[Where do Dewalt Mechanic Tools rank?]

On 6/5/2020 at 4:14 AM, paulengr said:

SBD sells Stanley as a “budget” brand and Dewalt as “premium”. Husky is also “budget”. First can you return broken ones for replacement? You can even return Harbor Freight tools. If not, skip it. I know you can return Husky and Dewalt. Not sure on Stanley.

I’ll add more. First don’t ignore Harbor Freight or Northern. HF used to be Chinese junk. It’s fairly respectable now. Northern is “rich rednecks”. So just not HF, Lowe’s carries Craftsman which is another Stanley/Dewalt brand positioned midway between them. Husky is partly made by SBD, too. Let’s not forget Neiko and Tekton which are essentially Amazon house brands. I’d say they are midrange too. No issues with them either.

You can save money on “sets” but they often give you a lot of poor quality tools in a set so skip these. Sorry that’s just how it is. Plus you get that stupid giant blow molded box that takes up tons of space and is utter garbage.

Second here is the problem. You can never have enough tools. You will always run into some strange fastener or special situation. Start small with say just a good 3/8” socket set, an adjustable wrench, some screw drivers. Then as you get comfortable and need more, get more. Set a monthly budget. Put a running list on your phone. As you run into situations add things to your list. Then you can shop around and get a little at a time. You save money buying quality and getting just what you need, not a bunch of crappy tools and oddball bits you never use.

Buy six point sockets. 12 points are easier to get on but on bad/stripped nuts six point sockets grip better. This separates a lot of cheap tools from cheap but good quality. Next we have the laser/painted/etched vs stamped question on the labels. If you can get it go with stamped but this is rare. ALL other options no matter what they say come right off if the socket runs on something. They talk up their laser etched stuff but none of my high end socket labels that are not stamped are visible after six months.’Finally impact vs nonimpact. Nonimpact sockets are thinner and get in tight spaces better. Impact sockets are almost indestructible. If you ever intend on getting an impact wrench just buy the impact sockets and adapters now. They will be black oxide, ugly as sin, and tough as nails. So very good for what they are meant for.

In terms of ratchets this is the money spot. Shop around. Try them out. Look at the size of the head (thinner is better but raises price). Swivels can be nice but may make it harder to use. Extending handles are nice. There are dual head 3/8 & 1/4” heads. Handy. I have one. It does bulk it up though. Also get at least one breaker bar, longer is better. Get it I the biggest size sockets you use. You can always adapter down. Get an extension assortment. Ratcheting is nice...basically makes it a ratchet. Everything is interchangeable so maybe buy them all separate. Usually the ratchets that come in sets are crap. Sorry that’s just how it is.

In wrenches you want combination wrenches unless you have some special needs. It’s more expensive but get ratcheting box ends now and thank me later. You will be glad you did. One of the interesting sets if you want to explore is Klein and Harbor Freight make double box end wrenches where just 4-5 have most sizes. Gearwrench is an American (Apex Tool Group) brand, mostly American made. While you are at it Crescent is a sister company/brand and makes great adjustable wrenches and pliers.

Between the above three you can easily stay under $150 and have good quality stuff. Buy socket strips at HD and buy a tool box. On the wrenches I love a wrench roll. The Dickies brand one is really nice. I have both sizes but I only use the large. It holds all my wrenches SAE and metric with room to spare. In terms of tool boxes/bags I do electrical work so I have the electrician open top 12x12 bag. Fully loaded it’s almost uncomfortable to carry. Those giant 24” mechanics bags are insane. I have one strictly for my 1” to 2” wrenches. The sockets all fit in two Dewalt medium Toughsystem boxes. One for 1/4 and 3/8, one for 1/2” with impact wrenches in each plus a lot of adapters, Tory bits, hex bits, etc. Electrical service work requires an insane amount of tools, more than mechanics. We just don’t need as many really large tools.

In screwdrivers they sell these huge sets but the reality is you need one 1/4” or 3/8” “beater” (Milwaukee or Dewalt impact is better), one 1/4” flat blade decent length, a good length #2 Phillips, maybe stubbies but a small specialty one is better, and a set of “precision” screwdrivers. Hardened tips can’t be beat so this is where Wiha, Milwaukee, Dewalt are all you need to look at. Harbor Freight has some good ones too. Get one of those Allen (hex) sets too. There are excellent and American made ones.

Then there are regular, needle nose and maybe lineman’s pliers and diagonals. Again Crescent is a good name and reasonably priced without going German.

 

[Miter saw keeps tripping breaker]

On 4/19/2019 at 6:17 PM, paulengr said:

First you confirmed a “15 A” breaker trips at 12 A if you give it long enough. Hence “continuous”
vs. noncontinuous loads. Continuous is defined as 3+ hours. See this from the horses mouth:

https://www.ul.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/CircuitBreaker_MG.pdf

See section 38. Miniature molded case breakers under 250 V cannot be 100% rated at 15 A.

For normal cases the “15 A” rating applies. It might take 3 hours (Code maximum) to trip at 80% but it will get there eventually. I can personally confirm some brands are more aggressive about the 80% rule than others. See for instance the trip curves for Siemens QPs used in residential panels:

https://w3.usa.siemens.com/download-center/default.aspx?pos=details_mobile&fct=downloadasset&assetid=2218136&page=1&search_str=&languagefilter=&displayfiltercolumn=&displayfiltervalue=&language=en&datapool=&sortcolumn=&sortorder=ascending&

The curve only goes to 10,000 seconds but it is obviously trending towards tripping at 80% eventually. This is one of the least aggressive breakers out there as far as the 80% rule,

The list I posted is for AFCI, not GFCI. Since new construction AFCI must be combination (AFCI+GFCI) and trust me, you want that version of you must install an AFCI, it sort of back doors GFCI into areas most people never considered. The general list for GFCI is bathrooms, garage and outbuildings, outside receptacles, unfinished basements and crawl spaces, kitchens, laundry, wet bars, and around pools. As the commenter said, almost any place associated with water or moisture. But there are almost more exceptions than rules for each of these so don’t take this list as gospel without reading the Code closely. For instance in kitchens it is for receptacles feeding a dishwasher, countertop areas, and “within six feet of a sink”. Not required elsewhere such as a refrigerator (if more than six feet from the sink) or over the counter microwaves. So you need both.


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