I'm in the market for a good yet reasonably priced 3/8" Drive Air Impact
Ratchet and 3/8" Impact Gun, in lieu of the gun maybe a butterfly impact.

Who makes a ratchet that you don't have to use to break loose the bolt
first before hitting the air?

Is any of the new Porter Cable Air Tools any good? Any "sleepers" out there
or really good old tools to look for that might be worth rebuilding?

Thanks guys.
Marty

Who makes a ratchet that you don't have to use to break loose the bolt
first before hitting the air?

Carefull here - the sword cuts both ways. Have you ever had an air ratchet
pin your hand against something?

Look for St.Louis Pneumatic, they are out of business but lots of stock
around. Good Stuff!

"Marty Escarcega" wrote in message
...
I'm in the market for a good yet reasonably priced 3/8" Drive Air Impact
Ratchet and 3/8" Impact Gun, in lieu of the gun maybe a butterfly impact.

Who makes a ratchet that you don't have to use to break loose the bolt
first before hitting the air?

Is any of the new Porter Cable Air Tools any good? Any "sleepers" out
there
or really good old tools to look for that might be worth rebuilding?

Thanks guys.
Marty

In article , Marty Escarcega says...

I'm in the market for a good yet reasonably priced 3/8" Drive Air Impact
Ratchet and 3/8" Impact Gun, in lieu of the gun maybe a butterfly impact.

I recently bought a 3/8 drive butterfly impact from Home Desperate,
on an impulse buy.

I never succumb to impulse buying, and if so, never at home
despot.

Anyway that thing was about thirty bucks (store brand) and
I've used it more in the past few months than I would have
imagined. Really handy.

Next stop, air operated cutoff tool.

Jim

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

Probably the best U.S. made air tools are the ARO brand. I don't think I've
ever seen what was in their entire product line. The ARO tools were used in
major manufacturing facilities such as aircraft, rail, and trucking.

Hutchins was another very good name, but I think most of their products were
sanders.

Chicago Pneumatic CP was another of the best, but they've gotten
competitively cheaper, and the same has taken place with Ingersol Rand.
In older air tools, these brands were very well built with high grade
materials.

Florida Pneumatic were good also, but I think these were made in Japan,
which isn't bad, as we've seen that Japanese products are good quality too.
These might be considered commercial duty, rather than industrial duty
rated. They were popular in body shops and small commercial operations.

The butterfly impacts are really handy, and some companies such as CP
produced a right angle adapter for them.

Some brands like Rodac were the early versions of generic copies of everone
else's tools and thay were decent, but not close to industrial duty tools.

WB
............

"Marty Escarcega" wrote in message
...
I'm in the market for a good yet reasonably priced 3/8" Drive Air Impact
Ratchet and 3/8" Impact Gun, in lieu of the gun maybe a butterfly impact.

Who makes a ratchet that you don't have to use to break loose the bolt
first before hitting the air?

Is any of the new Porter Cable Air Tools any good? Any "sleepers" out
there
or really good old tools to look for that might be worth rebuilding?

Thanks guys.
Marty

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message y.com...
Who makes a ratchet that you don't have to use to break loose the bolt
first before hitting the air?

Carefull here - the sword cuts both ways. Have you ever had an air ratchet
pin your hand against something?


Ingersol Rand used to make a ratchet they called the Knuckle-Saver.
Had a clutch on it so your hand wouldn't get smashed. It was a
brilliant idea and worked well, I wouldn't trade mine for anything.
One reason you're using one of these things is close quarters work, so
the clutch helps a lot. Doesn't do much for ordinary assembly work,
but doesn't hurt either.

Paul

(Paul Amaranth) wrote in
om:

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
y.com...
Who makes a ratchet that you don't have to use to break loose the
bolt first before hitting the air?

Carefull here - the sword cuts both ways. Have you ever had an air
ratchet pin your hand against something?


Ingersol Rand used to make a ratchet they called the Knuckle-Saver.
Had a clutch on it so your hand wouldn't get smashed. It was a
brilliant idea and worked well, I wouldn't trade mine for anything.
One reason you're using one of these things is close quarters work, so
the clutch helps a lot. Doesn't do much for ordinary assembly work,
but doesn't hurt either.

