Do you have any tools that you would consider your favorite or are unique in any way? For instance, I have really enjoyed the use of my ten-in-one screwdriver. It gives me two sizes of flat and phillips bit in one package. It also can be used as a 5/16 nut driver or a 1/4 nut driver. If I need an extension on my bit, I can chuck it up into my screwgun. Some one else mentioned on another thread the wire nut twister that comes in some bags of wire nuts. I have really enjoyed using it and it also chucks right up into my ten-in-one. Another of my favorites is my Fluke voltage sensor, the one that has the nose that lights up. It has the sensitivity to differentiate between wires in a j-box and helps greatly to determine if one of them is hot. Anyone else have any neat tools that I need to know about?

A volt tick would be my favorite.
It has saved me from shock, "Krispy Kleins", etc, many times.

[This message has been edited by sparked (edited 10-28-2003).]

A red T-Stripper for stripping stranded conductors sure beats the razor blades and mom's non-serrated tomato knives I used to use as a kid (even though I got pretty good at stripping zip cord with a Gillette without messing up the conductor).

I dig the Fluke voltage probe. I saw one of the building electricians use it to test the sockets below a cooler unit in the company cafeteria.

I'll probably get me one for X-mas. I saw a knock-off at one of the DIY sheds. I think it was either Ideal or Gardner Bender. It looked chintzy and was "Made in China". Didn't buy it.

Is the Fluke probe made in USA or overseas?

Sven I like the Fluke too, do not have it in the house to see where it is made.

When you buy one watch the voltage range that it is rated for.

I bought one before that would sense voltages as low as I think 6 volts thinking it would be handy.

Well it was not, near line voltage every thing mad it glow, too sensitive.

The one I have now starts at I think 90 volts.

I always check that it works by rubbing it on my clothes it will light if the battery is good.

Bob

I've started welding all those sledgehammer heads i've busted off onto 3/4" GRC for a G-rod sliding hammer...works great...

I have a neat one I picked up at a pawn shop.
A 10" crescent wrench, with a 3/8" ratchet on the end of the handle.
Made in China, but everyone that sees it does a double take, especially when I have the 'Gator Grip' on it.

I've got so many tools it's hard to choose.

My hot stick (volt tick) is great. Mine is a greenlee and it works great. Several of my guys have a new model by Ideal that works just as good.

We've got Milwaukee Hole Shooters with a 30" extension on them that make drilling much faster than a standard Hole Hawg. The Hawg has more torque, but the long drill saves time by either not needing a ladder or not have to move it as often.

I would never want to be without a Dewalt 18 volt 1/2" drill/hammer-drill. Actually all the cordless tools are wonderful and would be hard to be without.

I can't imagine being in the trade without a Hydraulic K.O.cutter or Greenlee tugger.

That 18 volt Dewalt was the best drill driver I've had. My favorite tool thou is the pen I use to endorse a pay check.

Ideal ratcheting cable cutters that cut up to 1000KCMIL. Too bad I spent $200 bucks for them and now they sit in my garage collecting dust, just like my K.O. set and my 1/2"-4" hole saw set.

I've got a pair of those 1 handed ratcheting cutters that now often get used around the house as - Tree Pruners. Expensive garden tool but they sure do work slick. Will anybody else admit to having one prominent nick in their's from cutting ACSR on occasion?

Have you ever looked at the etching of the lineman on the pole on a pair of new Klein sidecutters? I mean before the wear and tear of use makes him fade or disappear? I think they are the same on all of them, but if i look at mine while i open them, his hat seems to fly off his head. I always thought it was a little reminder to be careful everytime you open them up to work on something so that you don't get your hat blown off. One time I worked so many hours in a row and was sorely lacking on sleep and i guess you get a little wacky after awhile because when i pulled my Kleins out of my pouch to use them, i swear they smiled at me.

Ever heard your Kleins "talk" (lol)? We used to keep them lubed up enough so that the handles were loose enough that when you flipped them out of your hand in a rotating motion, the jaws would rattle open and shut. We used to call it making them talk.

pretty hard to beat cordless tools of any kind. Cordless recip saw makes life alittle easier.

I am sitting in front of my favorite tool, the computer.
Other than that, I get teased some for my choices of "Old Timer's" tools.
BTW, for Sven, Fluke is in Taiwan.

I have to agree with some of the other guys here with regards to the Dewalt cordless line. The 18V hammer/driver drill is worth every single penny. Its been thoroughly used and abused daily and has never let me down. I just put a set of new brushes on it and I have no doubt that it will run for another 5 years.

