6June21 - Tools

Again, after too much internet research, I decided to buy a tool kit from the US. I did build an overly complicated spreadsheet to compare the cost of buying from the UK or importing, and importing seemed to be cheaper even allowing for shipping & VAT, and there is some stuff you just can't get in the UK. Builders seem to hang on to there tools, so there is no secondhand available.

I narrowed it down to Isham (https://planetools.com/) or Cleaveland Tools. In the end I went with Isham, but I hear both kits are excellent. I also went for the infamous DRDT-2 dimpler. The kits are in the region, or $2,500 + $300 shipping + 20% VAT....But they hold their value (well that's what I am telling the boss....). It was very well packed, but it was quite depressing to see how small the box was for the cost. The DRDT box however was huge & very heavy. Very well made tho, and I mounted it on wooden shelf so I can slide it between two of work benches...

During the LAA metal work, we used some squeezers which I personally found quite large, heavy & difficult to use, so I plumped for the numatx squeezer (https://numatx-tools.com/numatx-ss-hts-c3k4-numatx-squeezer-systems.html). It is abit more expensive then a normal squeezer but I have yet to see a bad review of them and it is much easier to handle... It is hydraulic powered, so needs an intensifer (the blue box) which kept falling over when I was playing with the squeezer which was really annoying...However, read a blog where they mounted it on a wooden base with castors, and now is fine, and just follows me around. I bought this from Aircraft Spruce in USA, and even allowing for VAT & Shipping it was still 20% cheaper then buying it in the UK.....

BTW - If you can, always select US Post as a shipper, as it just seems to be much easier settling the import VAT rather then using FEDEX/UPS....The USPS app isnt bad either...