Tool box recommendations for future A&P mechanic

brien23

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Brien
Don't ask to borrow my tools, I only buy the best "Harbor Freight". Or 30 years of making payments on Snap-on tools they will be all yours, when you retire as an A&P. Another way to look at it cheap tools break before expensive aircraft parts good tools will be stronger than the best aircraft parts.
 
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Estate Sales are the best place to buy Snap-On tools at Harbor Freight prices. :p
I did that once, after bad mouthing Snap-On for years. There was this one wrench that when I needed a 13/16 I always grabbed - one day I decided to knock the rust off a bit to see what brand it was. Yea, it was a Snap-On. They do feel different in your hand and on a bolt/nut.
 
I would buy used toolbox to start with. It's what I did years ago. I did get them from the snap on and mac tool dealers. Today I would look on Craigs List and other places for good used ones.
Even HF used ones would be alright in my book as I have few tool boxes from HF. But I do not buy many tools from HF.
The AP school I went to could get you snap on tools at a discount.
I have all the stickers that came on my used boxes.

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I first had small Craftsman boxes I got for Xmas when I was very young from my parents. I used them a lot and took the best care of them as I could. Loved those boxes. But I wore them out and filled them several times over. I used them at home.
At work I bought used boxes from the tool dealers and used them for 30 years until I wore them out.
After some research I went over to the local HF and bought a couple to replace my snap on matco boxes. Been using those for 10-15 years now. They are not as good as my used snap on but good enough as I was not going to pay the snap on prices this late in my mechanics job.

I did also replace my home tool boxes with HF boxes when my craftsman boxes wore out after I used the HF boxes at work for a while. I also have variety of tool boxes(lista-stanley) in my race shop that were all used when I got them.

Then I needed tool boxes at the hangar 6 years ago. I found this old old gray craftsman box in a scrap pile at my work. I pulled it out and nothing was wrong with it other than some surface rust and no rollers on the drawers.
I saved it and took it to the hangar. Then I did breakdown and go to Lowes and bought a new craftsman top box for it.
Love that old bottom box, I think it was made about the time I was born? I got way more aviation tools now than will fit in those 2 boxes. I have them on shelves as I hope to not buy anymore tools boxes.
Good luck to ya.
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Tool box recommendations for future A&P mechanic
I've always found the best deals were with used name-brand toolboxes from rural pawn shops, retiring mechanics, garage sales, military surplus sales, auctions, auto swap meets, etc. I never bought a new toolbox until after I retired and "splurged" on a HF US General toolbox for my home shop. Have to admit the General series boxes are good deal for a decent product and would probably recommend a new mechanic to look at them also.

Another way to look at it cheap tools break before expensive aircraft parts
Not in my experience. The tolerances on a number of cheap tool brands tend to be somewhat loose and have seen a lot of damage done to fasteners and other aircraft parts after a wrench slips or a cheap torque wrench loses it calibration setting between bolts. And I'm not a fan of Snap-on either. I think for some precision/critical tasks Snap-on, MAC, Wright and similar tools are needed to minimize any collateral damage. For example, I had one set of 12-point Snap-on 1/4" drive sockets for certain turbine work as sockets with a lesser tolerance tended to strip the 12-pt bolt heads which usually led to an engine change vs a simpler module change if one removed the bolts.
 
Another way to look at it cheap tools break before expensive aircraft parts good tools will be stronger than the best aircraft parts.
Piling on a bit, but low quality tools can slip and damage bolts / screws...


This toolbox set works 4 me (Yes, it's a ****ing mess, and I am not an A&P):

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For GA:

#1 would be the best #2 Phillips screwdrivers I could find.

#2 would be a fine tooth 1/4 “drive ratchet.

