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Tool questions

ailerons

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Have a couple questions on the tools required to outfit a workshop for a build. Purchased a used C214 pneumatic squeezer and am looking to buy 1) A few additional yokes, quick-change pins, and an adjustable ram.

Have found several things at Aircraft Tool Supply that are listed for about 60% of the price I'm finding everywhere else e.g. longeron yoke. Is there a difference in quality or something I should be looking for?

Same thing with clecos. They have a pack of 1/8" Kwik-Lok clecos priced at about 54 cents each. Found "surplus used 1/8" clecos on BrownTool listed for $ 1.75 each which they suggested would normally be $ 3.95/ea.

Feels like I must be missing something here?
 
Have a couple questions on the tools required to outfit a workshop for a build. Purchased a used C214 pneumatic squeezer and am looking to buy 1) A few additional yokes, quick-change pins, and an adjustable ram.

Have found several things at Aircraft Tool Supply that are listed for about 60% of the price I'm finding everywhere else e.g. longeron yoke. Is there a difference in quality or something I should be looking for?

Same thing with clecos. They have a pack of 1/8" Kwik-Lok clecos priced at about 54 cents each. Found "surplus used 1/8" clecos on BrownTool listed for $ 1.75 each which they suggested would normally be $ 3.95/ea.

Feels like I must be missing something here?

Yokes may be fine. ATS is pretty reliable.
Clekos are a concern. Do not buy any cleko if it is not Wedgelock. Most others have a thinner center pin and do not have as tight a grip. Wedgelocks are worth the cost. Clecolocks...not so much. I have about 500 to unload. I use the few Wedgelocks exclusively.
 
Not knowing any better, I bought both types of clecoes. Inadvertently found out that the Clekolock brand is good for initial assembly, particularly of the leading edge and fuel tank skin where the fit is very tight and the Wedgelocks are difficult to insert. After the holes are final drilled and dimpled it’s over to Wedgelock as the other will sometimes just fall out during riveting (that’s when I researched and discovered I had two different types!)

I haven’t noticed any difference in quality between the two, just a size difference in the center pin. Starting from scratch I would only buy Wedgelocks, but if someone gives you Clekolocks I wouldn’t turn them down.
 
righto let go buy some wedgeloks then!....which MR cleveland tools say are no longer available...why he has Kwiklok which fits better in dimpled holes....whereas I use the clecoloks initially as they fit nicely in the pre punched holes but can be loose in dimpled holes.

If you can find someone unloading second hand WL then buy them otherwise both the other brands have their uses and why i have 500 of each....the Kwikloks are a pain in punched holes and the clecoloks are a pain in dimpled holes....but use them the other way around and they work fine!...plus are cheap. but you have to keep them separated to make life easy so i have a box for each and colour the Kwiks for ease of identification.

Also buy the 4" no hole yoke from clemsen aeronautics. its a baby giraffe killer (when you see it you will know why!) but I love that thing! good price too.
 
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