Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

mechanomy.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 142 posts

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#31

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

legitster wrote: post #10
Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

Agreed! If you are a trade professional and regularly have tools crap out on you, that's one thing. But my tools are more likely to need replacing purely out of obsolescence than anything else. And having an overbuilt tool collecting dust is just as much a waste as throwing one away occasionally.

> "And having an overbuilt tool collecting dust is just as much a waste as throwing one away occasionally."

Is it?

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#32

Post by sliken »

not_the_fda wrote: post #16
Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

I strongly disagree. Cheap tools are a pain to use, and break when you need them most, and perpetuate throw away culture. If a good tool is too expensive to own find a rental or buy used, otherwise buy high quality. High quality is a joy to work with and will serve you a long time.

Indeed. I hate cheap tools, and they can damage not just themselves, but whatever you are working on.

Last thing I want to do is round an allen, strip a screw, or round a nut because a tool can't be bothered to be the right shape and be made out of the right materials to apply whatever torque/pressure is needed.

Good tools easily last decades, and I have some from my dad. Cheap tools often last a hard use or two, and sometimes less than a single hard use.

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#33

Post by slingnow »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #19
Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

And yet... The free tools that come included with that 3D printer you just bought will slip and ruin at least one of the hex nuts holding the FEP to the vat and you will have to spend nearly $100 for a new vat when you could have instead spent $45 on a set of Wera hex tools, not trashed the hex screw, and have a damn nice set of hex tools forever. (And your bike will thank you as well.)

Where exactly did OP advocate for using free tools that come included with your new [3D Printer / Furniture / etc]?

Also, anecdotally after 30+ years of using the free tools that come included with [whatever], I have never once ruined any of the hardware. The saying goes that a poor craftsman blames his tools, and that seems apt here.

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#34

Post by Rebelgecko »

animal_spirits wrote: post #21
not_the_fda wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly disagree. Cheap tools are a pain to use, and break when you need them most, and perpetuate throw away culture. If a good tool is too expensive to own find a rental or buy used, otherwise buy high quality. High quality is a joy to work with and will serve you a long time.

I follow this sentiment. Buy nice or buy twice

For me it's more of a pareto thing. 90% of the time, the Harbor Freight tool is gonna do the job. Even if I end up needing to buy a more expensive tool 10% of the time, I'm still coming out ahead. YMMV depending on how often you need to use various tools or if you're buying jack stands (or anything else where failure could lead to death/injury)

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#35

Post by cityofdelusion »

The bargain bin is fine, you just need to know what you're buying, and most people have no idea. For the engineering types here, you just need to remember one thing -- complexity scales fast. A bargain bin cast single piece wrench has no moving parts and only one failure point, the accuracy of that cast. If the price is low, its probably worth grabbing.

The bargain bin table saw on the other hand has multiple dimensions of accuracy, many joints that have to line up, many engineered materials with various degrees of quality (polycarbonate? ABS? cast aluminum?) along multiple interference angles. Not a good idea to throw that $129 special in your cart.

Remember that accuracy isn't cheap. Quality tool steel, dies, machining, QA -- it all costs money and is reflected in that price you're paying. Adjustable wrenches as show in the article are notorious for this problem. Backlash is one of those things that your average consumer doesn't think about. The engineer can do some quick thinking when shopping, "can I really manufacture XYZ part at scale and sell it (at retail!) for $1.00 and expect any degree of accuracy in that worm gear, on which this part relies on entirely for its usefulness?"

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#36

Post by soared »

Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

Until you use a cheap tool on your expensive bike, the allowance on the tool is poor and strips a screw, which can only be custom ordered direct from the manufacturer with a 2 month lead time, leaving your half-fixed bike completely useless.

This happened to me when bleeding my hydraulic brakes - the screw was a 2.5mm Allen and my keys were slightly smaller than 2.5 from being rounded over a short period of time. That rounded the screw, and my choice was to leave my brakes without fluid.. or drill out the screw!

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#37

Post by theiz »

I noticed the bargain bin in the hardware store often just gives you the illusion of buying cheap. In reality you just get crap for a price that is higher then the branded tools

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#38

Post by [deleted] »

animal_spirits wrote: post #21
not_the_fda wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly disagree. Cheap tools are a pain to use, and break when you need them most, and perpetuate throw away culture. If a good tool is too expensive to own find a rental or buy used, otherwise buy high quality. High quality is a joy to work with and will serve you a long time.

I follow this sentiment. Buy nice or buy twice

[deleted]

Re: RapidSlide Adjustable Wrench

#40

Post by quercusa »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #17
Eduardo3rd wrote: post #3

I've long subscribed to the philosophy that you should buy the cheapest tool you can find and use safely, use it until it wears out, breaks, or your skill surpasses the capability of the tool - and only then should you spend money on high quality tools. Too much money is thrown away in the name of "buy once, cry once" only to discover that you don't need the capabilities offered by the top of the line options.

This has been my mantra: "There have been 3 great joys in my life: sex, food and music. Of these music has proved the most reliable." but your comment makes me want to revise it: "There have been 4 great joys in my life: sex, food, music and good tools, and of these, music and good tools have competed fairly to be the most reliable."

I have several Estwing hand tools that never fail to delight me when using them.
Post reply on HN