TTT -- The Tool Thread (23 Viewers)

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One more thought.
How important do you think a starter kit needs the SAE. Most of what is out there has both. Most of what I/we work on is metric.
I personally would rather have a few more 10mm pieces than SAE.
Solid point here. The one "stocking stuffer" you may want to get him is the 10mm socket set from harbor freight that has all sorts of 10mm bits and pieces that get into/out of all manner of sticky situations.
 
Solid point here. The one "stocking stuffer" you may want to get him is the 10mm socket set from harbor freight that has all sorts of 10mm bits and pieces that get into/out of all manner of sticky situations.
Good idea. Had to get the same thing last year myself. And already lost two of them. 🤣
 
One more thought.
How important do you think a starter kit needs the SAE. Most of what is out there has both. Most of what I/we work on is metric.
I personally would rather have a few more 10mm pieces than SAE.

Is he working on just one thing (a japanese car/truck) or random house stuff, random cars/trucks, etc.? Americans should have both metric and SAE. You can sometimes get by with just SAE one or the other, but you need both.

Many american vehicles now a days have metric and sae fasteners in them. Not to mention anything else not related to cars he may use the tools for.
 
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Is he working on just one thing (a japanese car/truck) or random house stuff, random cars/trucks, etc.? Americans should have both metric and SAE. You can sometimes get by with just SAE, but you need both.

Many american vehicles now a days have metric and sae fasteners in them. Not to mention anything else not related to cars he may use the tools for.
This comment about domestic vehicles is DEFINITELY true. Keeping things straight forward while trying to keep your car on the road and making it as simple as possible :confused:o_O:banghead: is how the engineers in Michigan typically do things IME.

Nothing like rounding out a 12mm bolt when you JUST used your 1/2" a moment before on a neighboring fastener...so I've heard anyways.
 
Is he working on just one thing (a japanese car/truck) or random house stuff, random cars/trucks, etc.? Americans should have both metric and SAE. You can sometimes get by with just SAE one or the other, but you need both.

Many american vehicles now a days have metric and sae fasteners in them. Not to mention anything else not related to cars he may use the tools for.
For all I know it is just a Scion FRS. I am leaning towards the all inclusive tool world. Even though I use very few SAE.
The box mentioned earlier from HomeDepot might fit the bill. Plus some extra stuff.
 
Get a metric and sae combined kit. That can be the master kit for all needs. As he goes on, he’ll find out what’s really needed for the car and can buy items for a separate kit to keep in it, if he wants.
 
One more thought.
How important do you think a starter kit needs the SAE. Most of what is out there has both. Most of what I/we work on is metric.
I personally would rather have a few more 10mm pieces than SAE.

I think you'll have a hard time finding a starter kit that is purely metric, especially in the land of the brave, and the home of the freedom unit 😀

It's near impossible to find that sort of kit in a country using the metric system for the last 50 years, can't imagine you'll have much luck in USA.
I could be wrong, but I'd guess if you want purely metric, you'll have to piece a collection together with smaller metric kits, or toss the SAE stuff out of the kit
 
I think you'll have a hard time finding a starter kit that is purely metric, especially in the land of the brave, and the home of the freedom unit 😀

It's near impossible to find that sort of kit in a country using the metric system for the last 50 years, can't imagine you'll have much luck in USA.
I could be wrong, but I'd guess if you want purely metric, you'll have to piece a collection together with smaller metric kits, or toss the SAE stuff out of the kit
Finding pure metic is rare and if you factor in the cost of individual pieces, it favors the kit easily.
 
I purchased a husky plastic box kit a few years ago to keep in my truck / for camping and wheeling trips. It would make a great starter kit as well.

Pretty much the same as what Del posted but husky brand.

 
I purchased a husky plastic box kit a few years ago to keep in my truck / for camping and wheeling trips. It would make a great starter kit as well.

Pretty much the same as what Del posted but husky brand.


I bought this exact kit when I flew into TX and drove my 60 back. Decent kit.
 
That's a lot of tools to ride around with. Are you planning on breaking that many things while driving, or just being a good neighbor?
 
That's a lot of tools to ride around with. Are you planning on breaking that many things while driving, or just being a good neighbor?

Lmao, are you serious? You've never had a break down on a road trip and had to buy hella expensive, and s***ty, tools at an autozone before have you.
 
nope
 
I started with a similar Craftsmen tool set in 9th grade. I already had a bunch of single tools my father told me to "put this in your box and take care of it" for years. I'd go with that kit as a starter, if he is into it he will soon get the tool bug and start buying his own. A kid is going to imitate what he sees at home to a degree. Personally, I hand no chance at not being a gearhead. My father was a gear head to the core. Raised on a farm, was ice racing Indians in his teens. I spent my youth going to speed shops, race tracks and private garages.

He who dies with the most tools wins :)

Heather and I have talked about it, what if I dropped dead tomorrow. What to do with everything, it's value? If Justin does not want to carry on she'll be calling Dave Rushing first :)
 
Apparently Tractor Supply has this set for $40.
IMG_0910.jpeg
 
@NCFJ asked recently about CAD recommendations and my response was "I've used every one (the commercial engineering ones anyway) and they all suck".

When the greater engineering community started to embrace CADD, about 35 years ago, it was met with great resistance, simply because it just wasn't faster than drawing on the board. To be clear about this, I started drawing, and paying my way doing it, in 1978. I started with CADD, using both Autocad V10 and HewlettPackard ME10 at the same time, in 1989. I taught the drafting course (lecture and lab) during my (2nd) engineering degree, at UNCC. I've been employed as a consulting designer/engineer in one capacity or other for going on 40 years.

I can still draw anything faster by hand than I can using any drawing/design software. The first time. Where the software is faster than anyone's hand is when you have to make changes, or copy something. No one can match the computer's speed then. But, you have to decide how much your time is worth. When I was drawing professionally, both as a design draftsman and engineer, the drawing was secondary to the job; getting the information out in a hurry was the goal. That's not something anyone not working in an engineering office needs to be concerned about. Even someone running a business who occasionally needs a drawing. IMHO.

I have no experience with the hobby versions, just because always had the heavy duty ones at hand.

Along with the far too complicated cascading menus (ala ProE) and forever expanding recurring dues (ala AutoDesk) for the privilege of using someone's software is the almost complete lack of compatibility across platforms (less of a concern for home users, but still a problem in my mind).

My suggestion was to grab a copy of Vellum (Google: Burt Rutan) and go to work. Since it's no longer current (the current version is cheekily called Graphite), it's cheap and it's the easiest and most natural program I've ever seen. However, Vellum's hard to find (I looked, since I snagged my copy about 20 years ago) and couldn't find one floating around. I did find this, though:
1701122695320.png


Comes highly recommended by our friends across the pond, where there's a large model making community, for which there are no drawings, so if you're building something, you have to design it yourself. As a bonus, they have a full license option. That alone makes it interesting for me.

IMO, there's nothing in the DesignPro that's worth $500 over the Atom3D. And no one who's not being paid to draw "needs" to spend $1000+ on drafting software...and if you are being paid to draw, you need software that's likely to cost way more than $1000.

FWIW
 
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Fusion 360 is free for hobby and light business use. Hard to beat it imo.
 

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