Several versions of each should be in your future.
Yes that would be a snap on #2 phillps head with a long shank. I use it every time I work on the plane. And I wear them out also and not afraid to buy a new one every 10 years or so.
The best craftsman phillips is not close to snap on phillips. If you only own one snap on tool make it a long phillips.
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Don’t overlook how they feel/fit in YOUR hand. When I bought my first wrench sets craftsman had “standard” and “professional” grade. The professional series had a much smoother finish and was noticeably more expensive so I bought a standard grade metric set and professional grade standard set. The difference between the two after a few hours of wrenching is extremely apparent.
I also recommend keeping a set of very cheap wrenches for when you find that one bolt you just can’t reach without removing a bunch of other things. It’s nice to have one you can just heat up bright red with a torch, bend to the shape you need and quench in a bucket of water to make a “special tool” and replace just the elcheapo wrench you modified. After a few years the “special tool” drawer is major time saver
 
A Wheel Barrow is cheaper than a large tool box, and it rolls better on grass.
Funny story:

When I got out of the Army I had to wait a whole semester before I could start going back to college. I grew up in my Dad and uncles car repair shop. I got a mechanics job in a big truck shop. There were huge, long bays with two very long and strong steel work benches for each mechanic. There was an old guy(I was only 21, so most everyone seemed old to me) who specialized in overhauling 10 speed Road Ranger transmissions.

He did not own a tool box. He kept his tools in two five gallon buckets which were steel in those days. At the end of the day he raked the tools in the buckets and they got locked in the tool room at night. The next morning he dumped out two piles of tools on one of his huge work benches. As the morning went along, the two piles became organized rows of tools. He then used the buckets to hold the parts he separated when he disassembled a transmission, reusable parts in one and bad parts in the other. He would take his bad parts to the parts counter and would pick up each one, look at it and tell them what he needed, one part at a time. The guy was a magician with those gear boxes.

Snap On made only a few different tool boxes at the time, and I think about the biggest set they had was about a thousand dollars which was an enormous amount of money in 1971. I’ve observed over the years that most of those five thousand plus dollar tool boxes ar either near empty or filled with junky tools. Occasionally you’ll find a nice box stuffed with Snapon tools.

Another story:

My brother in law was a mechanic all his life. He was smart enough he could probably have gone to medical school, but he just liked twisting bolts. When I met him, he had a large for the time hardware store MBC top and bottom chest. When you opened any drawer it was PACKED with Snap On tools. As the years went by, and the tool box took on quite a patina, his tool box was sort of a laughing stock, but when someone made a comment he would tell them to open any drawer. When they did, they usually stopped laughing and closed the drawer.

He worked his last 25 years or so in a high end Mercedes dealer, and the snobs put him in the back of the shop because they didn’t want their customers to see his ancient tool box. Not long before he retired, he got the last laugh. The dealer moved into an incredibly high end facility and decided to provide huge, nice stainless steel tool boxes for all the techs. Sweet justice.


To the OP:

Buy a sturdy, less expensive tool box, then go online and find some really good nylon casters and put them on before you load the box with tools. I used to do this with Craftsman boxes, but Home Depot boxes seem to be a decent, lesser expensive choice.

Buy decent tools, but they don’t have to be Snap On except for the things you like. I like Snapon combination wrenches, their ratchets and their swivel extensions. There are a few other Snap On tools I’ve gotten such as their unique swivel ratchet and their wrist ratchet, but there’s no need to fill a box with Snap Ons.
 
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Another thing to consider.. 90% of the tools in the giant tool sets NEVER get used. Often all the tools needed for a particular machine be it airplane, motorcycle, car, piece of agriculture equipment, what have you, will fit in a small “doctor’s bag”. In my personal collection of machines each has its own little bag of tools permanently with it that will cover 99% of what would ever need to be done to it. They are not “sets” they are the specific tools need for that specific machine. Most often bolt sizes are pretty standardized to a few sizes, maybe a single torx bit size.. Only when “shop tools” (hydraulic presses, gear pullers, etc.) are needed does the shop box even get opened.
 
90% of the tools in the giant tool sets NEVER get used.
Used to work at a shop that did construction equipment rental and installed / maintained self unloader cranes on trucks. One guy lived for the Snap-On truck. He would be out in the lot waiting for the truck to pull in. "What'ca got that's new?" Had a big stack of Snap-On boxes full of Snap-On tools. Every morning, he would unlock all the boxes, pull out a couple of 10 inch adjustable wrenches and those were pretty much the only tools he used all day.
 
Being an old man ,I liked craftsman tools they made several good toolboxes,and always stood behind their tools. Could probably find some available on EBay
 
Some of the tool boxes at harbor freight are reasonably priced with decent quality. Clearly not snap-on quality, but they have good casters and smooth slides.
 
For the box, it's not a big deal. A used box from anywhere or the HF General will work fine.

For the tools some require quality, some not so much. A high quality (Snap-On?) set of screwdrivers and 1/4" and 1/2" rachets is a good investment. You don't want to make it easy to strip a screw or nut.
 
A torch, a hand grinder, a good large precise vise, a band saw with a metal cutting blade, a metal lathe, and sharp sandblasted Phillips drivers. Beyond those you only need cheap tools.
 
A torch, a hand grinder, a good large precise vise, a band saw with a metal cutting blade, a metal lathe, and sharp sandblasted Phillips drivers. Beyond those you only need cheap tools.

I like a good torque wrench. Beam type is my favorite unless we get into some serious coin for a great clicker. No Harbor Freight torque wrenches please ...
 
Tool snobbery is real.

I don't see many Snap On boxes or tools, I would say HF boxes are way more common. The Series 3 stuff is pretty good. Lowes/Home Depot brand is here and there.

I have a mix of Tekton, Chinese and HF ICON/Quinn tools. The only Snap On stuff I have was given to me by my work. I don't see the fuss.

There are guys that work almost completely out of a hard case and some tool bags. They are the first to ask me for a tool. I politely refuse.
 
Funny story:

When I got out of the Army I had to wait a whole semester before I could start going back to college. I grew up in my Dad and uncles car repair shop. I got a mechanics job in a big truck shop. There were huge, long bays with two very long and strong steel work benches for each mechanic. There was an old guy(I was only 21, so most everyone seemed old to me) who specialized in overhauling 10 speed Road Ranger transmissions.

He did not own a tool box. He kept his tools in two five gallon buckets which were steel in those days. At the end of the day he raked the tools in the buckets and they got locked in the tool room at night. The next morning he dumped out two piles of tools on one of his huge work benches. As the morning went along, the two piles became organized rows of tools. He then used the buckets to hold the parts he separated when he disassembled a transmission, reusable parts in one and bad parts in the other. He would take his bad parts to the parts counter and would pick up each one, look at it and tell them what he needed, one part at a time. The guy was a magician with those gear boxes.

Snap On made only a few different tool boxes at the time, and I think about the biggest set they had was about a thousand dollars which was an enormous amount of money in 1971. I’ve observed over the years that most of those five thousand plus dollar tool boxes ar either near empty or filled with junky tools. Occasionally you’ll find a nice box stuffed with Snapon tools.

Another story:

My brother in law was a mechanic all his life. He was smart enough he could probably have gone to medical school, but he just liked twisting bolts. When I met him, he had a large for the time hardware store MBC top and bottom chest. When you opened any drawer it was PACKED with Snap On tools. As the years went by, and the tool box took on quite a patina, his tool box was sort of a laughing stock, but when someone made a comment he would tell them to open any drawer. When they did, they usually stopped laughing and closed the drawer.

He worked his last 25 years or so in a high end Mercedes dealer, and the snobs put him in the back of the shop because they didn’t want their customers to see his ancient tool box. Not long before he retired, he got the last laugh. The dealer moved into an incredibly high end facility and decided to provide huge, nice stainless steel tool boxes for all the techs. Sweet justice.


To the OP:

Buy a sturdy, less expensive tool box, then go online and find some really good nylon casters and put them on before you load the box with tools. I used to do this with Craftsman boxes, but Home Depot boxes seem to be a decent, lesser expensive choice.

Buy decent tools, but they don’t have to be Snap On except for the things you like. I like Snapon combination wrenches, their ratchets and their swivel extensions. There are a few other Snap On tools I’ve gotten such as their unique swivel ratchet and their wrist ratchet, but there’s no need to fill a box with Snap Ons.
Thanks, I like tool and shop stories.

When I asked the old mechanic what tools I need he asked me, "are working by the hour?" Yeah,.. "Then you only need a hammer and screwdriver. If the company wants things around here done faster they'll buy the tools".

He was right, the company got tired of the mechanics not having the right tools so they bought several tool boxes full of tools and placed them all around the premises.:smilewinkgrin:
 
I have a torque wrench comparator/ calibration device.

On several occasions many folks in the class would bring their

Torque Wrenches in to compare.

The Harbor Freight version agreed with all the rest.

The 1/4 version is quite handy.
 
NAPA Carlyle makes nice stuff. I've got several good ratchets from them.

IMO completeness and organization are important for sockets. Nothing worse than getting in the middle of something and discovering you misplaced the 3/8" socket. The Craftsman sets at Lowes are decent quality and the carrying cases are handy.

I use open end wrenches as much as anything. Need 2 of each common AN size. I have a set of regular combo wrenches and a set of open/box ratchet wrenches. The ratchet box wrenches are super convenient but clearance is sometimes an issue.

I use cheapo screwdrivers and suffer the consequences. Assuming I don't have access to Snap-on, what's the next best thing?
 
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I use cheapo screwdrivers and am paying the price. Assuming I don't have access to Snap-on, what's the next best thing?

 
Some above have commented on their old, rusty, but solid tool boxes as completely adequate.

I strongly agree, with the added bonus that if your tool box is stolen, you know it is an inside job, strangers will take the best looking box.
 
Assuming I don't have access to Snap-on, what's the next best thing?
My favorite Phillips are the magnetic replaceable tips. The sucky thing about those is the handle is always clunky because whoever makes those feels the need to provide storage for extra bits.
 
It’s important to assure the roll-away casters are LARGE.

Small wheels catch on uneven floors and can be quite spectacular!

Don’t only go by the floor you know now.

Six point sockets work best on rusted nuts.

My tools are a mixture of brands.

Cheap are “ grinders” to bend and modify.

The only complete set of Snap-on stuff I had was my “ Limey Tools”.

British Standard and Whitworth Standard IIRC.

Anyone else ever use “ Yankee Screwdrivers “ for depaneling?
 
Does anyone know how to keep my 10mm sockets from disappearing? :dunno:
 
That is an answer and it would work ... just not quite the one I was looking for. :rofl:
“100 sockets should supply most mechanics for up to one year”
 
I read on the CPS forums that Snap On had a tent at Oshkosh and their ratcheting screwdriver was on sale and the price went down as the days went by. I'll be looking for the tent next year.
 
Does anyone know how to keep my 10mm sockets from disappearing? :dunno:
Funny thing. I was putting together a spare toolbox for the cabin this weekend with wayward tools obtained from my drunk neighbor about 8-9 years ago. It's a 3-8 drive 9mm that's missing. There must be 200 spare sockets I have, and that's the one missing. Not the 10, had extras of those. 9mm.
 
Funny thing. I was putting together a spare toolbox for the cabin this weekend with wayward tools obtained from my drunk neighbor about 8-9 years ago. It's a 3-8 drive 9mm that's missing. There must be 200 spare sockets I have, and that's the one missing. Not the 10, had extras of those. 9mm.
I think you will be alright because I can't think of any times I needed a 9? 7-8mm and 10 of course but don't remember needing a 9 much?

The tools at my hangar are a mix of tools that I had extras from home, work and race car tools.
They are not all name brand tools. I only have tools I need to work on the plane at the hangar. I am not setup to work on cars or trucks at the hangar even though I posted that picture of a lift in my hangar. It is stored in the back of the hangar as I needed to get it out of a bay at work. It is new from 10 years ago and not used yet. Long story...

Can't loose tools very easy at the hangar as I try my best to keep it from getting cluttered up with junk. Even small washers I drop all show up eventually. lol

When I was younger all my tools I bought came off the tool trucks at work. Not so much now as I do have a good tool I can borrow from my tools at work if I need a good one for the plane.
That 4 post lift is a storage shelf in the back of my hangar. My AP gave me that flag that came from Great American ball park that the Cincinnati Reds play in.
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Don't forget the foam to shadow your tools. I like the stuff I've gotten from FoamFitTools.com. You can get foam blanks to cut yourself (I used a hand held router) or CNC cut by them for specific tool kits.
 
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