Teng TT440 Mega Bite pliers Set - Review

Teng TT440 Mega Bite pliers Set - Review

Pros:
Great price - Roughly £12.00 each if bought on deal
High Quality
Really durable
Nice selection of all types of pliers


Cons:
Water pump pliers perhaps not such a common need


The Teng Set consists of the following housed in a sturdy box with a moulded inner section, the lid of the box can be removed to facilitate easier and tidier storage and saves on tools looking a mess rolling around in tool kits. If you own more than one set of Teng tools the boxes can also be snapped together to form more of a type of tray which is handy.

The Box includes:
6" Pair of Side Cutters
7" Pair of Combination Pliers
8" Pair of long nose pliers
10" Pair of Water pump Pliers

I chose to go for the set with the plastic dipped handles as I always tend to wear gloves when working on the car and i feel that they offer a higher level of grip to the user as the coating has a rough texture which really seems to stick to your hands, the dipped as opposed to the moulded handles (which are also an option) seem to take up less space when working in tight environments. I have included some links below to the two different options just to give an idea. Teng usually offer at least two handle choices with most of their products which I think is a good idea.

- 6" Side Cutters
These are brilliant, they are one of the best reasonably priced pairs of wire cutters I have ever owned. The hinge posses an amazingly smooth motion ad has perfectly ground cutting blades. The cutting of even reinforced braided thermocouple wire offers little resistance leaving a super crisp cut with no excessively squished ends, however as with all straight bladed cutters a small amount of crush is expected, as a tool they are definitely more suited to the smaller wiring jobs such as dealing with common household 1.5mm wires as opposed to full on cables. If its critical that the wires are not damaged then Cable cutters with their crescent blades would be a better choice, I have recently reviewed a pair of Teng Cable Cutters Here. The pliers can cut through a maximum thickness of 1.6mm piano wire emphasising that its not the wire toughness that really governs their wire cutting ability just the physical jaw dimensions.

- 7" Combination Pliers
These are a good set of basic no nonsense pliers, (combination refers to the pliers having a standard set of serrated jaws with the cutter located closest to the hinge, this is to give the greatest force ratio between the handles and the cutting face). With a bit of force the cutters can slice through anything up to a 1.8mm section of piano wire and as such the cutting face and hinge is a copy of the side cutters just to a larger scale to take the additional load. The jaws are really hard and the serrations provide a good grip on most materials including steel sheets.

As the jaws are so serrated they are can sometimes leave unsightly marks in most materials especially aluminium, to avoid this wrapping the jaws in a loop of masking tape helps to just spread the load slightly and soften the bite.

- 8" Long Nose/ Needle Nose Pliers
These types of pliers are also sometimes referred to as "Snipe Nosed Pliers" but they are basically a set of regular pliers with longer pointed jaws. The jaws have the same  serrated appearance as the Combination pliers just with a narrower yet longer profile, the cutters placed behind the jaws are not as tough as the combination pliers set but would still do for trimming thin wires. Although I haven't really ever seen the point in having the cutters on long nose pliers they are useful in a really tight space, although personally I have always found it easier to just use a dedicated pair of cutters as the long jaws tend to be a nuisance when trying to get a wire all the way back to the cutting faces.

A good alternative use I have found for the long nose of these pliers is to provide a better hand hold for pulling old wires out, If instead of wrapping the wire around your hand you secure it in the jaws and wrap it around two hands can then be used to pull the wire much like having a 'T' Handle. This provides more pulling power without any risk of injuring your fingers pulling on thin cables.

- 10" Water Pump Pliers
These are a good set of pliers that provide an especially good grip on large OD (Outside Diameter) pipes, when I occasionally do large pipe work it seems the 'V' in the jaws is perfect for gripping most sections up to about an inch, much larger than this and they just don't seat properly for a good grip. As the teeth are so sharp when using them on all but the toughest pipe they do have a tendency to leave jaw marks and the mess you can make if you slip is astonishing.

I have only really found myself reaching for these in emergency situations where the resulting aesthetic damage caused to the pipe work is of no real concern. For a better fit to avoid slipping on large nuts I always tend to go for either a large adjustable if space allows or a set of pier wrenches similar to these Knipex ones as they allow for really wide jaw openings but don't have such long handles in comparison. I shall carry out a review of my set at a later date.

However for quickly nipping up a fitting or two or gripping an awkward surface these are a good choice.



