Torque wrench for scope mounting etc. Amazon Heads up.

[Alantoo]

Amazon have a 1/4" drive torque wrench for £20 if anybody is looking for one for scope mounts, bicycle maintenance or any other small threads etc.

2.26-22.6 Newton metres 20-200 inch pounds.

Sportsmatch recommend 4mm ring screws at 30 inch pounds
5mm Dovetail clamp screws @ 66 inch pounds

Tacklife 1/4-inch Drive 20-200lbf-in/2.26-22.6Nm Torque Wrench Self Locking System,with 2.95-inch Extension Bar, 3/8 Tools

I don't understand how anybody can deliver a 24 tooth ratchet torque wrench weighing almost a kilogramme of well finished machined steel for £20 but seeing, holding and using is believing. This is not a plastic bodied screwdriver type but the conventional ratchet wrench form like my Snap On automotive type only for inch rather than foot pounds.

Alan

 

[Broadarrow]

I got a cheap Draper branded torque wrench for motorcycle repairs...smaller handle , easier access into tight areas...All my mates said ''it wont last long, it will be out of calibration '' etc etc ...Well I have had it 4 years now and had the calibration checked ate local garage - when he was having his equipment checked and it was spot on !!!

So ii would take a punt...for £20...free returns on Amazon...

 

[Alantoo]

I got a cheap Draper branded torque wrench for motorcycle repairs...smaller handle , easier access into tight areas...All my mates said ''it wont last long, it will be out of calibration '' etc etc ...Well I have had it 4 years now and had the calibration checked ate local garage - when he was having his equipment checked and it was spot on !!!

So ii would take a punt...for £20...free returns on Amazon...

I have done...sorry if that wasn't clear...The wrench feels just as robustly made as my Snap_On one which cost £120 or so on special offer twenty years ago!

Alan

 

[JTO]

Amazon have a 1/4" drive torque wrench for £20 if anybody is looking for one for scope mounts, bicycle maintenance or any other small threads etc.

2.26-22.6 Newton metres 20-200 inch pounds.

Sportsmatch recommend 4mm ring screws at 30 inch pounds
5mm Dovetail clamp screws @ 66 inch pounds

Tacklife 1/4-inch Drive 20-200lbf-in/2.26-22.6Nm Torque Wrench Self Locking System,with 2.95-inch Extension Bar, 3/8 Tools

I don't understand how anybody can deliver a 24 tooth ratchet torque wrench weighing almost a kilogramme of well finished machined steel for £20 but seeing, holding and using is believing. This is not a plastic bodied screwdriver type but the conventional ratchet wrench form like my Snap On automotive type only for inch rather than foot pounds.

Alan

That's the secondhand/used price, but still worth a punt.
I wonder why they get sent back, lack of adapters perhaps. I'll soon find out, as one's on it's way.
Never used one on a scope as yet!

 

[Alantoo]

That's the secondhand/used price, but still worth a punt.

Argh, the beasts! It was the new price when I bought it for £19.99 at the end of August and I even checked it to get the link before posting this morning and am sure it was still at £19.99...hmmm.

It is worth keeping an eye on that link on Amazon though...When I found this Tacklife wrench originally I didn't buy it then and they had sold out by the time I decided to get it. I bought an alternative at just over £40.00 but that had a different adjustment readout system...when the Tacklife one became available again in August I bought one and gave the other one to a friend.

I have just been on the Charles Tyrhwitt web site to buy another couple of pairs of cord trousers and their clever web site initially offered the trousers at £49.95 with a special buy two pairs deal @ £39.95 each... I dillied around and went to double check the label inside a previous pair for leg length and whether they were slim or classic fit and when I got back to the lap top....well blow me down but was I in luck! In that 5 minutes they had just happened to move the trousers I was interested in to the clearance section and there they were at £34.95 what a bargain! what amazingly good timing! BUY BUY BUY!

If you go back and look again now 15 minutes later they have reverted to £49.95! Clever web site Retail Psychology or what?

