To help make holiday shopping a bit easier encourage you to buy that high-buck bauble you’ve been drooling over, Snap-On is offering a 10% discount on select items and free shipping on most orders under $500. It seems that only a few items are discounted, but the free shipping is offered site-wide until December 31st. Reasonable exclusions apply – it’s hard to expect large, bulky items to be eligible for free shipping, but with Snap-On’s prices, few products under $500 fit this description.

Snap-On [Manufacturer]
Sale Items [Snap-On]

We’ve seen lots of swivel-head ratchets, but we’ve never seen one that swivels in this plane.  As PutnamEco – the reader who clued us in to this find — said, you can “start off like a screw/nut driver and finish like a regular ratchet.  This is one of those tools you don’t realize you need until you have it.”

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Sadly, Ace has closed most of their hardware stores near us over the last few years, so we don’t get into the stores much.  (We miss them, too.)  That’s why it tool TM reader Todd’s email to clue us in to this interesting practice: Ace carries Snap-on branded flashlights and gloves, but Todd says the tools don’t appear to carry Snap-on’s “Made in the USA” logos or Snap-on’s legendary warranty.

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I’ve heard about Snap-on’s new 7.2V cordless screwdriver (model CTS561) from a number of sources, and when I saw their email campaign today offering free shipping it goaded me into actually taking a close look at the specs.  Snap-on wants $130 for the CTS561 — almost exactly what Bosch is asking for the PS-20 “Pocket Driver,” which makes them an obvious comparison. 

After the jump we pit these two mini-drivers against one another in a “battle of the spec sheets.”

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We have a little cheapie code scanner — actually a couple of them — around the Toolmonger shop, but we aspire to one day pick up a serious unit, like Snap-on’s Ethos.  It’s the real deal, not only handling the standard OBDII codes, but reading pretty much anything a post 1980 car can send.

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Need an extension longer than the “short” one and shorter than the “long” one?  Snap-on’s new variable-length socket extensions might fill the bill.  They’re also spring-loaded so they’ll stay on the fastener.

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Snap-on recently released a couple of new micro pneumatic tools, including the slick-looking 3″ micro dual action sander pictured above.  Features include a one-piece polymer/composite housing, an oversized trigger — a big deal to anyone who’s had hand cramps from squeezing a trigger you can only get one finger around — and a diffused exhaust exiting at the bottom of the handle.

It spins at 15k RPM free, and draws 2.07 CFM at 90 PSI.  While this is obviously meant for prep work in a paint shop, it’d be incredibly useful around the home shop.  We’re spoiling for one to make small sanding projects easier.  You wouldn’t even need a ton of compressor to drive it.

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For those of you who own VWs and Audis and work on them regularly — you know who you are — Snap-on’s made life a little easier with a custom socket specifically designed to ease the removal and installation of Polydrive head bolts

No offense intended, but after working on my 944S2, I’ve sworn that I’ll never buy a German car again.  Lease one, maybe.  But not buy.  However, I know from email that more than a few of you are fans of the yellow, black, and red and are willing to do what it takes to keep ‘em running — even if that means removing the front of the car and moving the radiator into the “service position” to replace an alternator.

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When we saw the above in our email, we immediately wanted to cut it out and paste it over our significant others’ bathroom mirror.  Kudos to Snap-on for realizing that a) we do love chrome, b) fire = good, c) tools are a great gift for Valentine’s Day (even if all your SO can afford is a socket or two)!

As far as we can tell this missive doesn’t represent any special sale or discount, just a reminder to give (and hopefully receive) the gift that keeps on giving: tools.

If you get a chance, let us know in comments what tools under, say, $50 that you’d love to receive for Valentine’s Day.

Rob writes: “If you’ve ever struggled with getting a hose clamp off from an awkward place, you need these!  You just put the clamping head on the clamp and squeeze the handles — which lock – to open the clamp and hold it open to move it.  It’s a little on the spendy side if you don’t need them a lot, but it’s definitely the right tool for the job.”

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FYI: Snap-on’s offering 10% off some specialty items until December 20th.  For example:

• a 6-piece magnetic ratchet set in chrome for $59.81
• a 7-piece mini screwdriver combo set for $52.61

Good hunting.

10% Sale [Snap-on]

Trevor D. says that while this tool isn’t amazing, it does work great and is one of this favorites around the shop. He writes: “Run the reamer/deburring tool along the edge of a motor’s mating gasket surface, around freshly drilled holes, leading edges of oil seal cavities, and so on and – bam! – you get burr-free edges insuring a perfect seal and gouge free entry of any parts that will go right past that edge.  I use mine on steel, aluminum, plastic, you name it.”

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This is probably out of the price range of all but the most hard-core automotive DIYers, but it’s still extremely cool and useful: This tool from Snap-on fits in a small suitcase and is powered by a 12V tap from the test vehicle but still manages to deliver detailed vehicle emission specs regarding carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrous oxide.

Besides doing your own emissions testing before you take your newly-modified ride down for inspection, this type of measuring gear can also help you dial in your performance vehicle’s tuning options and diagnose engine problems.

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Rick says: “As for my favorite tool — That’s gotta be my ratcheting screwdriver…  Anytime something needs fixing, I grab that first to go check it out.  If a friend calls that they have a loose door, busted door knob, some electric problem, or that their refrigerator door opens the wrong way, I just grab that screwdriver and the figure what else (if anything) I might need.”

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For the pros out there — or the DIYers who’d like to have a couple of sweet tools in their kit — Snap-on’s holiday 10% off sale continues with items swapping in and out of the “sale bin” pretty regularly.  They’ve added a few more true hand tools in the latest round, including a 3-piece quick release ratchet set — 1/4″, 3/8″, and 1/2″ drive — for $92.66.

Current 10% Sale Items [Snap-on, warning: temporary link]

Ahhh — the season of buying.  The season of deals.

There’s starting to trickle out folks, and here’s another one from Snap-on.  They’re offering 10% off some of their “essential” tools.  See the link below for the full list, but my favorite item: a 12-piece set of metric combo wrenches for $237.06 (regularly $263.40).

10% Off “Essential Tools” [Snap-on]

This new release from Snap-on caught my attention because — as anyone who’s been in the Toolmonger shop can tell you — I love a clean and organized shop.  Add to that the fact that I’m planning on picking up a set of T-shaped hex wrenches this season, and this — or something like it — is just what I need.

Heck, even if I don’t purchase the wrenches from Snap-on, it’d probably be worth the $16 this thing costs just to not have to build one.

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