Conclusion:
As a whole I would highly recommend this Teng TT440 Mega Bite Plier Set set of pliers due to its ability to meet just about every eventuality apart from possibly highly specialised applications. The pliers are all manufactured to an incredibly high standard from Chrome Vanadium steel and all have a really nice feel in use with super smooth operation. Being Teng the pliers also come with the manufactures lifetime warranty which is useful.

I short a great product, I regard my set highly despite the price I paid for them as I view them as a product for life and I think they would make a great gift for anyone who likes there tools.

Carolus slim 60 Ratchet 5190.50 - Review

Pros:
Lever reverse
Slim head
Comfortable handle
Nice satin finish
Feels solid
Socket release

Cons:
Perhaps not such a well known brand

This 1/2" drive ratchet was a gift i received to replace the 1/2" Laser one in my socket set which unfortunately fell apart. Since receiving the slim 60 I have used it on multiple occasions and I haven't once been able to find fault with it.

The construction seems solid with no rattling when shaken and the reverse lever has a really positive feeling giving a precise 'clunk' when engaged. This is unlike some other lesser quality brands which tend to give no real feeling of engagement.

The stem and head of the tool have been finished in a smooth satin, as opposed to the more usual chromed finishes of lots of tools and helps to lend a real feeling of quality to the tool. The finish has also proved more tactile to hold and is a lot less slippery when working in gloves or in oily environments.

As with other high quality ratchets the head features 60 teeth, (meaning for each tooth engaged the handle moves through 6 degrees). This is especially useful when using the ratchet in tight spaces where handle movement is limited. Although now there are even some ratchets come onto the market with 80 tooth heads.

The 'slim' in the name refers to the head of the ratchet having a slimmer designed profile than most other ratchets which is again useful in confined spaces.

The only really bulky part of the tool is the head which Carolus have avoided giving the slimming treatment. It has been constructed from a soft rubber allowing for a comfortable grip and large amounts of force to be applied without the handle digging in and hurting your palms as slimmer steel handles tend to.

A large socket release button has been included in the head which releases and ejects the current fitted socket. Depressing the button forces a pin from the bottom of the drive against the inside of the socket whilst releasing the locking bearing holding the socket in position.

Conclusion:
This is by far the best 1/2" drive ratchet i have ever owned or used, I even prefer it to my Teng 1200-60T which is my second favourite ratchet. the Carolus just feels so solid and well made, a great tool for life.

Knipex Universal Dismantling Tool– Review

This review focuses on the Knipex 16 85 125 SB a product featured in Knipexs wire stripping range. Marketed as a ‘Universal dismantling tool’ due to its Swiss army knife range of features, it is basically a more useful version of your bog standard wire strippers.

The tool fits into a bracket most electricians would use all day, especially with its ability to strip all common single-core wires from 0.2mm to 4.5mm and multi-core cables from 8.0mm up to 13mm. The handy retractable blade on the reverse is useful for dispatching the cellophane on new cable reels and although very sharp most standard cable ties will defect the blade.

Knipex have also installed an additional blade for longer longitudinal stripping for use on the larger range of OD (Outside Diameter) wires, 10 – 13mm. On smaller wires the blade has a habit of drawing itself in to deep and damaging the inner cores insulation.

All of the stripping blades are housed within the tool with no external cutting surfaces, the main stripping blades work by opening the tool and sandwiching a wire between the relevant crescents followed by a twist and pull action. As long as the correct stripping blades are selected the tool has no problem quickly removing the sleeving from any type of cable.

Another plus side to the tool is its lightweight and compactness as it easily slips into or clips onto your pocket when not in use.

The only negative I have really found is that the tool is unable to strip wires from 5mm to 7.5mm but Knipex do offer the Dismantling tool for data cables which has the ability to strip all wires from 0.2mm single core to 10mm multicore, for the non-professional this would defiantly be the more useful tool.

Conclusion:

In all this is another great product from Knipex which I really get on with and find exceptionally easy to use, which for me was a nice surprise as most of the fancy stripping tools and pliers I have used always seem a bit cumbersome and awkward.

Although hard to get hold of due to the lack of UK Knipex suppliers (I had to purchase mine from Amazon) I think this Dismantling tool or the data type version is really worth the money. Its compact construction and simplicity really gives it the edge over most other stripping tools, especially the super bulky automatic versions which are more common now.

Overall a great product which I doubt any professional electrician would fail to be impressed with.

