I am moving from USA to France in November. I have a few quality air tools (think Snapon) for automotive mechanical and body work that I hate to give up. Are adapters available to convert air supply from the US to EU standards? Anyone know good sources for compressors, air tools and parts? If my orbital sander takes 5” sanding discs, am I going to hate life trying to find replacement discs that fit?
If I have to leave all my tools behind, which brands out there do people recommend? I’m open to anything from Harbor Freight equivalents to Snapon and Rupes equivalents!
I would think there are air chucks with EU standard nipples and NPT threads to screw into your tools. Snap-on is sold worldwide and I do not think the cut different threads into their tools for different continents.
Bring some fittings with you so you can make up adapters, there are a few different ends in the EU, Schrader being quite popular but not by all means the only ones and NPT doesn’t fit into BSP which is more EU in a lot of cases.
There’s not really a Harbour Freight equivalent here as far as I know, but the larger hardware/DIY chains have their own brands that probably come from the same Chinese factory.
Better quality hand tools are from Facom, Bahco and Drakkar.
There’s a range of decent compressors from Scheppach, but they’re aimed at DIY/hobby users and not full on workshop use.