Torque wrench

[68vitesse]

Thinking of buying a new torque wrench and was wondering about the digital ones, any body any thoughts?.

 

Regards

 

Paul

[Pete Lewis]

just make sure they dont use silly unique batteries   with little use they go flat can be expensive

 

i have a couple of electronic ones , one has torque to yield possible  , but always revert to my calibrated Norbar which i had as a 21st present  now its 50 years old still good as new  

 

its more important they are calibrated rather than how they work.

 

Pete

[Clive]

No idea about digital type, but I would say that quality is paramount. 

And thinking about it, what are the advantages of the digital type (maybe a few seconds quicker to set?)

[Unkel Kunkel]

It depends ..

 

On what you want to use it for

On how much you want to spend (range is very wide  £20 odd to several  hundreds of pounds)

 

 

Range 

If you are looking at using it on a Spitfire then I think the largest torque setings are about 150 ft lbs (rear hub .crank pulley) mostly less.10-65

So buying one that only goes to 45ft lbs isnt going to help.Equally buying one that goes over 200ft ilbs isn't either

If you think you may use it for other things you may want a bigger range-the front hub nut on a modern VW for example(!!)  

So it is horses for courses -I have a small cheapo Draper  torque wrench of the bendy bar type, a trusty  old Norbar (200ftlbs)  and a big bugger old Britool.

Type

simplest and the earliest ever made, I think, is the bendy beam type.- cheap..Accuracy depends on reading the scale which  you will find can be really awkward in many situations  such as under a car and therfore  a major minusalso therefore  no" fail safe" to prevent over tightening if cant see scale accurately .Otherwise they are fine..

The  various  Clicking and  types have the advantage that once set you don't have to peer at the needle like a bendy bar type and no risk of going beyond setting.

Dont know about digital but  note Pete's point about batteries - I have a small lathe which has digital read outs and the batteries  have always given up when I want to use it the darned thing...

 

Drive

Square drive -3/4" is for the big things,tractors ,lorries, LandRovers etc etc- not little Triumphs   so 1/2"  ( 3/8"  less beefy but a lot of it around and if  if every else you've got is that size..)

 

There are loads of torque wrenches for sale these days..Auto Express did a sort of Survey 2015 and Halfords came top. .Hfds. do  have some really impressive stuff -worth looking there,,Machine Mart.?.  ....even B&Q do them ... 

 

Good hunting

 

 

. 

[JohnD]

Those 'bendy bar" ("Beam") torque wrenches - are they impervious to going out of calibaration?

The beam could 'take a set', but the scale can be moved around the beam to take small outs.

 

And opinions on the digital adaptor gadgets?  They can make any wrench/wrecker bar into a torque wrench, and take up very little space.

 

 

My Xmas pressy was a small, upright tool chest, with wheels and an extending handle, because i can barely lift the top box into the car to go racing.

This will need the tools transferring each time, but I can wheel it up a ramp into the car.

The drawers are too narrow to take my torque wrench, s this would do the job - it's mainly for wheel nuts anyway.

 

 

John

 

 

[Pete Lewis]

John many years back we trialed with atlas copco a similar kit to use on progressive air wrenches to have one power source and allow controlled diferent torque requirement on the line they were early techy electronic in the 80s 90s but worked fine

 

and size makes them very versatile

 

pete

[Pete Lewis]

This prompted me to check the batteries in my little used Snap On lecy unit and

 

I had already removed them but the ones in the endoscope were flat

 

new year resolution ......check out the unused tools , dump old batteries and a wipe of oil after a clean up

 

Happy new year

[Colin Lindsay]

 

If you are looking at using it on a Spitfire then I think the largest torque setings are about 150 ft lbs (rear hub .crank pulley) mostly less.10-65

So buying one that only goes to 45ft lbs isnt going to help.Equally buying one that goes over 200ft ilbs isn't either

 

 

 

 

It also depends on how many times you intend to use it at such high settings. If you're doing a one-off job on the rear hubs - then buying a top-of-the-range garage-spec professional tool might not be the best economy; going for a good mid-range item rules out the bottom-end imported cheapies but also means you don't buy an over-specced wrench that you'll never get the best use out of. It's deciding how to best buy something that will last years, but then might never be used for years....

 

(As I mentioned more than once recently when my garden grape broke earlier this week... when I bought it, a friend looked at it and stated that he wanted something good quality that would last, and not a toy. It was £4.99 back in 1991, so 25 years wasn't bad.)

[AidanT]

I think John is right here. I purchased a digital adaptor mainly to test my mid range manual that I've had since a teenager and have ended up using the adapter I can use it on my normal wrench or with my breaker bar for those high torque items

 

It cost the same as a mid range torque wrench but is much more flexible

 

Aidan

[Pete Lewis]

And dont forget many spanners are designed to a length such that a average pull by a 6 stone weakling or a 18st gorilla will give approx the right toque for the job

you dont get that with a ratchet head , its just one length

 

many torque figures were used to tool up unskilled or semi skilled operators to achive a consistent result

and repetative quality controls

Pete

[Mjit]

And opinions on the digital adaptor gadgets?  They can make any wrench/wrecker bar into a torque wrench, and take up very little space.

 

digital torque wrench adapter..jpg

Got one of these earlier in the year and don't think either of my traditional torque wrenches have been out of their boxes since. Part of the reason was a growing lack of faith in my big wrench...which the new digital one showed to be way out.

 

I know some people won't trust this new-fangled digital stuff but having spent time playing with stress gauges (what's doing the work inside the box) I'd trust them a lot further than I could throw a mechanical wrench.

[dougbgt6]

My Bri-tool is 40 years old and I remember several years ago, discussing with Uncle Pete how to calibrate it. I clamped the bit that goes on the socket in the vice and carefully hung a sack of water softener salt on the end. By adding and reducing the weight, gauged on the kitchen scales and by much conversion of kilos to pounds, I deduced my torque wrench was......... OK.

 

It normally sits in the boot of my modern and was observed by a gentleman in blue, who thought it a good job it had the correct size socket for my wheel nuts on the end, else he might have concluded it had another purpose.    

[68vitesse]

Ended up buying a 3/8 drive norbar 15-75 ftlb, which also had the advantage of being on offer.

So much nicer to use than my old cheapy one, have an old bendy bar one for the few higher torgue nuts i.e rear hub nut.

 

Thankyou all for your comments.

 

Regards

 

Paul

[Colin Lindsay]

 

(As I mentioned more than once recently when my garden grape broke earlier this week... when I bought it, a friend looked at it and stated that he wanted something good quality that would last, and not a toy. It was £4.99 back in 1991, so 25 years wasn't bad.)

 

My £4.99 grape lasted me 25 years, the replacement Spear and Jackson 15 year guarantee Neverbend model which cost me £29 bent on the first use. Illustrates this thread perfectly, I think. 

 

BTW has anyone seen the price of these digital torque thingies???

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-4-DR-DRIVE-TORQUE-WRENCH-DIGITAL-READOUT-ADAPTER-ADAPTOR-TOOL-LED-READOUT-/281157937055?hash=item417651a79f:g:BUsAAMXQtslRYu02