Draper Expert 30mm Ratcheting Spanner - Review

Pros:

Open end really tough
Chrome Vanadium tool steel
Heavy duty feel
Tactile to use
Middle range brand for a low-ish price

Cons:

Delicate ratchet head
Draper warranty perhaps not as good as other brands

As a brief introduction, the Draper Expert brand fall into the middle/lower end of the tooling market and provide a good selection of tools, the quality of their products has been steadily increasing over the years, especially after the brand was redeveloped around 2007. This was with the aim to offering customers a more affordable product with good wear and tear resistance. Before this in my and my colleagues opinions where worth staying away from, however since the redevelopment there has been a noticeable improvement in quality. Whilst Draper may still not be the brand to compete with the like of {Teng/Facom/Corolus/Snap-on etc the products offer reasonable quality at an affordable price. All of the Draper Expert range also come with a lifetime warranty. (Even if it does fall slightly on the limited side in my own personal opinion).

This 30mm Draper Expert ratcheting spanner (may also be known as a ratcheting combination spanner) was purchased to deal with some of the larger bolts as long threads and tight spaces can leave very little room for using a standard ring spanner, the ratcheting head is perfect for where access is a problem or where the length of bolts mean that continuously reposition the spanner simple becomes tedious.

The open end has proved to be very robust with good wear resistance and still maintains a fairly tight fit, I have never suffered problems with the open end rotating on nuts and rounding them off, however I do always tend to opt for using a ring spanner for tough fasteners. For especially stubborn nuts and bolts I would always suggest the use of a Slugging/Striking Spanner as the shocks tend to loosen rust without excess hassle which would otherwise take a great long breaker bar which always risks the rounding or snapping of fasteners.

The spanner like most other quality tools has been manufactured fro, chrome vanadium tool steel which has stood up to hard use well with no pitting or rust spots. The chrome finish has also held up well not suffering any flaking yet over use has worn through around the open end revealing a golden tarnish from the base plating layer, this is entirely excusable though as it is a hard used tool and the wear is only superficial.

However the ratcheting end of the spanner has not faired so well and i feel this is really wear the lower price affects the product, the ratchet head just does not seem to exude the same level of quality that the rest of the spanner does. The ratchet does feel to have a really positive engagement giving a good level of confidence to ward of

fears of slipping yet the way the ratcheting head is set in the spanner gives a slightly woolly feeling to any action that causes a lateral load. This has not been an issue for me in other brands.

Another issue I have had with the ratchet head is that after suffering a fall from a table its components literally exploded out and shot across the floor, which I was defiantly not impressed with as the retaining ring is now MIA.

After contacting Draper and asking about their "lifetime guarantee" I was forwarded a copy of said guarantee (Detailed below) and told that as I had subjected the tool to careless handling leading to the failure of the tool they would not be replacing it.

Draper Guarantee Quote:

"These guarantees do not apply to normal wear and tear, nor any damage caused by misuse, careless or unsafe handling, alterations, accident, or repairs attempted, other than by authorised Draper warranty repair agents. These guarantees are in place of any other guarantee expressed or implied and variations of such guarantees are not permitted, but your statutory rights are not affected."

As such I contacted Teng and Facom as a check and was notified that they would have replaced the item, this is due to them classing accidents of this type as expected shop incidents which their tools are designed to cope with and as such, shouldn’t have broken.

Conclusion:

As a tool manufacturer I feel Draper Expert are definitely middle of the range, they are definitely fine for the odd job but if your a keen hands person but want to stick around this price point then I would perhaps suggest an alternative brand such as the selection offered by Halfords Pro, as a bonus they do always seem to have a sale on as well. If you are really into your tools then I would always suggest going for something slightly higher up the range. I have just purchased a 30mm Facom ratcheting spanner as a replacement to this one as if I had simply purchased the Facom one in the first place I would only have splashed out the same as my original plus its replacement from Draper, with no guarantee that I would not suffer from the same issue again.

Basically average brand with a lifetime warranty that only covers the basics of manufacturing errors and honestly I don’t see how this justifies the premium, especially when other tools come with a no quibble lifetime warranty.

Swagelok Pipe Cutter - [MS-TC-308] - Review

As most private individuals haven't heard of the Swagelok are a huge supplier of high quality fittings to industry. However they will deal with individuals directly which makes a nice change from having to contact a supplier/distributor.

Pipe cutters, as the name implies cut pipes, they come in a range of sizes from small specialist ones for instrumentation to large automated ones for industry. Some of the hand held ones are also equipped with an integrated deburing blade to clean the rolled edges left by the cutting process.

