Another Metric Tool Gripe

[Dawn]

With virtually all electronics manufactured overseas and metric, it often makes me wonder what's going on with American tool importers and manufactuers. It's a fact of life with any service that you need metric tools as your primary tools. Yet, most all manufactuers sell primary sets as SAE. If anything, tool manufactuers here have been slowly paring down their metric offerings to abbreviated sets. You can buy limited nutdrivers and hex tools with gaps. Finding drills are virtually impossible unless you go mail order. Spanner sets are discontinuous. JIS crosspoint screwdrivers are almost impossible to find beyond 2 importers with Hozan being the primary in a #1 or #2. Companies like Snap-on, Stanley/Proto, and even the major Asian importers like Harbor Freight have comparitively little in the way of full metric despite their home field advantage. What gives? Everthing is Metric nowadays. Gaps in metric tools are explained away as the missing tools are unecessary due to standardization. Many commercial sets are missing 5.5,6,9,&12 nut drivers for example. Fractionals such as 4.5mm are rare outside of one Xcelite set and even the new company has been discontinuing a lot of the metric offerings. Japanese love the 12mm size on switch dress nuts. Another problem is deep pocket offerings in Metric. The SAE sizes are deep pocket, but the corresponing set of metrics are not. I just spent $80 USD on a Proto metric set that is only 1 1/2" deep while the exact same SAE set is continuous deep shaft.

Hardware is another issue alltogether. Try finding anything under 3 or 4mm here in any lengths or head types in machine screws. Washers and lock washers need to be nearest SAE sizes and often too thick with domestic production. Unless you go to Fleabay for imports, many metric fasteners are simply unavailable in replacement sizes. Even worse, try to find metric fine thread, secondary fasteners.

This doesn't make sense as everything here is imported, yet tool and imports keep being biased to SAE and limited to what industry appears to think as standards.

Is it the same outside this reactionary microcosm?

[nanofrog]

Not exactly wonderful, but this might help a little on the screwdriver side.

Metric Nut drivers: Wiha for 1.5 - 4.5mm (no hollow shaft in these sizes). http://www.wihatools.com/200seri/277serMM.htm. You can get 9 & 12mm in a different series if you
                               can do without hollow shafts (http://www.wihatools.com/300seri/341mmser.htm).
                                   
JIS: Moody (http://www.rjrcooltools.com/shop_item_detail.cfm?subcat_ID=137). Vessel offer what appear to
          be nice sets (http://www.rjrcooltools.com/shop_item_detail.cfm?subcat_ID=138). Between the two
          companies, you can create a set of continuous values #000 - #2.

Of course, the only way I know to get these or pretty much anything else is via the internet for me (precious little locally  ).

[robrenz]

Please fill in your country in your profile or tell us where you live.  You cant be talking about the US, at least not where I live.  My Harbor Freight has metric of practicaly every wrench, socket, nut driver, etc. Home depot an lowes carry metric fasteners and some tools. In the US MSC has just about everything man has ever created in tools and machinery. They are not usualy the lowest price but most locations are guaranteed next day delivery at regular UPS rates. And everything is in stock, really.
https://www1.mscdirect.com/CGI/NNSRHM?cm_re=HomePage-_-SiteLogo-_-HomePage

Best prices on European brand tools sold in US is Chads tool box
http://chadstoolbox.com/

[poorchava]

In the opposite direction obtaining imperial tools in eastern europe is pain in the ass.

My friend owns a Harley Davidson motorcycle and he used to have a really hard time obtaining tools to fix/mod it because each and every nut and screw is imperial. IIRC he ended up buying stuff directly from US. I've never seen a shop/retailer (who would want to do business with a private person) who would have any assortment of imperial tools :/

[G7PSK]

Is this the reason the Americans have not gone metric.

[SeanB]

I use both, as I use a mix of US and RestOfTheWorld equipment, as well as those odd Chinese sizes that are between every socket ( must be why they supplied a shifting spanner with the tool kit, I bought a cheap spanner kit to save my knuckles) and are nominally metric ( or at least the thread will fit a metric nut with a little gentle persuasion and some lube) and shyte quality.

I often get a mix of fasteners, especially if you are using pneumatic fittings where they are a mix, the air fittings being metric thread and imperial spanner, and the mounting being metric on imperial spacings.