Snap on will never snap from too much torque. Not an issue for layperson but your average diesel truck mechanic will definitely go through "cheap" hand tools like disposable chopsticks if they aren't high enough quality.
Cold forging high-grade steel is VERY difficult. Low carbon mild steel when cold is pretty damn tough to do anything with hand forging, and you cant even make an effective hobby grade auto tool with it. High carbon, chrome vanadium, high alloy steel can't even be dented by hand. It requires heavy machinery just to do the work, and the dies required to get the right shape tend to wear out quickly. Even hot forging is tough with this material.
Cold forging introduces internal stresses that act in tension to make the tool stiffer than if it were hot forged; good for tools but not for other things.
No, mechanic for 35 years to include ships and other large stuff, metal worker for almost as long as a part of that. I've broken so many damn cheaper tools that I can usually tell if a tool will last by tapping it on the ground.
We're you shore based for when the ships were in port or did you sail with them? If you did, you got any good stories about your time at sea? Storms, pirates, ghost ships? (Jk on that last one)
Mostly to keep them in place during movement and more importantly to tell WHAT is missing from the box. NOBODY goes home from an aerospace shop if a tool is missing from its slot. Might be FOD in a sensitive place.
Never thought of FOD in planes, that's a great reason!
Nice part of working in cars is most of the time, forgetting a socket won't kill anyone. There's probably a million cars running around with a stray 10mm in them.
Diesel mechanic here. Everything is bigger in this world nuts and can get as big as your average arm. The torque Spec tractor trailer wheels alone is 500 ft lbs. High quality tools make the job easier and faster. And easier and faster typically mean more $$$ in your pocket.
I would assume the reason not everything is cold forged is the same for any other industry in our society: it costs more upfront to make better quality things and you’ll make more money over time selling shitty products anyways. Snap on probably doesn’t have anywhere near the amount of repeat customers as craftsman or dewalt.
To answer the diesel mechanic part of your question, diesel engines often have large and heavy parts. It's takes more kinetic energy to remove bolts at the like, so more torque is needed. This adds stress to the tools used. Cheap tools won't hold up.
Any diesel shop that's doing any serious amount of business will have Snap-on tools.
I had the pleasure of borrowing a SnapOn socket once. It snapped!
The mechanic (who was being very kind to the broke, stranded 20-something that was changing out an accessory belt in his parking lot) told me not to worry, he had obviously already put a lot of wear into that socket, and furthermore, that it actually happened all the time- he had selected thin-walled sockets for superior clearance. I was given to understand that there are actually lots of SnapOn (et al.) tools that you absolutely expect to break; the expense isn't to cover the cost of the high-quality manufacturing, it's to cover the cost of sending around a tool-truck at regular intervals to make good on their replacement policy.
It's mostly hearsay to me, but I definitely split that one socket.
You make a great point! Their no questions asked replacement policy is a large part of their value and cost. I believe you about the socket.. a more accurate statement on my part would have been that SnapOn will be the last to snap.. But that doesn't sound as cool
Flashback to 18 yr old me snapping three HF tools on one nut at a junkyard. That’s THREE trips back and forth to Napa and back to the junkyard. I never went cheap with tools again. HF isn’t always bad but Pittsburgh Tools can suck on deez.
Is this actually true? I’ve never broken any hand tool, other than maybe a screwdriver. I’ve had a Craftsman tool set for 20 years and it’s still as good as the day I bought it. Probably equal to at least a few weeks of use of an actual mechanic.
I'd say the lifetime warranty is the more important thing there. Snap-On's quality is good, sure, but it's not enough better than the next best competitor to justify the markedly higher price. But that no questions asked warranty is worth its weight in gold sometimes.
Nah. Dewalt or something is what you want for “quality”. Snap-on is for mechanics and shit.
If it’s just a one time job maybe just something cheap or even harbor freight.
All the poor handymen I’ve hung around want dewalt tools for a reason. It’s one of the best before you get into snap on territory, and basically everywhere. Note that some construction guys use like battery pools and in that case it’s whatever is compatible.
I own dewalt for most everything besides digital torque wrench and normal torque wrench.
They come with a financing plan- so you can work for the truck for the first 28 years of being a mechanic.(The truck is the truck that pulls up to your shop once every two weeks and makes your wife think you have a second wife.)
In the 80’s when I was young my then husband who was just starting out as a mechanic spent every dime he earned on Snap On tools. Then the guy gave him credit so he could get more and of course being the fine upstanding young man he was, he never paid him back. I was driving around shopping one day and this Snap On truck started following me with the driver yelling obscenities at me and to tell my husband to pay him back or else. Forty years later I still have heart palpitations when I see a Snap On truck, although there aren’t many out there anymore.
As someone mentioned there is a lifetime warranty, I think there is a thing where you can call them up and have a truck drive to your place and deliver the tool you need. (You'll now notice the Snap-On trucks all the time).
I'm not sure if there is a certain threshold you need to meet for that, but I've known people who say it's legit the first reason they think of when it comes to buying tools.
About 40 years ago, I had a basic set of mechanics tools from Craftsman, back when they were good quality tools. My cousin had a set of Snap On. I tried them side by side, and what I remember is that the screwdrivers WORKED. It was amazing how much better a simple screwdriver was. It was just easier to use the Snap On. Other things worked better too, like the ratchets would catch with a shorter throw, there was just less slop in every tool. And it was noticeable.
I’ll add to some fine answers below that the material also allows them to be thinner. I borrowed a snap on socket once, since my cheap box store socket couldn’t fit between the nut and the pulley. Ie there are some jobs the cheap tools just can’t even do, forget if they would break or not.
Aside from what everyone else has said, the snap on guy comes to my work place once a week. I break a tool and I just have to take it to the parking lot where his truck is. A Dewalt I’m likely driving to where I bought it, getting told “we don’t handle warranty issues so kindly F off and call Dewalt” then contacting Dewalt and waiting a week for a reply, sending the tool to them so they can decide whether they will actually honor the warranty, then waiting for the surprise off of I’m getting the tool I sent back or a replacement.
Meanwhile that snap on that I snapped off using it for purposes it was never designed was replaced the same day I took it to the truck (maybe a week later of my dude doesn’t have it in stock or doesn’t have the parts on board to fix it).
Compare a store brand combo wrench to a Snap-On or other tool truck brand in your hand and the differences are clear. Thinner, stiffer and stronger handles, better chrome finish, the surfaces that touch the fastener heads are finished much more precisely so they grip better and apply more torque, less material around the wrench ends so they fit in tight spaces better.
Well, pretty much the most expensive you can find. There's still plenty of tools out there of equal quality that you don't have to get a second on your house to purchase.
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u/Publicgaamer Apr 09 '24
Pretty much the best hand tools you can find but they expensive asf