Torque Wrench

londonTiger

TrickyWicky wrote: »

For what are supposed to be precision instruments, it's shocking just how many of these are sold unsealed. My halfords one had no plastic wrapping around it at all - just a plastic tube that could be unscrewed by anyone and a worthless certificate of calibration that could be printed in the managers office (heck judging by the damage it did it probably was).

You were warned not to get a cheap TW, I said it wouldn't work out happily and now you're here telling us you've been had :T

Can't comment about the test you've done but if you've followed a guide online about testing it and its not doing as expected then its knackered.

Do yourself a favour, get it refunded, save some money up and buy a proper TW like a digital one.

what do you think differentiates mechanical TW with digital ones? Don't they have the same basic mechanism to range the torques? Except the digital take digital reading and make a beep sound.

TrickyWicky

londonTiger wrote: »

what do you think differentiates mechanical TW with digital ones? Don't they have the same basic mechanism to range the torques? Except the digital take digital reading and make a beep sound.

If you'd like to buy me one so I can dismantle it I'll tell you lol. All I know is that the digital TWs are all the rage - just like digital micrometers which are very accurate (and yes at just £20 I did buy one of those from lidl lol).

Seriously you get what you pay for. A decent TW will cost you over £100. Anything for £20 is just .. well not great as you've found out. My partner bought me a cheap TW years ago and the first one had a duff mechanism. Sent it back and got a replacement but I still wasn't confident in it. It now lives on my partners side of the bed in case anyone ever breaks in etc.

As for doing up wheel bolts, I do them up tight by hand then apply my breaker bar and stand on it with one foot. When the bar won't move the bolt anymore thats good enough for me!

cyclonebri1

londonTiger wrote: »

Hi I've ran into a problem with my torque wrench purchase - I've been sent a faulty one i think.

I ordered this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-34570-88-5-708-Inch-Pounds-Ratchet/dp/B0001K9T2O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361557901&sr=8-1

But i purchased an "open box" one - basically a goods return from another customer for 19.99 a bargain - I thought at the time.

It's become apparent that I've been passed on a faulty one - amazon have just taken a good return that was indicated as being faulty by a previous customer and just resold it onto me.

I will be returning it of course.

I've followed this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUD81N_TlS8

length 8 inches, hung a 15kg barbell plate (33lbs) on the 8 inch mark - completely lifted it off the ground and the torque wrench didn't budge at all.

I tested it with the lowest setting 88.5 in/lbs or 10nm.

Doing the math I applied 8 x 33 = 264 in/lb of force and it didn't make the wrench budge at all.

I didn't hear a click and the wrench stayed solid without releasing at all. Have I got this right? I've never used a torque wrench before - I'm assuming there's no lock or any other feature preventing it from behaving as it should. Normally it should click and release pressure right?

Thanks

Only the cheapest and simplest TW will not give an audible "click when loaded.

It must be faulty.

Standard test, clamp the square in a vice and apply torque, the wrench will "clack" at zero or above.

Without offence, what should be a dead straight forward purchase seems to be going completely tits up for you???????????????????????????

londonTiger

UPDATE 24/02/2013: TW not faulty, it works pretty well read post 61.

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Only the cheapest and simplest TW will not give an audible "click when loaded.

It must be faulty.

Standard test, clamp the square in a vice and apply torque, the wrench will "clack" at zero or above.

Without offence, what should be a dead straight forward purchase seems to be going completely tits up for you???????????????????????????

I dont have a vice, I just took a long adjustable wrench and clamped it around the square on the torque wrench, and then lifted the TW with it's weight strapped around the mid point of the handle. Kept the torque wrench paralell to the floor at all times and left it up. Didn't click or release tension at all. The description on the website does say it's supposed to gently release when the max torque has been reached - so it's definitely faulty.

I understand that there is a risk when buying open box items (this was a goods return from another customer). I'm just annoyed that amazon took someone elses goods return which they no doubt reported as faulty amnd put it back on their shelves to sell on to another customer.

I have been given a full refunded, including free return postage - but it's a complete waste of my time, as I was looking forward to doing some work on the car this weekend.

TrickyWicky

londonTiger wrote: »

I was looking forward to doing some work on the car this weekend.

What sort of work? If its engine head don't use a cheap TW (as I continue to say) they just aren't reliable enough.

Wig

Cool video ! :cool:

Have you checked your torque wrench is

A) being lifted up by you so as to create a clockwise turning force onto the square drive when viewed from "your side" of the TW? i.e. a nut tightening force.
not set up in reverse mode so that it would need an anti clockwise force to create the click

Put a socket on the end, take it to your cars wheel nuts set it up to 70Nm and try to turn the wheel nut tighter, you should get a click. If not, turn the ratchet around and see if you now get a click. When you get a click with a tightening force you will know it is set up for clockwise direction.

Now try your weight set up again. I checked your calculation and it looks good to me
8 inches ....33Lbs = 29.8 Nm or 264 inLb

molerat

TrickyWicky wrote: »

What sort of work? If its engine head don't use a cheap TW (as I continue to say) they just aren't reliable enough.

How do you know that any torque wrench is accurate ? I have seen incredibly expensive ones that are way out.

londonTiger

TrickyWicky wrote: »

What sort of work? If its engine head don't use a cheap TW (as I continue to say) they just aren't reliable enough.

all torque wrenches have high tolerare at the low end of torques. That's why for engine head work you need a small TW geared towards lighter torques like 5nm to 30nm.

I want to it gear oil drain/fill plug tighteining. I'm just going to do this up using guesswork and then properly tightening the holes using a working torque wrench next time.

londonTiger

UPDATE 24/02/2013: TW not faulty, it works pretty well read post 61.

Wig wrote: »

Cool video ! :cool:

Have you checked your torque wrench is

A) being lifted up by you so as to create a clockwise turning force onto the square drive when viewed from "your side" of the TW? i.e. a nut tightening force.
not set up in reverse mode so that it would need an anti clockwise force to create the click

it's a ratchet type torque wrench so it is compeltely loose one direction, and [supposed to] apply force the other direction up to the set torques. So this isn't an issue. If I had it the wrong way round - the torque wrench would just spin down and become vertical, let alone pick up the weight.

Wig wrote: »

Put a socket on the end, take it to your cars wheel nuts set it up to 70Nm and try to turn the wheel nut tighter, you should get a click. If not, turn the ratchet around and see if you now get a click. When you get a click with a tightening force you will know it is set up for clockwise direction.

Now try your weight set up again. I checked your calculation and it looks good to me
8 inches ....33Lbs = 29.8 Nm or 264 inLb

I've packed it up ready to send it back to amazon. I don't see how this test will produce different results to be honest. Maybe I'd try if it was out of the box but now it's too much of a hassle to take it out. Already hung a 15kg plate at the lowest torque settings . Exactly 3X the max load and it doesn't click.

Maybe -- just maybe it works fine on the highest end - but it's just too much of a risk for me to take. I think something wrong with the "release" or clicker. Where it's not releasing right.

londonTiger

Wig wrote: »

Cool video ! :cool:

Now try your weight set up again. I checked your calculation and it looks good to me
8 inches ....33Lbs = 29.8 Nm or 264 inLb

yes, I set the torque wrench up to 88.5 in/lb (10nm) and it wouldn't click or release.. 3x the load.