Buying New Tools

[Oldelectronics]

As its not always easy to get spanners etc as the days of BA sizes are I assume gone So I use the internet for these purchases. Thats unless I can get it from Maplins whose quality seems excellent.I have always tried to buy good tools whatever I need them for use on anything from radios to motorbikes sometimes a good socket can be nearly as much as a cheap set.I have just ordered a 6BA nut driver which was just over £8 with free postage and I am happy to pay for a quality item made in the UK. Does anyone else wonder though how some Far Eastern company's make a profit with nut drivers for a 5mm at just over a pound and postage less than 20p?admittedly they are metric but a lot are advertised as 5mm/6BA has anyone tried tools from there ?

[paulsherwin]

See this thread on cheap Chinese RJ45 crimping tools: https://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/...d.php?t=110633

I continue to be very satisfied with mine. Not all cheap tools are junk (though obviously some of them are).

[Oldelectronics]

I see your point Paul I think Merlinmaxwell's comment was also very valid.

Kev

[G6Tanuki]

My approach is to buy a middle-of-the-range set of something like nut-drivers or Torx-bits - my last one was a "Kamasa" brand one from TK-Maxx for half the officially-recommended price - and supplement it by buying 2 or 3 really high-quality bits/runners/whatever in the most-frequently-used sizes from one of the top-end brands (I like Xcelite stuff).
That way you get the full range of sizes - so you've always got something which will fit a 7MM bolt-head if you're unlucky to ever come across one - but the sizes you use a lot are good quality.

This "hybrid" approach also means less of a sense of loss when half an hour into a trip you remember you left the nut-driver set on the roof of the car...

[Oldelectronics]

Ouch I have done that but with glasses as you get older your arms should get longer!! As I am just a hobbyist I tend to get just the stuff that I use a lot and 99% of the hardish to get to nuts and bolts tend (on Bush sets anyway) to be 6BA the odd speaker securing nut etc there are probably many excellent cheap tools out there but my own personal experience is that paying that little bit more seems to get you a good well fitting tool (Allen keys are a classic example) and as I only buy a few it doesn't break the bank!The Hybrid approach though is a great idea.

Kev

[vidjoman]

I still have some BA nut spinners from the 1950's of various makes. Today I usually buy cheaper tools from Lidl or Aldi. Good enough for the time I might need them. I find that many nuts and bolts used by manufacturers are poorly made with rough threads and the nuts a loose fit.

[David G4EBT]

BA nut spinners are widely available on internet, individually or it sets. For example, a good quality '6 Piece NUT SPINNER SET' by EXPO is typically £13.95 but excludes 0, 2 & 4 BA:

1.5mm Nutspinner - suits 16BA nuts
2.0mm Nutspinner - suits 14BA nuts
2.5mm Nutspinner - suits 12BA nuts
3.0mm Nutspinner - suits 10BA nuts
4.0mm Nutspinner - suits 8BA nuts
5.0mm Nutspinner - suits 6BA nuts

'High quality tips manufactured in chrome vanadium steel, heat treated'.

I've had a set of 2/4/6 BA spinners for many years but in my experience, they're often not deep enough if the screw over which they need to fit is too long for the depth of the spinner. Hence, sometimes a 1/4" drive socket set with a 1/4" 'screwdriver' type handle is a better option. A set of eleven 1/4'' drive 'Toolzone' brand sockets in Chrome Vanadium Steel supplied on a metal storage rail from a UK supplier on ebay (Buy It Now) is just £5.95 post free.

Sizes included: BA0,BA1,BA2,BA3,BA4,BA5,BA6,BA7,BA8,BA9 and BA10

(Described as '11pc 1/4"dr BA0-BA10 SOCKET SET SS016')

As to the general question about quality of tools, everything I've ought from China, whether electronics or not, has been excellent. As an example, I've just bought a little wide-ranging (100 KHz - 1.1 GHz) digital frequency counter with user programmable IF offsets from the orient - an impulse buy at just £11.59 with free P&P. It arrived in nine working days. I've also bought some photo-sensitive UV film for making PCBs to try a new approach as an alternative to UV lacquer spray which I normally use. 2 Metres x 15CM wide, just £2.00 post free.

I often buy such things as test clips for test gear, sets of knobs, HSS drill bits on e-bay from China from the likes of banggood, aliexpress et al, and whilst I too don't understand the economics of how they do it (or why, because even if they doubled their prices, the stuff would still be cheap!), I'm content to keep on buying. (Stuff always seems to arrive quicker from Mainland China than from Hong Kong in my experience, and others have said likewise).

I've also bought hand tools and several 'Workzone' power tools from Aldi (3-year warranty) and find the quality at the price to be excellent.

In my opinion you only need three very good tools for electronics (hobby, where time is not that important), side cutters (at least £30), needle nosed pliers (same £30) and a soldering iron (a good temperature controlled one £100 or more). These are the 'dynamic' tools i.e. the ones you use on the fly and a lot.

Also these are the ones a beginner will have a hard time with, so get the best and then it's just a learning curve rather than compensating for poor tools. With experience you can get away with almost nothing, not fun but doable. Once I fixed a TV* using a screwdriver heated on the gas hob and some solder splashes picked off the floor left by a plumber (under the carpet!), only a dry joint on the LOPT, it worked.

*This should only be tried when you are asked for dinner after a copious amount of wine.

[shadoman]

Hi
Here in devon all the recycling centres have shops where they sell some of the stuff that is brought in, tools are one of the items that is regularly brought in.l have found alot of nut spinners BA spanners all old but good quality and really cheap 50 pence each or less.
Terry

[kalee20]

I have found Toolzone stuff to be very satisfactory - accurately made, well-finished, and highly affordable. While the steel may not be quite up to the professional brands, I haven't had any problems, none of the spanners have bent or rounded off, and I'd have no hesitation in buying some from eBay if I didn't already have a 1/4" socket set, complete with ratchet handle, Tommy-bar handle, two extension shafts, BA sockets 0-10BA, metric sockets 4-13mm (including 4.5mm and 5.5mm), and AF sockets 3/16-1/2"... all in a neat blow-moulded plastic case, £10 about 8 years ago from Barnstaple market. First-class value.

[broadgage]

IMO, for the sort of repair, restoration, and rebuilding of lightweight electronics generally discussed on these forums, cheap tools are often fine.

As posted above, a handful of frequently used tools should be of good quality, but for light duty use relatively cheap is often fine.

If maintaining motor vehicles, railway locomotives, and other large or heavy machines, then the position is very different.

[Refugee]

There are some pretty good tools being sold cheap.
Toolzone are definitely the best offering from the flea market if you are buying new.
Then there is Workzone from Aldi. These are very good but not always in stock as they vary the stock on a weekly basis in order to cover a very wide range of non food products.
Those tools that fall to bits the first time you use them are becoming a thing of the past as buyers stop buying all items from the sellers that stock them due to poor trust.