out AMT's in the low-to-mid $40's per hour. If the UPS mechanics ratify their latest contract offering, they'll be bumping right at $50-per in a couple of years. Combine that with a moderate amount of overtime (not to mention doubletime) and well over $100K per year is easily doable.

 

[jeffk14]

I got to agree with some of the guys here, not that one isn't good but tools have gone so competitive in the last few years that with a little shopping and a grand a guy could have pretty significant head start and agree to buy some specialty stuff as its needed. Ain't no point getting something that spends 99.5 or more of its life in a box sucking up interest and depreciating. There is even stuff so cheap anymore that its almost disposable prices.

And some of that stuff ain't half bad.

 

[johnsdeere850j]

And some of that stuff ain't half bad.

I buy cheap craftsman stuff almost 95% of my stuff is, have been for years. And to this day, my co-workers find some way to crack up laughing at me about it. I don't care though. Honestly I think a lot of the people buying truck brand stuff is the peer pressure from other mechanics. Thats my theory...

 

[shampoop]

Gearwrench and channellock come to mind.

 

[sberry]

And some of that stuff ain't half bad.

I have been using more and more of it for a quite a while, its not a gut wrenching decision to add on some extra stuff and it works. Its really some of the most profitable tools I own.