Hand Tool Suppliers
 

Would appreciate details of preferred brands and suppliers in both N America and Europe please. Which brand do you prefer for which task etc. The popular sizes and variants used on Airbus and Boeing airframes...and tools metric or SAE for Euro and USA made aero engines of all types. Thanks.

SAE everything socket/spanner wise mate, certainly for Airbus/Boeing anyway. Craftsman is great value IMHO, and well made, often can be picked up on ebay.com, a fair few sellers ship tools to Europe.

Metric allen keys can be handy alongside SAE ones, and get feeler gauges marked in both, a good metric adjustable spanner is always handy.

Been a long time since I had my aircraft tools out, been a Flap Operator far too long :ugh:

Can you buy left handed ones?

No but you CAN BUY metric ones, the Bahco range have a scale on them in Metric...............

bet you now think oops...

Europe if you want a good cheap quality, and some may laugh......... Halfords professional range........... AND as a sweetener as an Aircraft Engineer you are entitled to a trade card so you can get them even cheaper.. Do not have any myself but a lot of friends have and swear by them..... look like Snap Off but at a fraction of the cost!

I still have a lot of King Dick tools too, bought 30 years ago and still going strong, the RAF use em too, Britool as well.

Ebay could be your friend, but check prices before bidding. seen people pay more for Snap On than I did from the dealer!!!

No laughing from me, i've got a fair few Halfords Pro tools in my works box as well as my home toolkit. Excellent value and good quality up there with Facom and Snap-On but cheaper by far.

Here in north america, snapon and mack are the high end. Proto and a few more follow. 80% of tool bags or boxes is often Craftsman, I have noticed an increase in quality over the last 15 years, bottom line is if it is craftsman and it breaks it gets replaced for free. There are plenty of made in china tools you will find helpfull too.

The one and only must snapon tool is their ratcheting screwdriver, I own a nice stubby 1/4 drive rachet too.

My box for line work, 1/4 deep and shallow all 12 pt only 2,4,8 " extensions, 1/2 deep up to 1 1/4 a few extensions. nice set of standard and stubby wrenches from ignition size to 1". allen wrenches Universal set and micro set. Small nut drivers and arrangement of screwdrivers (a/v). a 8-10" ford wrench (china). 6" twister (china), large medium and small set of adjustable pliers, A "beefer" large heavy flathead. Heavy snips and flush cutters for wire. I forgot the rest, plenty of home made stuff jumpers etc,a few daniels tools.

Most importantly a multi-tool and good ink pen.

" I still have a lot of King Dick tools too, bought 30 years ago and still going strong, the RAF use em too, Britool as well "

One can only commend your integrity with regard to the supplier and the hitherto unkown concept of actually purchasing tools from said supplier.....:E :D

Long term loan and for usage in another aviation sector would be my preferred definition therefore.....the more pedantic of m'learned friends may dispute this however....

Thanks for replies. So on the engine side are all the sizes SAE please...say for Rolls Royce? Thanks.

One tool i can never do without is a pair of Knippex pliers, the ones with the flat, smoth jaws. They are perfect for squeezing csk rivet upto 1/8 such as for anchor nuts etc.

Rollers are SAE.. Rumour some metric is on the Airbus, but I've yet to find it! Yeah, Facom, Britool and Halfords are found in my box. Haven't broken anything yet and Base allows the use of penentrating oil if the effers is siezed..

Leathermans on the line..:E Banned in the RAF.. Oh, no arrowed stuff in my box!:E

The fave tools at Luft Tech are the "stahlwille" brand. I have used most makes but my fave a brand from the USA which I just forget, will post up when I can remember. MATCO that's it son just walked in! The Craftsman are by far the best value I agree.

Nuts - that's not valid - if a few scratches on an adjustable qualify it as metric then I'll try scratching Saturn V on the back of my wheels. I'll let you know how it goes. :)

Also, note that the picture shows a right handed model.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...1_wo_c_big.jpg

The metric/imperial adjustable spanner.....

Comes from the handle length.... 6"/ 12" or 150 mm / 300 mm :E

No respectable technician or mechanic should use them over the correct size spanner / socket, except for a last resort (that includes a Boeing spanner too)...:E

Yeah Alber that did go thru my mind..but me and "forget" don't get on too well anyways..so I kept stumm. No need to look for trouble. :\

Odd as it may seem coming out if the RAF and actually purchasing a set from King Dick, I was a bit put out to find a lot of the content in the said set actually had the bl**dy Arrows on them!!!!!!!

yes, but the maximum jaw opening is the 35mm, as opposed to an A/F figure....... so it must be metric :ooh:

Remember Saturn V was designed to fall apart in stages, so I hope your car the wheels are on is British.. :ok:

Oh dear, oh dear. I know I should let this go - but I can't. DERG, don't you understand sarcasm and wind-ups, sometimes shown by :E

Do try and keep up. :hmm:

Right..got it
 

Gottya..it's the Brit humour thing. Apology offered.

Eh? You are Brit. You're a retired civil engineer. You've never had anything to do with aircraft. You're expecting a visit from RR legal department for all the bad-mouthing you've posted on the QF A-380. Is it coming back to you now?

This is probably the most versatile tool ever designed of course.....a shade remiss not to have it mentioned earlier in the thread....:E

Pen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My DNA
 

Well yes I was born here by default. In 1945 the Nazi beheaded my uncle just as the Russians were about to liberate my home town. So we took off and came to the UK.

Now as far as intimidation goes..well. Maybe best to ignore that part of your post. Could get nasty, and we don't want that. No..

As far as aviation is concerned maybe I threaten a few.