one more air ratchet question

[snapper]

I saw this one at wal-mart.. powerforce ingersoll rand ratchet Do you think this of ir quality?? Would it be a step up from the campbell hausfeld? I think the price was like 49$$

Thanks guys!!

 

[centex]

I suspect that all those cheap air tools regardless of brand are made in Taiwan or China, probably by the same company. They are all pretty much servicable for occasional light duty use but don't expect them to last too long if you use them daily. Of course you can buy a box load of them for the price of a professional tool. The better companies add an extra level of quality control but the tools are basically the same. Powerforce is I-R's line of tools for the "home mechanic."

 

[Bird]

No personal experience with any PowerForce tools; don't know just how long Ingersol-Rand has had those. Like Centex said, some of the cheap tools come from Taiwan or China, but even the high dollar tools (including Snap-On) are made in Japan now and have been for at least several years. I'm not sure why IR would have those other brand names, but ARO is another of their brand names, and are good tools. I'd just bet that the PowerForce are good tools, too. Most of the cheaper tools are all an individual needs unless it's for daily use. The big difference comes into play when an air tool needs repair. A sort of "rule of thumb" in the air tool repair business is to fix a broken one if it can be fixed for no more than half the cost of a new one, and in the case of cheap tools, labor costs will frequently exceed that amount, so you just throw it away and replace it. And in the case of some cheap tools, parts are hard to find at any price; e.g., Harbor Freight tools. However, parts would probably be available for nearly any IR product for quite a few years, and they usually come with a manual that includes an exploded view and parts list. Keep that and even if it breaks, you might be able to fix it yourself pretty cheap.

 

[slowzuki]

The real Q is why an air rachet? I bought a nice one at the same time as my impact wrench. It gets used maybe once for every 100 uses of the impact. It is a great knuckle buster though!
Ken

 

[Bird]

Ken, maybe you should have bought an IR111; no more knuckle bustin' with that model. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif As to why a ratchet; slower turning for more precise control than the impact wrench to avoid overtightening (yep, I know there are other ways to do that) and it sometimes fits into places the impact won't. Besides, it's lighter weight and fits my hand better. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[slowzuki]

I should check out some other models I guess. I just always grab a regular rachet or the butterfly impact for that kind of stuff. I will admit I have used the air rachet where I couldn't turn a regular rachet.

Does that IR have some of feathering action to avoid the knuckle bashing?

 

[Bird]

Ken, you can look at the IR111 here. They've trademarked the name "Knuckle Saver" as a reactionless ratchet. It's a relatively long tool with the difference being that in front of the air motor is a tiny hammer cage, release spring, hammer pins, etc. In other words, it's a tiny impact wrench along with being a ratchet so it breaks fairly tight nuts and bolts loose with no manual pulling on it, it'll get them a little tighter than other ratchets with no manual pulling, and it ain't gonna jerk your hand around at all when a nut or bolt gets tight.

It's a great tool, with one caveat. It replaced the IR110 which was a little more powerful, and there's only two differences. The 110 was a bare aluminum housing while the 111 is painted black (they're interchangeable), and the cylinder in the air motor of the 111 has smaller exhaust holes than the one in the 110 (can't run as much air through it as fast). I had some customers who didn't think the 111 was powerful enough to suit them, so I was told the 110 was powerful enough that it wore out head kits (anvils especially) so that was the reason for the change. At the customers' request (and with their understanding of the possible consequences), I boosted the power on a couple of them by simply drilling out the two exhaust holes 1/16" on one and 1/32" on the other.

They're actually very simple to work on if you know how, but I did get some that customers had tried to repair themselves and then they wouldn't work at all because there's a particular way to hold everything together against a spring to put them back together or it's no go. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif