Slim pickin’s on E-Bay these days, and I need one for my RFH system. This is a single job tool and I’ll be selling it again when I’m done with it.
The majority of what I’m working with is 1/2″. If you’ve got extra fittings, particularly 1/2″ x 1/2″ NPT and want to be rid of these, I’m interested too.
Feel free to make offers either here or via an e-mail sent via my profile.
Thanks!
Replies
Why do you need your hands expanded? It's an old wive's tale that big hands equal...
I have huge hands but...
Edited 8/12/2005 10:33 pm ET by PaulBinCT
Picked one up covering three sizes at my local plumbing supply warehouse for $300 - not much more than they were selling for on Ebay at the time. I had enquired about it earlier but they were sold out. When they came in I grabbed one and the counterman rang it up for $400 and something. I said that I had previously been told it was $300. He said, OK, and rang it up for $300. So you may want to quibble a bit over price if they give you a high list price quote. (Wonder what he would have rung it up for if I had said $200???)
Been through it all: my OEM pricing on the unit is still far more than this thing is worth to me.
BTW: to the other smart @ss who replied- I don't need my hands expanded, thanks. In fact, I could use a reduction of one of my knuckles- I dislocated a finger during this job and the thing's still not right! Good news is my wife's happy- I can't remove my wedding ring until the swelling goes down!
As 4lorn said, try the plumbimg supply. Here they loan the tools if you buy their stuff.
Joe H
Thanks for the suggestion, but Emco won't be loaning me anything! And it would be tough to get somebody I didn't buy the tubing from to loan me the tooling!
The good news is, Jaco compression fittings work like a charm on this stuff and we get them for a good price. Not that I'll be using those for my permanent installation, but it got me through my slab pours yesterday.
Re: "And it would be tough to get somebody I didn't buy the tubing from to loan me the tooling!"Ask anyway. If the supply house has the tool available perhaps a low-level employee can be persuaded with cash to arrange for a loan during a weekend. Hungry folk who are shy of cash will often be more responsive than the boss at the main counter or office. The ones who take the two hour lunch on the clock who can make the call from on high. Even if you get a surly counter guy talk it out. Lay on the charm and curry sympathy. Get them to like you and your half way there. A pretty daughter or wife in 'Daisy Dukes', a kilt if they go that way, could lend an edge even if there is actually no transaction beyond looking. Work it. Sell it.Also check the rental houses. Used to be, a decade or so ago, they had only the basics. more recently I visited one and was amazed at the array of specialized tools they had on hand.
You might try giving the plumbing, HVAC supply house that sells the tubing a call and see if they either loan or rent the tool you need or know someone who does.
Electrical supply houses sometimes have Hipress tools, ground impedence testers and such for loan. They don't advertise it and focus on regular customers. Idea being that small shops may not be able to afford some of these tools and if they make them available the small shops get more and larger jobs which means more supplies sold and higher profits.
I don't know plumbing supply houses would do the same but it is something you could ask about. I suspect that if you bought enough of the tubing and fittings they would help you find a tool for you to use just to make the job happen.
You might try local contractors. Particularly if your friendly with a few. They might loan you the tool out of friendship or for a nominal charge.