Thrashed the Blue Point in 6 flares, broken stem and deformed cone...got my money back from the Snap On truck, borrowed my brothers old Sears unit and works excellent.
The KD, Imperial, Blue Point double flare sets that I have had all performed well. Easy to learn to do perfect double flares. Used my old Imperial set almost daily when we used to stretch and shorten hydraulic brake trucks in the old days. Never a problem. Just avoid the chain parts store/harbor freight type sets, they will be a headache. Edit: based on some of the comments posted, maybe the new Snap On and Blue Point sets are not what they used to be.
I use my Blue Point. Broke the 3/16 die years ago and just bought Harbor Frieghts kit and use the dies. Works great and beats chasing down a snap on truck.
In looking at the Mastercool kits I see there is an additional kit available of dies to form 37 degree flares. When would you need these ?
Im no expert but did a bunch of flares on my car. I think mines a kd and I broke 3/16. bad technique. I finally used a cheapo from autozone. it worked fine. honestly for me it was all technique and only a little to do with the tool. until id figured out how to do it by screwing up a ton of them, the tool didn't make much difference except how much abuse at my hands it could take if you don't have the patience or time to learn, that mastercool sure will beat the learning curve! many nights I wished id find one under my pillow!! :-D
I bought a cheap, hand-held unit at Northern Tool several years ago and it was almost unusable. My dad recently gave me my grandfather's nearly identical hand-held unit that probably dates back to the 1940's. The difference is stunning to say the least. It's made out of much better material and produces beautiful flares.
The Eastwood tool works great making perfect flairs, but it must be clamped in a vise which makes it imposible to flair a line already on the car.
I have used a Blue Point for over 30 years with no problems. With that being said one thing to do before a double flair is after cutting the tube you clean out the line with a ream, then file the end flat before making the flair. This was taught to me by an old mechanic and the tip he gave me then still works good to this day. Try it, you will not have to redo a double flair a second time.
the quality of lines you are flairing makes a huge difference! slow and steady with some practice on extra line before i make the real ones.
Good advice. But if your tool is garbage, you will have to redo the flare a near-infinite number of times because it will come out wrong, no matter what you do. After messing around with cheap hand-held ones for a week or so, I went looking for something better. I found that the best brand name hand held ones cost over $100, so that wasn't exactly a cheap option. I wound up buying the Mastercool hydraulic unit online. Yes, it's expensive. But I finished the lines in an hour, instead of messing with them for days! And that was well worth it to me. http://www.tooldiscounter.com/ItemDisplay.cfm?lookup=MAS71475
My snap on doulble flare kit at work has 25+ years of hard use and still is in good shape I bought a new one to use at home 7 or 8 years ago it seems like it will be a good tool but its to soon to tell WE have nearly quit buying new snap on stuff in our business except for wrenches and hard chrome tools as the quality and parts availability of their stuff has gone to shit I hate to say it but I wouldn't buy a new snap on anymore those guys are asleep at the wheel !
I have owned the Snap on by Imperial for 30 years and it works fine. I have the Mastercool and it works fine. I have the cheapo Snap on small one and it works fair. Just bought a new on from SUR and R tools and it is the bomb. It looks like the Eastwood one.
Another vote for the Mastercool 71475 ... They have actually come down in price since I bought mine a few years ago. I see them on eBay for just over 3 hundred dollars. They were 4 hundred dollars plus. All this is in the kit ... plus the hydraulic flaring tool. 71201 Hydra-Flare Assembly 71097-01 45° Flaring Cone Push-Connect Adapters Push-Connect Die Sets 71204 1/4 Adapter 71214 1/4 Die Set 71205 5/16 Adapter 71215 5/16 Die Set 71206 3/8 Adapter 71216 3/8 Die Set GM Fuel Line Adapters GM Fuel Line Die Sets 71405 5/16 Adapter 71415 5/16 Die Set 71406 3/8 Adapter 71416 3/8 Die Set 45º & Double Flaring Adapters 45º & Double Flaring Die Sets 71097-03 3/16 Adapter 71097-13 3/16 Die Set 71097-04 1/4 Adapter 71097-14 1/4 Die Set 71097-05 5/16 Adapter 71097-15 5/16 Die Set 71097-06 3/8 Adapter 71097-16 3/8 Die Set 71097-08 1/2 Adapter 71097-18 1/2 Die Set Metric Bubble Flaring Adapters Metric Bubble Flaring Die Sets: 71475-4M 4.75mm Adapter 71475-14M 4.75mm Die Set 71475-6M 6mm Adapter 71475-16M 6mm Die Set 71475-8M 8mm Adapter 71475-18M 8mm Die Set 71475-10M 10mm Adapter 71475-110M 10mm Die Set 71475-PB Custom Molded Plastic Box for 71475
The Jalopy Journal
