I have had an idea.
Short hex-headed screwdriver bits are widely available and used, with relat ively long handles. One should be able to obtain a "handle" of approximate ly zero length, in the form of a knurled disc with a hexagonal axial hole n ot quite through it. But I don't recall ever seeing such - a business oppo rtunity?
Do you mean like this
Cheap 1/4 inch socket sets often have a similar part. A round flat piece of plastic with fine serrated edge and a 1/4 square hole in the middle to fit the drive shaft of the socket.
Probably completely useless unless the bolt is only finger tight. For a screwdriver you need something that fits easily in the hand and not just two fingers.
I have a set with that disc made of metal. It's only real use is to run the screw/nut/bolt fast when there is nothing to resist it. Recently, it fell on the floor, I must look for it sometime.
I have one of these:
Various responses :-
CB: I didn't *mean* something like that, though in the case in question on e of those would have served. I meant something simpler and shorter - and cheaper.
alan_m: The screw in question was a pattress screw, *possibly* M3 or 5BA. The screw was undone with my unusually short small screwdriver probably he ld between a Part P electrician's finger and thumb; it seems likely that a 4 cm disc would have given ample torque held between finger and thumb.
Graham: A slot in the back is an *excellent* idea.
Jon Fairbairn: I have something similar, by Rolson, but thicker at the bus iness end. The smaller of those bits, in that ratchet, would have served. But, when need arose, it was elsewhere.
Fx: testing - I have a newish Rolson ratchet set with ten bits in a black r ubbery holder strip, which holds them quite firmly. It holds so firmly tha t the 5mm bit, held only by the rubber, today easily undid a pattress screw which had not, I think, been turned in the last 34 years.
Thanks to all.
needs to be pozi, not slotted. But since it costs & is rarely used... you're better off without.
NT
I have (nearly) such a thing in my tool bag - it also has a right angle ratchet handle, so you can use bits in confined spaces by turning the knurled disc or using the ratchet.
A bit like:
In my set the disc can be set between the head of the ratchet and the socke t. It can be usefully used to apply resistance to the socket on a nut which is too loose to resist the action of backing the ratchet handle, or to qui ckly run up the nut to a point where the ratchet will function.
In *really* tight spaces I sometimes use a ring spanner direct onto the hex of the bit. Works ok, but you also need some means of pushing down on the bit to keep it in contact with the screw.
My one can't do that, the socket sits too close to the business part of the ratchet. Nice idea, though.
But I also once had a self-setting nut runner, which had gently spring-loaded teeth, which clamped bolt or nut perfectly when you pressed down on the end of the handle. The harder you pushed, the tighter the grip. Then it got stolen, and I never found its like again. I was sure it was a Stanley, but they denied all knowledge of it.
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