Paul


Thanks Paul, recall the model number on it?

"Marty Escarcega" wrote in message
Who makes a ratchet that you don't have to use to break loose the
bolt first before hitting the air?

I bought an I-R 3/8" drive air ratchet about 15 years ago, around $100,
whatever that translates to today.

I don't really understand your question about an impact ratchet, maybe I'm
just ignorant but this one does not have a free-running impact. In other
words if you put it on a stuck bolt, grip it tight and pull the trigger it
will just sit there and hiss, no impact.

The way it seems to work well as an impact wrench is to pull the trigger and
then slowly sweep the tool in the opposite direction of the fastener you
want to turn. Each time it passes one of the ratchet 'click's the impact
will cycle and give a good kick to the spindle.

Somtimes I'll have to repeat this a bunch of times - let go of trigger,
reposition tool, pull trigger and start another sweep.

Usually it's easier to just use a wrench or use it as wrench. Whole bit is
relevant only to tight access situations.

Its torque is pretty good and indeed many times it has pinned my hand with
the trigger stuck on...

I like the 3/8" air ratchet for driving Greenlee KO punches, with a 1"
socket, takes the work out of punching 2" holes in 14 gage steel wireway.
Earplugs mandatory.

Also have the 1/4" I-R. Nice tools.

If there's such a thing as an impact air ratchet please educate me.

Bob

On Mon, 09 Feb 2004 13:53:31 GMT, Marty Escarcega
wrote:

I'm in the market for a good yet reasonably priced 3/8" Drive Air Impact
Ratchet and 3/8" Impact Gun, in lieu of the gun maybe a butterfly impact.

Who makes a ratchet that you don't have to use to break loose the bolt
first before hitting the air?

Is any of the new Porter Cable Air Tools any good? Any "sleepers" out there
or really good old tools to look for that might be worth rebuilding?

Thanks guys.
Marty

Good old tools:

Snap-On used to sell a chrome-plated version of the generic air
ratchet under the Blue Point label. It was much better than the
Cheapistan knock offs. I used mine for years and then had it rebuilt
(by Snap-On) right before deciding to get out of the business. I'm
sort of sorry I sold it.

The regular Snap-On air ratchets vary in quality over the years- in
this case bigger is better.

Snap-On's factory service was outstanding- one low flat fee covered an
entire rebuild, whatever it took to make the tool like new.

-Carl

Marty Escarcega wrote in message .. .
(Paul Amaranth) wrote in
om:

"Tom Gardner" wrote in message
y.com...
Who makes a ratchet that you don't have to use to break loose the
bolt first before hitting the air?

Carefull here - the sword cuts both ways. Have you ever had an air
ratchet pin your hand against something?


Ingersol Rand used to make a ratchet they called the Knuckle-Saver.
Had a clutch on it so your hand wouldn't get smashed. It was a
brilliant idea and worked well, I wouldn't trade mine for anything.
One reason you're using one of these things is close quarters work, so
the clutch helps a lot. Doesn't do much for ordinary assembly work,
but doesn't hurt either.

Paul


Thanks Paul, recall the model number on it?

Hi Marty,

I went and looked, it's a Model 110. It was Patent Pending when I got
it maybe 10 years ago.

Paul

On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 12:32:56 GMT, Carl Byrns
wrote:



Snap-On used to sell a chrome-plated version of the generic air
ratchet under the Blue Point label. It was much better than the
Cheapistan knock offs. I used mine for years and then had it rebuilt
(by Snap-On) right before deciding to get out of the business. I'm
sort of sorry I sold it.

The regular Snap-On air ratchets vary in quality over the years- in
this case bigger is better.

Snap-On's factory service was outstanding- one low flat fee covered an
entire rebuild, whatever it took to make the tool like new.

-Carl

Amen to that! I borrowed a honking big Snap-On from a friend. It would
loosen lug nuts on a pickup. It would easily twist off 1/4" bolts.

Toolbert wrote:

If there's such a thing as an impact air ratchet please educate me.

K&E Tools makes an impact air ratchet they call the Ratchepact:
http://www.mytoolstore.com/ke/kw1175.html. I have no idea how well it
works; I came across the web page while searching for something else.

--

Steve