I wish someone would make sockets and tools so us old guys could read the sizes. I know I'm getting old ,and my tri focals are new but I am having a heck of a time these days . The gauges on the welding gas bottles are shrinking too. I never knew it would get like this I would have taken up drinking instead of hot rods.
All my life I had 20-15 vision. Until I was 40. I got an aluminum chip in my left eye, rinsed (flooded!) it, thought I got it out. 2 or 3 days later, it was red, and all I could see were shapes out of it! Then the shapes faded, and it was like a gray screen. Eye doc took a good look, said there was something in the cornea...? Two docs came down from Stanford (to San Jose), and I was scheduled for some EYE INJECTIONS! I weighed that with the alternative: "Stick a Needle in my eye" vs. wearing a cool pirate patch... O.K. I sold my '40 Merc and my mild custom '53 Vic. Some other treasures, also...Regained most of my sight, (injections 'melted' scar tissue that had formed inside cornea, from the trauma of the aluminum) Prescription glasses followed, and as I finally got used to them, I was accustomed to looking at bolts and automatically going for that size socket, or end wrench... Bad thing was the glasses made 1/2" bolts & nuts out of what were really 7/16", so when I got to the toolbox, grabbed the tool that looked to be what I had known and recognized since 1950! ...And I was WRONG! ...I haven't 'taken up' drinking, but I seem to have RESUMED it...
Years past when working as a mechanic, I used to be able to just grab a socket, knowing what size it was; don't seem to be able to do that now...probably 'cause I don't work as a mechanic...yeah, that's it. Craftsman made their sockets with such damn fine shallow print...hard to see even when new. At least now, there are some ID'd with laser and it's easy to read. I'm going to get a set of something like these... http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...socket+label.TRS0&_nkw=socket+labels&_sacat=0 The prices don't seem too bad.... heck of a lot less than new sockets. And, like dorf mentioned, they're color-coded
Some of my Snap Ons have very fine print, too. Real problem sometimes, didn't used to be! I have all my socket sets on runners in the top box. (SAE in far rows, metric in the closest) I don't 'live' in the toolbox like I did when I had the shop...(more fab stuff now, less customer repairs, etc.) Wife compliments me on my appearance. Shit. Wish I could see as good as she says I look!
You can buy large print decals to mark all of your sockets, saw some at a swap meet. I bought mine on ebay just search socket size decals.
I normally have all my tools hung on pegboard on the wall, but I am building a new garage right now, so everything is dumped in boxes, takes foreveer to find anything. A couple days ago, I look at this bolt, and say to myself, " looks like 1/2, gotta find a socket", so I am digging through these boxes, keep finding 9/16" and tossing them aside. After about twenty minutes I finally find a 1/2" deep, go back to what I was doing, goddam socket is TOO SMALL!! #@$% bolt is 9/16"!!! Coulda kicked myself! Cripes, no wonder it takes me an hour to get anything done these days!
Simple answer. Look at the bolt/nut. Decide if it's 1/2 are 9/16. Go to the tool box if it's 1/2 get 1/2 and 9/16. If it's 5/8 take a 5/8 and a 11/16.
I have Craftsman sockets and they are hard to read and I can't grab from size like I used to be able to. Mine are on pegs in the tool box but still grab the wrong size way too often. Think I will look into the decals.
Yeah, I relate, kinda like trying to read a phone number in the phone book ( yes, I'm old, still use a phone book). Luckily I can still judge the size of the bolt except lately we've been having some metric stuff around, it's a real bitch to tell a 12 from a 13! Atwater Mike, I know what your saying, I wear contacts but if I wear my glasses I'm forever grabbing the wrong wrench, everything looks smaller with glasses.
It's the "Golden Years". Mine are the brass years. I hate it but there's nothing I can do about it so I just live with it. The only thing I really miss is being able to weld and cut. My hands shake too much, I can't see worth a damn and can't pee. I won't quit, though. The thought of sitting and rotting doesn't appeal to me ay all. Send me your paint and I'll shake it for you.
Sometimes I just bring the whole metal storage thingy to the job; at least I do not have to do multiple trips.
I don't know about any wrench sets, but Craftsman makes these. I have a couple sets and they are very easy to read!
I sometimes throw all my tools into my cleaner after a big job and then into the sink with some dish washing soap so I doubt the stick on labels would hold up to that. I'm going to try acetone cleaning and then filling in the engraved markings with some kind of epoxy based red or green paint.
I 1st noticed it with my impact sockets. I used my Dremel with a carbide bit to re-mark them with big numbers. Worked well on the black finish. Gary
Old guys don't buy many new tools because they take such good care of the ones they have had forever!
I usually take 3 sockets or wrenches with me on a trip from the tool box, the size I thought it should be, the next size smaller, and he next size bigger. That cuts down on the trips to the tool box. My issue now is the metric bolts thrown into the mix. When it comes to the metric, I take the whole socket set, and a fist full of wrenches. I'm trying to do less wrench pulling these days, its a lot less frustrating. Gene
Well, yes..5 days ago I needed two 1/2 " combination wrenches to make an adjustment on I can't remember what...I only have one wrench, the other who knows where [tell me!]...
I wrapped a piece of electrical tape around every other socket in my rack, 5/16, 7/16, 9/16, 11/16, 13/16.
The Jalopy Journal