Pros:
Cuts Stainless, Copper and Aluminium Tubing
Takes sizes from 4mm - 25mm (3/16th - 1 Inch)
Rugged construction
Large handle
Replaceable parts

Cons:
Price - £36.75 from Swagelok Direct
(Correct as of 05/06/2013)


Review:
This is a very solidly built tool with a forged 'C' section and large reinforcing ribs to evenly distribute the loads. A design like this is directly linked to quality as cheaper variations of pipe cutters tend to be cast items which tend to fair poorly over time and have a habit of fatiguing and cracking in the major stress locations where the  tool is trying to push its-self apart. The large sections of this and other quality tools like the Rigid range prevent this. The knob used to adjust the cutting pressure is also a fairly robust piece with deep ridges to allow for a firm grip.

Stainless pipe proves no problem for the cutting wheel which slices through a 1mm section in only a few turns of the depth adjuster, I haven't ever found a pipe material that this wont cut, its even been used for some galvanised conduit in the past which although took a while the resulting cut was clean.

The specification says the cutter is designed to cut pipes from 4mm - 25mm which I have found to be true this is only limited by the opening of the jaws. If you need to cut larger sections unfortunately Swagelok doesn't stock an up scaled version. I do know however that Rigid offer the Rigid 65S RID31803 which would make short work of pipes up to 65mm.

The cutting wheel cuts cleanly on all pipe materials but tends to leave less of a bur on the harder materials, this is a habit of all pipe cutters though and so shouldn't be worried about as long as a good deburing tool is used to clean the finish cut. If the bur is not cleared then the pipe will in affect have an orifice plate fitted which will lead to large pressure losses in the system. The cutting wheel can easily be replaced with spares sold by Swagelok and proved a simply job when I replaced mine.

Conclusion:
I would highly recommend this product to anyone who regularly does plumping or pipe cutting jobs and even keen DIYers as the price doesn't place it to far into the range of the professionals and its always nice to have the right tool for the job. Its a great Pipe cutter and is very simple to use.

My only issue with the tools is its limited availability in general tool shops or even online, it can only be purchased direct. If you wanted a similar quality tool without the hassle then the Rigid 35S - RID29963 is more readily available from Amazon Here and other online retailers. It also looks better but comes with a slightly more expensive price to match but again it would be a tool for life so a good viable purchase for the right person. The cheaper tools are always tempting but they just don't have the same feel of quality about them and are generally made from a lesser grade material and wont last nearly as long.

Swiss Tools Rainbow Allen Keys - Review

PB212L Rainbow Allen keys – Review

Product Code: PB 212.LH-10 RB

SwissTools

These Allen keys are the longest serving set of hex keys I have ever owned, the set includes 9 keys sized 1.5,2,2.5,3,4,5,6,8 and 10. {{PB Swiss Tools}} as a brand, are a high quality Swiss tooling manufacturer who have been producing a range of tools for over 130 years. They have such faith in their products that they provide an unlimited lifetime guarantee on everything they have ever produced. There is even a neat feature on the website which allows you to track when and where your individual tool was produced. Their tool replacement policy is available on the website but as I have never used it I am unable to offer any comment.

Pros:

General selection of Hex keys

Helpful colour coding aids in size selection when working

Incredibly tough

Powder coated

30° Bull end for angled use

Cons:

Possibly Cost - £42.98 Including delivery to UK

Price no object – None

Background: 

Hex keys or ‘Allen’ keys as they are often referred to are commonly used for all types of cap head and socket head screws. The name ‘Allen’ is thought to have originated from the ‘Allen Manufacturing Company of Hartford in Connecticut’ who are said to have been the first to invent the method of producing a Hex socket drive and where the first to patent the idea.

Review:

The ‘L’ shape as with most hex keys allows for either a deep reach approach to fasteners or for the keys to be used in a high leverage position.

“For the toughest rusted in fasteners its sometimes easier to loop the end of a spanner over the end of the hex key as shown to provide a bit of additional leverage to help loosen even the toughest bolts.”

I have owned this set of Allen keys for well over 10 years and they have been one of the bulwarks of my tool box. Despite all of the abuse I have given them even using then as levers they have never failed me or rounded off. The powder coating although scratched hasn’t even so much as flaked despite commonly being covered in oil and harsh degreasers. The signs of long use are visible, each key having its collection of minor grazes but that’s all and are showing many more years of life in them.

