Tool review: Craftsman double flare kit

[In The Ten Ring]

I bought the Craftsman 45 degree double flare kit back in 2013 from www.sears.com and it works! It does single, double, and bubble flares with ease on Poly Armor tubing. I haven't tried it on anything else. Price was $60.00 I think. Marked "Made in USA."

Just be sure to squeeze the crap out of it in the vise to keep it from moving upwards on you but that's probably a problem with me and not the tool.

[bbcmudtruck]

I have the same kit. I have been building new brake lines for the entire truck and decided on using Nicop tubing. I couldn't get the Craftsman tool to do a consistent double flare on 3/16" Nicop line. I even tried three different brands of dies and basically had the same result. I ended up getting a CTA inline flaring tool and it works excellent on the Nicop tubing, perfect flare every time. I havn't tried any other size of tubing with the Craftsman tool though. How are you getting bubble flares with it?

[jjzepplin]

subbed

[In The Ten Ring]

There was a fellow on the forum that suggested I flip the tool over so that the flat side (no recesses) is up. That is the side I use to get a bubble flare. I did it the same way that one would get a single flare, just on the the flat side of the jig.

Poly Armor tubing is all I have ever tried to bend or flare so I can't compare it to anything else. I am (so far) a big fan of the material.

[bbcmudtruck]

Right on. I tried the Nicop, Poly Armour, Edelman (Orielly's brand, coated like the Poly Armour) and regular steele brake tubing. Of all four I tried, the Nicop was by far the easiest to work with. The Poly Armour was more rigid than the Edelman and pretty close to the same as working with the regular steel brake tubing. Despite trying the different dies, I just couldn't get the consistency from the Craftsman tool. The tool itself is very well built and I decided to keep it around. If I ever needed to flare anything bigger than the 3/16" brake tubing, I will definitely give it a try. So far, the CTA inline flaring tool I got is flawless for the Nicop tubing in 3/16". I also had a thread up about all this not too long ago. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=664937

[dirtyjim]

with the standard double flare tools like the craftsman one pictured I've never been able to get good flares in 3/16, every other size comes out fine though.
before I upgraded to an eastman professional inline flare tool for all m lines I used an otc 3/16" inline flare for 3/16".
after using the Eastman tool i'll never use anything else, not cheap but worth every penny