Here's my HD tool box and an inside shot packed with tools. Grab these orange drivers if you see 'em! I've kept my 20+ year old beater as the one to pound on, but feel very fortunate to have been able to get the other ones. Just recently I acquired a 5 piece lot off of ebay (including styles I never knew Malco offered in the orange handle). No luck - they were gone virtually overnight.Īs an avid estate saler I keep my eyes open, and over the past 6 years have found 3 scratch awls. I immediately hit up the 2 dealers that carried Malco tools, in an attempt to grab a few of the orange ones while they cleared out the inventory. It was then that I found out that Malco had decided that they couldn't compete with the Chinese on price with screwdrivers, so they dropped the orange polycarbonate line and outsourced their drivers to China! Now all of their drivers are the same clear acetate (I think) as everybody else. Description The Malco, 2-in-1 Hand Riveter is one-hand operated with normal squeezing action provides enough pulling power to set all popular size rivets. Never even thinking they'd discontinue the line, I blindly used the driver until it started showing it's age around 5-6 years ago. I used it as a screwdriver, chisel, pry bar - even used it to jump the solenoid on my old car to get it started! it finally gave out in the mid 90's, and I bought a replacement (which I still have, see pics below). Very rarely did you leave one on a job, as that ugly orange handle stood out and was hard to miss. Mandrel is designed to break off at the crimp after pulling the rivet body. A pukey orange color, they were instantly recognizeable and easy to spot. Mandrels are used only to set the rivet body and are then discarded. The alloy steel of the blades were bulletproof, and the handles were made of an indestructible (their advertising claim and my experience bears it out) polycarbonate material that stood up to daily wear and out right abuse. For me, their most remarkable tool was their line of screwdrivers. As such their tools incorporated innovations that made them stand apart from other brands. (They now do alot of other trade tools but I'm focusing on the sheet metal stuff). ARES 70017 - Professional Pop Rivet Gun with 60 Rivets - Rivet Sizes 3/32-inch, 1/8-inch, 5/32-inch, & 3/16-inch - Applications Include Sheet Metal, Automotive, and Duct Work. Malco started in the 1950's (IIRC it was 1953, though their new website differs), and what made them really great was that they designed sheet metal tools specifically for the duct work industry. This item Sherman Marson 39000 HP-2 Professional Hand Riveter. I was gifted a trio of snips made by Lenox which are becoming a favorite. Other notable brands are Pexto, Wiss, and Midwest. IIRC Klenk was the "inventor" of the hand held metal snips we use today. Probably because sheet metal was first widely used on airplanes. Tin snips (or aviation snips as they're sometimes called) are the most prolific. Thus, having a fairly complete set of quality sheet metal tools is virtually a requirement for guys doing A/C.ĭuring my years as a technician I've had the opportunity to try alot of different brands of metal working tools. Additionally, various small sheet metal jobs come up (vent piping, gutters, shielding, etc.) and those usually fall upon the A/C techs. Also, some A/C repair jobs require modifications to existing duct work (i.e.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |