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tool included in a box from an estate sale
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
I feel like I knew what this thing was right up until I had one. Two tool id site had no idea, and one said it's a ball joint separator, but I can't find any that look like this, and I swear I've seen them in stores, but can't remember where.
Maybe a type of bearing press?
Possibly a flaring tool...
Yep... https://www.danco.com/product/flaring-tool/
Definitely a flaring tool for creating flared ends for copper or soft metal tubing. It was a tool they were still teaching us to use in automotive classes in the late 1980s.
We learned how to make single layer flares and double layer flares with those.
Learned all of it and then never needed to use one ever.
We still use them all the time in HVAC-R for refrigerant piping. Flare fittings are one of the best and easiest ways to have a reliably leak free but still easily removable connection.
That makes sense. It didn't come with the other part, but there's a bunch at a thrift store nearby, which must have been where I've seen it before.
If anyone wants to learn how it is done here’s a good vid on the subject: https://youtu.be/_Tm6N5l69_c