A lot of my favorites are on my electronics bench rather than for general wiring jobs.

Hard to choose between so many useful things, but for work with small parts a "pearl catcher" is very handy (spring-loaded device with three wire "fingers" to pick up and locate nuts, washers, etc.

An Avo 8 Mk. III meter is one of my favorite test instruments. Some scorn such "old fashioned" meters these days, but they're still excellent devices, and I'm kind of attached to mind as it belonged to my late father.

I'm proud to say that in our combined ownership of over 30 years it's still as pristine now as it was when new.

Saw a new one today. Went to the supply house to pick up an order of emergency/exit lights and they had just got in a new shipment Klein tools.

Looking for anything cool and unusual i spotted a box with some screwdrivers in it but i could only see the top of the handles sticking out.

The top of the grip had an odd stamp on it that looked like a torx but with more teeth. So i pulled out this odd screwdriver and it was.... A KLEIN BOTTLE OPENER! The stamp on the handle was a bottle cap! I cracked up.

The guy a the supply house told me i could have one for free and as soon as i got back to the job all my employees wanted one.

My coolest new tool is a dewalt cordless shop vac aka "rat sucker". Man its great to move around a job with no cords sucking rats at each pull box. Not to mention you can clean up a mess with it too.

Just what you need to open a Klein Bottle! How many dimensions does it open into?
http://www.kleinbottle.com/

A got the 2-piece Klein barbeque set for Christmas last year Spatula and fork.

Right now my favorite tool in my pouch is my new set of Knipex brand slide jaw pliers. I've always used Channelocs in the past, but the Knipex are really cool! Matt



[This message has been edited by Matt M (edited 10-29-2003).]

gunther,
What a subject you bring up!.
I've got 100's of tools, but most of all, I like my N series Duspol tester the most, just makes work all that much safer.
I've had the thing since I first got into the Electrical game and it has never failed me once, although you have to be careful not to stretch the cable between the probes.
Second to that, I like my Utilux Crimping Tool, it crimps from 10mm2 up to 350mm2!, good for all sizes of lugs, crimp sleeves that I use in my normal day at work.
People just can't get over the size of the thing when I am carrying it into a place to use it.
One guy in a new accountancy firm here in town, asked me "And just do you think you're going to do with that thing?!"
I replied "I'm going to crimp your lugs with it, Sir", my humour was lost on a guy like this!.

I just have to chime in after using my new ground rod driving attachment for the first time today. I drove 2 ground rods (5/8) in less than ten minutes. And I'm talking old slab construction (no backfill) in the Arizona desert where the ground has been likened to a poor grade of concrete! It was sweet! This job could take over an hour with a sledge hammer plus leaving you with mushroomed ends. I'm using a Bosch demolition hammer and the attachment was $69.00 and worth every penny! (It actually took longer to scoop out the 3 inch deep recesses than it took to drive the rods). If any of you have ever worked in desert terrain you will know what I am talking about.
Brian

Gunther's post about the nut twister (hey, keep it clean ) reminded me of my Ideal cabinet - tip screwdriver with a twister built into the handle. Great for those of us with Pre-Carpal tunnel! (Keeps the wrist happy... happy is good!)

I also love my Ideal BurMaster conduit fitting screwdriver/ EMT reamer. 1/2", 3/4" & 1", just like the Klien version, but much shorter, and carries a spare blade inside the handle.

We do alot of commercial work but mostly the lowly residential work I see many of you look down upon.
I CANNOT live without my Rotozip! The has to be the best tool invented since the cordless drill. I almost never break out my Bosch jig saw anymore.

Someone said a few posts back that Fluke was from Taiwan. I went into the supply house today and saw one of the Fluke voltage sensors on display and on the back it said "made in USA." According to their website, www.fluke.com , they are a multinational company, headquartered in the Washington state area, founded in 1948. They have manufacturing facilities in the US, the UK and Netherlands. I have always heard good things about the quality of their products and according to the website they are consistently the number one or two manufacturer in whatever they produce.

Fluke HQ is in Everett, WA north of Seattle in a Boeing high-bay neighborhood—with lots of evergreen trees.

They do make excellent meters. [Thier i-200 current probe is my new favorite.]




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 11-03-2003).]

I will 2nd the Roto Zip.
I can cut old works in wood lathe plaster like drywall. Same goes for installing an old work in a tile bathroom.

