Okay didly, so i've never bought an air tool in my life, except paint sprayers and the like for doing paint jobs. However it is coming up to Christmas and my mum wants to get my dad something for the garage so i suggested and air tools set.

Our price max is about £140 ($230-240). A must in the set is an impact driver and an air ratchet. We work in the old mm's here so non of that funny stuff tioy gave else where.

Im asking your help because i can find sets but have no idea what a good name is and good brand (apart from snap-on that we use on the farm) so am looking for some inspiration as to anyone who has had any experience or knows of any good sets i could purchase!

I found this set online and think it looks quite good however there is avery similar set with LESS pieces for more money?!  so that could be explained to me...

http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/Air-Tool-Kit-3pc-with-Accessories-Sealey-SA2003KIT?sc=2&category=86 3 piece

http://www.justoffbase.co.uk/Air-Tool-Kit-4pc-with-Accessories-Sealey-SA2004KIT 4 piece?


Thankyou for your help in advance!

Kasumi,

I can't speak about the Sealy brand, but I'll say this:

Do you have Ingersoll-Rand over there?  They're a US brand which is highly regarded among mechanics, machine shops, and factories.  They have a large impact and ratchet line, most of which is still made in America.

You get what you pay for.  A Chinese impact will work, but it won't develop nearly the torque of a more expensive impact.  Torque is the whole idea behind having an impact, so why not get a good one and leave it at that?  The air ratchet and drill can always come later.  (Regarding drills: I suggest a Sioux, Chicago Pneumatic, or Dotco)

If I were to buy another impact I would go for an IR-2135Ti  Yep, it's a $230 Titanium impact wrench, but it's also made for a production environment.  You'll inherit it in 40 years or so if you keep it oiled and the air supply clean. 

I assume you have a suitable air supply at home?  Even a $750 tool will perform poorly on an inadequate air supply.  For an impact to work well I like to keep my hose no longer than 30' with a 3/4" hard supply line up to the point where the hose takes over.  Long runs of small diameter hose will choke the gun.  As far as compressor size, I would consider 30-40 gallons and 3 HP to be the minimum to run an impact for any length of time.  You can get by on half that, but your "burps" will be shorter.   

For more air tool porn, check out:

usatco.com
browntool.com

yup what geep says

Thankyou for the advice! I will look into those, perhaps buy some separate tools rather than a set, as the set doesn't seem to have all the things you want in decent quality.

Yea we have a rather large compressor for running spray guns in the paint booth. So our compressor is abit overkill for running just one set of tools, Whats also useful about it is it has multiple line outs in various sizes to supply different tools.

Il have abit more of a hunt around!