The colour identification of each key covers nearly the whole item bar the driving ends and is highly distinctive yet individual for each size. The vividness of the keys apart from being aesthetically pleasing also has other advantages; For instance, gone are the days looking for dull coloured Allen keys under benches which have been dropped the colours just pop right out even when covered in grime.

Another unexpected bonus of the colours is that if your working with a little helper then its far easier to say hand me the ‘Blue’ one or the ‘Yellow’ one than specifying sizes which is often followed by “which ones that”.

The plastic key holder is pretty standard, fit for purpose with no bells or whistles attached, I find this preferable to most of my other sets which fold in half and all sorts.

The set I have are equipped with a ball or bull end on the long leg of the ‘L’ I have always found this to be the best option opposed to two square ends. The bull end of each key allows for the key to be used at a variety of angles in tight spaces where the square ends sometimes have a problem getting a good seat. Bull ends are also better for fasteners which have suffered a bit of corrosion within the drive of the bolts as the rounded ends mean a small amount of crud build up won’t affect the tools seating ability.

Conclusion:

I judge this set of Allen keys to be the best I have ever owned and despite the higher price than some other options I would defiantly recommended them especially for their longevity. They would make a perfect present for any mechanically minded individual or professional and would last them a lifetime. I rate them even higher than my Teng 1479 set which is also a good product but somehow just don’t seem so tactile during use.

Racecar Aerodynamics: Designing for Speed by Joseph Katz Book Review

For those of us interested in the aerodynamics of racing cars, this book provides good explanations of nearly all top-level aerodynamic theories.

Title: Race Car Aerodynamics: Designing for Speed
Author: Joseph Katz
Publisher: Bentley

Release Date: 09 March 2006

Pages: 270

ISBN: 08376 01428

The author Joseph Katz is a professor at San Diego state University and during his career has been involved in nearly all areas of motorsport from drag racing to formula one. Over this time he has written a series of publications focusing largely upon the aerodynamics of racing cars.

His book Race Car Aerodynamics: Designing for Speed is primarily written to cater for the larger audience and hasn’t made any assumptions about the readers’ prior theoretical knowledge. As such he starts each concept in a clear and concise manner starting from and building upon the basic fundamentals of aerodynamics. This approach allows for the book to be picked up by anyone from the professional engineer to the hobbyist and does not sacrifice content for either.

Anyone who reads this book no matter their level of knowledge will be able to gain a deeper understanding of the background theory and concepts that guide all aerodynamicists including wing theory.

The text and images contained in the book are all black and white (which has proved an issue for me in other publications where all the images have seemed to merge into unintelligible silhouettes) yet the lack of colours does not hinder the readers’ ability to clearly disconcern all aspects of each individual image. 

The overall breakdown of chapters within the book is good with individual topics explained fully and in detail, this allows for a smooth transition between concepts lending the book a nice flow through out avoiding confusion. Real life examples are almost always given to further help reinforce ideas to the practically minded reader.

The inclusion of a large variety of images and examples also means that the text does not feel quite as mathematically biased in this genre and as such it proves to be a much easier read following more along the lines of a highly detailed guide book opposed to a reference text.

The only small issue I have with this book are that it hasn’t had a more recent update to cover later Formula one examples as most of the information only covers up to around 2004, This does not mean that the information contained within is out of date as aerodynamics is more of an "evolutionary art opposed to a revolutionary one".

Within the book the author has also included greyed boxes containing formulas relevant to each specific are. Each formula box is filled with clear explanations of how the formulas are used, allowing for those with no previous experience to grasp the underlying mathematics governing the use of each. Personally I found these boxes especially useful. 

Although aerodynamics is heavily mathematically based, the general principles require no mathematical knowledge yet it is always a good idea to understand the maths behind the ideas.

Conclusion:

I really rate this book highly and I often find myself referring to it over some of my more analytical books like Understanding Aerodynamics by Doug McLean. The way the author always explains concepts in such a clear and concise manner is especially welcome, which is helpful if like myself you are a keen F1 fan and often find the televised explanations lacking and need a quick reference just to suss out possible benefits of recent changes. In this regard the book would make an excellent present for any one interested in forms of racing.

Although the book may fall slightly on the basic side of degree level texts it is still more than advanced enough for anyone interested in aerodynamics. A study of this book before reading more advanced publications would definitely help in achieving a greater base knowledge which can then be expanded upon in sections without trying to learn everything at once.

In all for anyone seeking more of an insight into the aerodynamics of racing cars, this is a highly recommended book.