Ditto the mighty Roto Zip. Now hear this. Put on your safety goggles and dust mask first. Then try the tile bit on cement block walls for knocking out switch and receptacle openings. Don't go all the way in on the first pass. Remove the guard to finish going all the way thru the 1-1/2" deep to the inner hollow core. Works great.

My new favorite tool is a pair of Klien Journeyman 2000 Series Side-Cutting pliers that I bought a few weeks ago to replace my old ones. I can't believe how much nicer they are! The cutting knives are hardened more than my old ones. I was just munching through some #2 Al Triplex like it was butter! And I'll second/third/fourth the cordless hammer drill... I'm using a Milwaukee 18v Lok-Tor and love it.

My personal favorites are these:

1. Ideal EMT stretcher. This comes in handy when I need to use a piece of EMT that's too short. Hint: never exceed 25% stretch, the EMT gets too thin.

2. Greenlee MC bender. No matter what the angle, I get nice effortless bends in MC of any gauge. It works best on 12/2 though.

3. Klein coupling splitter. When I just can't connect two pipes with a coupling, splitting the coupling lengthwise can get a guy through the hard times. One whack and the coupling is split 60/40. This hides the cut line from the inspectors. The front half snaps on, making the joint line of the split coupling hard to see unless you get your head in there at the right angle.

4. Fluke wire shrinker. When a box is overstuffed with a rat's nest of wires, nothing makes more room than a wire shrinker. Set it at 50% and it shrinks all wires in the box by 50%. Don't go 100%, I'll warn you - you'll never see them again.

I love my Klein needlenose for bending wire.

Fluke hot stick - it discerns different hot wires really well and doesn't give a bunch of bad readings.

Fluke AC/DC amp clamp 336 is awesome, zeroes out much faster than the Greenlee.

When it comes to pulling fish tape, my Klein fish tape pulling lineman's are the bomb.

[This message has been edited by Spark Master Flash (edited 11-04-2003).]

[This message has been edited by Spark Master Flash (edited 11-04-2003).]

Ah, yes. I always make sure my wire stretchers are in the truck in case I need them. Have you seen the new model sky-hook that recently came out. I think it is made by the same company that manufactures the flourescent U-tube bender. I always keep a couple of extra switch legs on the truck but they have a tendency to walk off.

Would this list include a left handed Cresent wrench.

While beating the daylights out of a G-rod the other day, the lady of the house remarked how the sledge must be my fav tool...

You need the Bosch or Hilti with the rod attachment

Just got off work, bent the handle on my MC bender tonight. I was having a hard time with some stubborn 12/3 MC and had to put a cheater bar on it to get that 90 degree bend all the way around. Maybe a titanium handle with rectangular cross section would handle the punishment a little better than this 4130 chrome moly handle.

I had bought a PVC hot box to heat up 1/2"-2" PVC. I use to use a heat gun, and it took forever to make an offset on a stick. The hot box heats up the pipe in no time, and then you just form it to what you need, and cool it with a little water. Great for service upgrades.

Don't forget the mighty Greenlee Adapt-o-matic Coupling Adjuster - lets you use any coupling on any raceway (as long as it's the same size). (I know it's not a tool, technically, but I felt the need to include it).

Had to change mid-run from 3/4 MC to PVC then to AL Rigid down the way - Without that Adap-o-matic, I'd have been fishing couplings out of the truck for hours!

Wow! I gotta start gettn some of these new fangled tools, I'm falling way behind. And here I was thinking my punch awl made out of 1/4" all thread rod screwed into rod couplings with a sharp steel shot pin with the 1/4" inch threaded base screwed into the end was special.

I guess my really favorite is my rechargable light. Lots of light in attics or crawl spaces for hours on end and then just recharge. Same brand as my drill so I've always got a spare battery for 1 or the other.

(Foot in mouth up to knee).
My Fluke/Taiwan was based on a Fluke 36 Clamp Meter I bought in '96. It wasn't marked with any Country of origin, so I dug through the accompanying paperwork and found that it manufactured in Taiwan.
It gave me the same "sinking feeling" that I got when I opened the front bonnet of a '71 VW that I had bought and saw a "Made in Mexico" plaque. I never gave the Fluke thing another thought. Sorry.
I do have a Fluke T5 that says "Made in USA" on it. I think it's about the handiest thing I've got. Fluke's stuff is great, I've never had any trouble, or heard a single bad word about them...S