Alan

 

[FAHR451]

These companies all use the same software . Travel agents , retail outlets , insurance companies etc .and register how many times you have visited the page . After 2 or 3 hits you have to leave it for a day or so as the software knows you want to make a purchase quickly . The idea is a psychological trap - I wish I had bought it when it was up for £x ! Oh well I need it so..... ! To avoid the trap if there is a code with quote write it down . If you revisit and find the price escalating , you can often contact the company directly , give them the code and buy it for that original offer price under consumer law .

 

[Alantoo]

These companies all use the same software . Travel agents , retail outlets , insurance companies etc .and register how many times you have visited the page . After 2 or 3 hits you have to leave it for a day or so as the software knows you want to make a purchase quickly . The idea is a psychological trap - I wish I had bought it when it was up for £x ! Oh well I need it so..... ! To avoid the trap if there is a code with quote write it down . If you revisit and find the price escalating , you can often contact the company directly , give them the code and buy it for that original offer price under consumer law .

Good point I will remember to look for a code.

I have seen the price increase on subsequent visits when sorting out train travel across to the Dolomites last year...but eventually got them at the original figure...the same looking at flights to Memphis for next year. The Charles Tyrwitt site is the opposite though, the price went down. They must have thought I was havering or looking to buy trousers elsewhere...maybe leaving their page to visit Cotton Traders convinced them to try harder!

Alan

 

[Hornet 6]

The link shows a torque wrench, not a torque screw driver.
I would have to question the suitability of a conventional long wrench for doing small Allen, Torx or even slotted screws up.

Neil.

 

[JohnT]

They both apply the same torque, just less effort required.

 

[Alantoo]

The link shows a torque wrench, not a torque screw driver.
Snip...
Neil.

That must have come as a shock, I hope you were not mislead by the thread title!

Snip...
I would have to question the suitability of a conventional long wrench for doing small Allen, Torx or even slotted screws up.

Neil.

The longer the lever the better the feel and sensitivity I find with any hand powered tools.

To paraphrase JohnT ...30 inch pounds of torque is 30 inch pounds of torque whatever the implement used to indicate it.

If you have a problem physically getting the tool to the job that is another matter.

Alan

P.S. I think with these click type lever wrenches there is certainly the possibility that if you do not feel the click you could exert much more torque than with a screwdriver type...but even with my Snap-On one I always get somewhere handy by feel, and then do a series of stop and start-off again and let the inertia produce the click. I have noticed there can be a 10% or so difference if you just keep turning continuously until it clicks.

 

[Rusty Gate]

The link shows a torque wrench, not a torque screw driver.
I would have to question the suitability of a conventional long wrench for doing small Allen, Torx or even slotted screws up.

Neil.

Agreed, on a small thread you would actually loose feel. If its not clicked off you're highly unlikely to realise until you can feel a problem & by then to late. A hand twist is far easier to judge the feel even if its failed & cheaper than rings.

 

[Alantoo]

Agreed, on a small thread you would actually loose feel. If its not clicked off you're highly unlikely to realise until you can feel a problem & by then to late. A hand twist is far easier to judge the feel even if its failed & cheaper than rings.

As stated earlier I disagree.

If either tool does not click off you have a problem. "Highly unlikely" maybe if you are not focussed on what you are doing.

A rotational difference of 10 degrees is far more readily felt, gauged and regulated by a lever 250mm away from the pivot, than one which is only 20mm (or whatever half the diameter of the screwdriver form handle is).

How/why would you lose feel on a small thread?

If you were just using a standard (non-torque indicating) ratchet wrench I agree that you would be able to strip threads with less effort than with a screwdriver form tool.

But...it would still be easier to gauge the extra 45˚ turn or whatever from snug, to produce a consistent pressure.

