On Mon, 15 May 2017 06:22:47 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Mon, 15 May 2017 05:12:03 -0700 (PDT), robobass
wrote:

I presented this badly. what I mean to say is that with lots of things I buy, I encounter incredibly stupid design decisions. Maybe it makes the product look better, or seem better at first glance, but once you use the product it is quickly obvious that functionality was not the priority.

I have a feeling that many 'sets' are put together by people who have
no idea of their use or practicality of the design, as you said.

A 14mm socket will double for 9/16" if used on SAE hardware.

Larger sizes, 15 17 19 are common, but I had to buy a 18mm for use on
some of the first Chevy front ends back in the early '80s.

My parents bought a Craftsman rollaway toolset when I got my diploma
from UTI in '72. In it was a set like you show, but the main
difference was the spinner. It had a screwdriver handle with a 1/4"
square end. The thing I really liked about that set was the spinner
had an inset 1/4" square socket in the back. I can't tell you how
many times I praised the guy who thought that up, because running
hard-to-spin nuts down or properly torquing hardware with the spinner
handle is much harder with a spinner and quite easy with the ratchet
on the back end. It's one of the few things I praised Crapsman for,
because a decade later, I had lost a literal pound of flesh and bucket
of blood from their tools disintegrating within my grasp as I worked.
At that point, I was using power tools only half the time since some
of the angles you work at in the auto industry prevents you from
seeing the bolt you're working on and there's no room for power. So,
when you're giving it everything you have and the tool breaks, your
hands move quickly into sharp and immovable objects, before you can
pull them back. I had one lady come into the shop one day while I was
putting gauze on my hand and heard her scream to the manager about the
blood on the engine of her car. He found me in the bathroom with the
first aid kit open and tols her "He'll wipe it off after he's done
treating his wound." and he walked away. I looked up, she looked
away, and we heard no more screeching that day. (Until I got to Searz
and slammed the broken ratchet down on the counter with my good hand.)
That was one day I got no **** from them about "intentionally breaking
tools". How's that for the Searz "Satisfaction Guarantee"?


You were obviously not using the right tools. In over 25 years of
using mostly Craftsman tools in the trade I don't think I broke more
than 2 or 3 sockets, no extensions, ratchets, or "johnson bars". I
always used the largest drive that would do the job if things looked
like they would get tough. I still have the vast majority of my
Craftsman tools purchaced in 1969. 1/4 inch drive tools were only used
for bench work on alternators and starters and other similar stuff, or
in cramped quarters under the dash, etc. 3/8 for all the normal little
stuff, and almost exclusively 1/2 inch on all chassis stuff.

Gotta use the right tools for the job. A classmate of mine bought
"snap-off" tools at the same time I bough my Craftsman, and he had
replaced well over half by the time he finished his apprenticeship.
The only advantage to the SO tools was "Snappy" came to the shop in
his shiny truck aevery week or two to replace the broken crap, where I
had to drive to sears every 6 months to 2 years.

When I went to Searz to replace that special spinner, they tried to
foist off a single ended POS on me. I went to the manager at that
Sears store and he wouln't budge, saying "We don't make those any
more. Take it or leave it." Since he also had not given me a money
back offer, I took it to Corporate. 20 minutes later, I finally got a
guy from India on the Searz Customer Service line (one of the earliest
displays of outsourcing CS I had seen) who finally had a check for $12
cut for me. I looked high and low for that replacement and only one
company made them, Carlyle. Almost a 3 weeks later, I found it and
picked one up at NAPA Auto Parts. NM64 is the part number, in case
anyone is interested. (Hmm, now CHT DH14, but NM64 gets you there.)

I had trouble with the name "spinner handle", as half the mfgrs call
the brace shape their spinner and half called them "speed handles".

Williams, SK and Proto still make "fat handle extensions" in the guize
of nut-spinners. Personally, I use extentions for extensions, and a
"door knob" ratchet for a spinner. My "door knob" for the last 50
years has been an SK. I just bought a 3/8 and a 1/2 inch from Princess
Auto a few years ago.

Some designs just WORK! So there's the other half of this story, Rob.
Yup.