I use CDI 1/2 the money of Snap-On and its made by Snap-On
Things to consider from a Snap on guy
"I'm a ME for Snap-on and heavily involved in the developing and testing of torque micrometers, dial and beam wrenches and audible beam wrenches...not to mention our company is a world leader in torque calibrators that measure compression, tension, torque and angle.
Our company has done idividual testing on Craftsman torque wrenches with the roller bearing cam and found them to be an outstanding torque wrench and found that most of them will hold +/- 4% CW and +/- 6% CCW tolerances after 5000 cycles at full range in both directions.. To say the least we were impressed, because 80% of torque wrench mfg. that we see and test usually have a tough time passing the cycle, endurance, and overload testing. Also I'm fortunate to see what the end user does to a torque wrench when not used in the correct manner and the main culprits are the Army the Marines and Boeing. I will do a break down of applications and care of Snap-on Torque wrenches, some of these can apply to Craftsman, since they are very accessible to the general public.
Snap-on
QC, QD , QJ series torque are bi-directional click style. and are accurate from 20% of full scale to full scale, accuracy tolerance of +/- 4% CW & +/- 6% CCW. Always wind down the wrench to lowest reading on the scale after usage, even though we use a valve quality spring, if a torque wrench is left at 60% to 100% of full scale the spring will lose its free-length causing the torque wrench to lose its calibration. Also if you must, and have to break off a stubborn fastener, wind the torque wrench to 100% of scale, so that hopefully you wont do any damage to the cam and the pivot block..but using a breaker bar is highly suggested. BTW these rules apply for the Craftsman torque wrenches you buy from Sears.
The Snap-on TQ series torque wrenches are uni-directional and have a tolerance of +/- 4% CW from 20% of full scale to full scale and should only be used in the clockwise (CW) direction only, because even though its considered a "clicker", its design integrity is beam with a trigger and will suffer beam damage or lose its calibration if used to break off fasteners...they are very much like dial torque wrenches, only significant difference is a dial torque wrench has a mechanical movement...
Beam style wrenches are very in acurrate and position sensitive and the only thing they are good for is checking drag.
Dial wrenches are great for accuracy, Snap-on has models that are +/- 1% tolerance in both directions. But are also position and gravity sensitive and should be used in a controlled environment."
lease: Also, Mac make some nice stuff.