Alan

 

[JohnT]

On reflection, I may have been a little intolerant in my comment. Perhaps it is an age thing, but having served a (proper) engineering apprenticeship half a century ago when manual skills were still held in respect, I find most manual tasks are second nature due to those learned skills and knowledge.
For someone without that background some of these tasks must appear akin to magic or black art.
What I should have said was, if you are unsure of your ability get someone competent to show you how. Personally, using a torque bar I would be holding both the head (to better "feel" the mechanical click) and the end of the bar whilst turning my undivided attention to the task. So both an audible and tactile feedback.
Both systems are well proven and totally reliable with decent equipment but unless you know what you are doing either one will let you mess it up.

 

[kenbro]

I don't understand how anybody can deliver a 24 tooth ratchet torque wrench weighing almost a kilogramme of well finished machined steel for £20 but seeing, holding and using is believing. This is not a plastic bodied screwdriver type but the conventional ratchet wrench form like my Snap On automotive type only for inch rather than foot pounds.

Alan

Alan,
How do they do this!!
I wanted to “Relieve” the holes through a moderator so wasn’t too bothered about life longevity of the reamer.
The 8 mm one I bought cost £1.78 to the letterbox from China.
Regards,Ken.

 

[Hornet 6]

Torque drivers for small fastenings were an everyday tool in my last job, nobody would have used a bar type one for anything below M6.
As for the feel, well with that extra length in play keeping a small Allen bit (let alone a slotted screw) in line with the bolt is very difficult, its not impossible I admit, but it is something that most on here, unless very well practised could not achieve. By well practised, someone who does, or recently did it for a living. Not someone who mounts a scope once a year.

Neil.

 

[Alantoo]

Torque drivers for small fastenings were an everyday tool in my last job, nobody would have used a bar type one for anything below M6.
As for the feel, well with that extra length in play keeping a small Allen bit (let alone a slotted screw) in line with the bolt is very difficult, its not impossible I admit, but it is something that most on here, unless very well practised could not achieve. By well practised, someone who does, or recently did it for a living. Not someone who mounts a scope once a year.

Neil.

True, it is always much easier to keep the driver bit in line with the axis of a slotted or even Posidrive screw using a long shafted screw driver rather than a dumpy one, especially with higher torque pressures for doing up or undoing seized ones.

That problem I have not found with either hex socket or Torx screws with their positive axial location...

If one is worried by the short throw of a lever type torque wrench it could easily be resolved with an extension bar...

Alan

 

[JTO]

If one is worried by the short throw of a lever type torque wrench it could easily be resolved with an extension bar...Alan

My first thought.

 

[Edinburgh Rifles]

Amazon have a 1/4" drive torque wrench for £20 if anybody is looking for one for scope mounts, bicycle maintenance or any other small threads etc.

2.26-22.6 Newton metres 20-200 inch pounds.

Sportsmatch recommend 4mm ring screws at 30 inch pounds
5mm Dovetail clamp screws @ 66 inch pounds

Tacklife 1/4-inch Drive 20-200lbf-in/2.26-22.6Nm Torque Wrench Self Locking System,with 2.95-inch Extension Bar, 3/8 Tools

I don't understand how anybody can deliver a 24 tooth ratchet torque wrench weighing almost a kilogramme of well finished machined steel for £20 but seeing, holding and using is believing. This is not a plastic bodied screwdriver type but the conventional ratchet wrench form like my Snap On automotive type only for inch rather than foot pounds.

Alan

Heavily Government subsidised postage system from China

Be aware that a torque wrench may be set correctly but you can still rip the heads off before it clicks!

 

[Alantoo]

SNIP...

Be aware that a torque wrench may be set correctly but you can still rip the heads off before it clicks!

Blimey between your awful warning that torque wrenches may not do their job...and Hornet 6 Neil's complaint that my link took him to a torque wrench and not to a torque screwdriver....(despite the thread title and the description in the OP!)....I wonder why I bother to post the heads up!

The likely hood of the screw shearing with a correctly set torque indicator is reduced if you follow the inertia system I described earlier of start stop, rather than just continuous rotation until the click.

Torque indicating tools are still the best way we have got to match both the manufacturer's specified torque settings and the other screws on the device...especially for those who are not experienced or practiced in doing up small diameter screws and especially when in aluminium...And yes **** may happen even with a correctly set torque wrench.

Alan