Xcelite puke....
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"Mifflin Clay"
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,177
Likes: 4
From: Mifflin, PA
Xcelite puke....
Thiose of you who have Xcelite tools - mainly screwdrivers, nut drivers, etc - what do you do about the awful smell these plastic handled tools leave in yuor tool box when they've been closed up for a while? Most nauseating smell I've come across in a while. I've tried cleaning them, wiping them down with WD40, nothing kills the smell, and it lingers in the tool box long after the tool is gone.
Elder User
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 540
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From: Northern MD
Excelite screwdrivers have had a mildewy-vomity type smell since at least the mid to early 80's. It's either the plastic they use for the handles, or somebody is actually puking on them on the assembly line. 
And here I thought I was the only person who ever found them stinky.
And here I thought I was the only person who ever found them stinky.
Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 1999
Posts: 2,007
Likes: 0
From: Oregon
They do have an odor all their own. Not sure what that is. Something in the handles I'm sure. I've got the small nutdriver set and the micro mini screwdriver set, they both smell the same. But the "torque amplifier" doesn't seem to smell. Wonder if its got something to do with the ink used to color? Come to think of it, even the side cutters and needle nose kinda smell. It's the secret X material in the Celite. (BTW, The X is pronounced like a hard Z, but if you say it like that, hardly anyone will know what you're talking about.)
Jake - http://www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/xcelite/index.cfm
Jake - http://www.cooperhandtools.com/brands/xcelite/index.cfm
Last edited by Howdy; Jan 16, 2006 at 07:23 AM.
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jan 2002
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From: GANS
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Senior User
Joined: Mar 2004
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the material is cellulose acetate for the handles, a wood based plastic, as are most transparent colored screwdriver handles
only a few US suppliers are doing this process, the EPA stuff costs too much for the solvents that are used to make the handles smooth and shiny
btw, those screwdrivers are still US made..........Sumter, SC
only a few US suppliers are doing this process, the EPA stuff costs too much for the solvents that are used to make the handles smooth and shiny
btw, those screwdrivers are still US made..........Sumter, SC
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Cross-Country
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 85
Likes: 4
From: Flagler Beach, Fl
My dad has had a couple sets of those nut-drivers and screwdrivers in the kitchen junk drawer of each house they have owned since the late 60s/early 70s when I was a kid. I always wondered what had happened to them to make them smell so bad. They sure came in handy but pop open the plastic case the sets came in and the smell would hit you like a brick. I ran across them last Christmas during a visit. Man, they still smell horrible. It's funny to learn after all these years that they all smell like that. 
Posting Guru
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,097
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From: Home, at last!
Here is the trick to Xcelit, Junk them, throw them away. I have been an electronic service technician for over 25 years. I have never and will never like xcelit tools. Expensive junk. Wow, one exception. I do have a handheld reamer that I have been using all of these years.
Just my opionion!
Just my opionion!
Logistics Pro
Joined: Jan 2002
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From: GANS
Originally Posted by berkad
Here is the trick to Xcelit, Junk them, throw them away. I have been an electronic service technician for over 25 years. I have never and will never like xcelit tools. Expensive junk. Wow, one exception. I do have a handheld reamer that I have been using all of these years.
Just my opionion!
Just my opionion!
I prefer klein since I am a phone service tech, but the short xcelits are nice for tight spaces, like inside PCs, and whatnot.
New User
Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
Excelite smell
I think the puke smell comes from a reaction between the case plastic and the handle plastic. I left mine for a long time in the case and there was a cloudy deposit on the nut-driver handles which washed off with a wire wool pad. I have seen this type of thing with plastic cased instruments stored in foam and the plastic turns sticky.
