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Yea or Nay? Crescent's X6 Pass-Through 3-in-1 Wrench Set
Good design or gimmick?
My selection of cheap sockets is a cobbled-together mess, and I hate having to maintain both Imperial and Metric sizes. I can hardly read the faint etchings on the sides, and it often happens that I'm tightening a nut onto a too-long bolt, causing the socket to bottom out and wedge itself onto the post. And because I bought the sockets piecemeal, there's no carrying case; I store and transport them on a magnetic knife rack, with occasionally disastrous results. It also means the ratchet handle and sockets often become separated, which is why I haven't been able to find the handle for the past two days.
Enter a caption (optional)To solve all these problems, I decided my next tool purchase would be pass-through sockets that are laser-etched for legibility and come in a case that keeps them all together with the handle. I've been poking around and the design of this one, the Crescent X6 set, initially seemed promising:
I'd still have to carry an additional crescent wrench to hold onto the bolt head while I tighten the nut, but it does seem handy to give the handle some extra functionality.
Then I took a closer look at the design. With the laser etching, it's a shame that they wasted visual real estate with the brand name and part number, rendering the more important size numbers squint-worthy:
Enter a caption (optional)The approach Craftsman takes seems much more sensible. Even if we make the photos small, you can see these are more readily legible:
Enter a caption (optional)The X6 carrying case doesn't look so hot, but I'd live with it if it fits in a drawer and holds everything securely:
Enter a caption (optional)That being said, I'm skeptical that the reversible angled jaw would suffice for pipe work, and is eight inches really enough leverage? It also occurs to me, by looking at the photo below, that once you flip it 'round to the socket side you're really only getting five to six inches of leverage.
Enter a caption (optional)Lastly I've never tried the combo metric/Imperial sockets; I know the difference between sizes is only 0.1mm or so, but for those of you who've used them, is that difference enough to strip a stubborn bolt? I'm particularly interested in that latter point because I've noticed that the quality of fasteners seems to be declining these days.
Enter a caption (optional)Verdict time, socket-users among you: Yea or nay on these? Good design, or gimmick?
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Comments
Just came across this article and I've had this set for ~3 years so figured I'll throw in my two cents quickly. I'm a Maintenance Technician at a youth facility so am typically working on 10-15 different things per day, ranging from appliance repair to pool pumps to building decks. Thus, I need to be able to travel light and have flexibility in my tools. For my purposes, this set has worked GREAT. Its compact and light, but covers lots of possible uses. Of course, it doesn't do any of them quite as well as "the right tool", but it does get the job done prob 80% of the time. I agree w/ the various negative comments... if you're a mechanic working on cars all day, this is not the set for you. If you're trying to bust stubborn rusted nuts free, this is not the set for you. But if you need a flexible all around set that can cover a lot of applications, this works great.
I have a Kobalt passthrough socket set that I got a few years ago and the issue I've had is the sockets are so much bigger in diameter that I couldn't fit them in the areas I needed the passthrough for. I was mostly working on automotive interiors and didn't feel like getting a set of deep-sockets and thought this design would work great. If you have a ton of room around your hardware its awesome, especially for turning nuts onto all-thread. Besides that The sockets have been too bulky for the applications I would want to use them on
Thanks Jimmy, it's this kind of "Ah, I didn't think of that" input I was looking for.
- Rain
I have a set of Metrinch combination SAE/Metric sockets, which I absolutely love. They do really well on nuts/bolts from both standards, and are surprisingly effective on fasteners that I have rounded off (usually by trying an adjustable wrench first). Not sure how well the X6 grabs the flats vs. the corners, though. Metrinch uses a six-point design, sort of like the receptacle on the X6 handle.
Thanks for the input! Sounds like the 0.1mm difference isn't an issue.
I've never heard of anyone referring to a ratchet as a 'ratchet handle' before in my entire life.
There is something to be said about having the right tools for the job
If you’re worried about stubborn bolts you defiantly want to stay
away from 12 point sockets and stick with 6.
Furthermore, who wants to
pull on a rusted 5/8” bolt with the business end of an adjustable wrench in
their hand?
I thought the same....
I've heard it suggested many times that ideally every nut and bolt should have either thread locker or anti-seize compound on it to start with, but we all know it never comes from the factory that way. When I deal with rusty stubborn bolts, I can usually go the .1mm you mentioned larger until the socket breaks the rust off. Then I can go down to the original size and get the nut off without rounding. Other times, you just need to save your sockets and use an angle grinder.
"ideally every nut and bolt should have either thread locker or anti-seize compound on it to start with" --I'd love to live in that world!