This may be one of those ongoing arguements but as title. I need some clamps for welding and some proper tools (broke my old cheap ones trying to remove the front bumper...oops!).
Also while i remember, what did you use for measuring the angles on the tubes for the chassis?

Tools are best from Halfords. Their proffessional range are excellent quality, well priced AND english made!

For welding clamps, any quality will do. Don't bother with G-clamps, spring clamps are just as good.

Depends what you want.

I've bought some tools from MM which turned out to be absolute shite, as with anywhere avoid the cheap stuff. However, the Clarke socket set I got from them has had some serious abuse and has never let me down (its one of the lifetime guarantee ones - £32 seemed pretty good to me). They are usually helpful in store and are happy to find stuff.

Screwfix stuff usually seems better value but I've not bought a huge amount of stuff from there, mostly just nuts n bolts.

What about Halfords professional stuff? I got a set of 1/2" sockets for the breaker bar and they are superb, also lifetime guarantee.

Best tool buy? The compressor from Aldi

Iain

King Dicks and Britools at car boot sales!

Machine Mart have (or used to at least) a cheap set of clamps. 2x 2" G-clamps, 2x 4" G-clamps, 4x Q/R sash type clamps & a few plastic crocodile type clamps. I bought a set when I was stuck on a sunday where they had a VAT free day. I thought they wouldnt be up to much but I've used them for all sorts, well worth it.
I use Clarke pro 1/4" & 3/8" drive socket sets at work everyday & they've been excellent value but the ratchets were crap & have been replaced with teng, sockets & extensions are fine & you get imperial sizes too which I use a lot.

I used a machine mart protractor to mark out angles. I used some magnetic clamps and an assortment of mole grips to hold the tubing in place.

I too have bought items from MM which I have taken back after unpacking because of poor quality.
However, a tool I was happy with is their combination square set, which includes a 180 degree protractor and circle centre finder. The body is cast iron, rather than the usual aluminium found on cheap sets. It cost circa £24. A quality combination set from Mititoyo would cost near £150.

Mal

A lot of the engineering stuff in screwfix seems to be made by the same Chinese company Machine Mart use. They even sell stuff badged as Clarke.

So I'd go for whoever is cheaper, especially for something like clamps.

Also worth checking on ebay