I hear that!
For non-critical, common-sense uses, there are rumors of an "FAA-Approved Hardware and Bulb Department" at Home Depot and Acme Auto.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
Where to keep the tiny Allen wrench
Loading thread data ...
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
From my r/c racing days, I have a set of smaller sizes ground from hardened drill blanks. It's amazing how bad a typical allen wrench can be...
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
A couple of questions about them. Of what use are the ball ends? Seems to me a ball end would be less grab of the screw. Are some of the hex slot bottoms not flat necessitating ball ends? Or perhaps, a ball end enables use of a allen key on an angle in tight places?
A number of the allen keys I've used twist and sometimes strip. Maybe the ones I've bought are cheap. I've been considering some of the t-handled allen keys which are longer and in the event of a strip, I could just cut that part off and have a new fresh tip.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
Right! Once the screw bottoms, you'd switch to a standard version. Ball end allens are for spinning, not tightening, and save lots of effort repositioning the tool.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
meaning Robertson?
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
Farm kid, depression parent, casket/furniture maker and once pro- mechanic, my grandfather's, junk storage was as orderly as his new materials storage. Bins, boxes, jars of everything neatly stored and kept in separate places. The rest of his life was chaos but blind drunk he could find what he wanted in the shop and turn out little wonders and marvellous jerry rig improvs.
Anything unusable got tossed in a drum and was eventually carted off to the scrapyard.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
"B A R R Y" wrote
Why didn't I think of that?? I knew some machinists too.
I guess I just got so dependent on a good blacksmith. He could do anything. He made a square drive wrench for somebody that had a four foot handle. It must of been some big iron to require that tool!
Your comment on the quality of some tools is spot on. For my purposes, they were useless.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
Magnetron units have two nice big ceramic donut magnet in them, and discarded microwaves can be had for the price of the gas to pick them up.
Jon
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
Most of them are deliberately made soft enough that in theory the wrench gets buggered up instead of the screw.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
The ball end is easier to insert and also allows driving with the shank at an angle. There is a "waist" above the ball, so quality of the tool is especially important.
A couple of decades back I visited John Bondhus up in St Cloud, Minnesota and he gifted me with a set of his screwdriver-handled ball drivers and told me (with a smile) that they'd never break - and they not only haven't broken, they haven't worn enough to detect. When I decided to get the T-handled wrenches, I bought his. As far as I can tell, these are the same high quality.
Treat yourself to a set of the Bondhus ball end drivers. If you can manage to break one, you can always grind the end square - but I suspect that won't happen. :)
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
If you would even try to tighten with a ball-end, you best be buying lots of them. The balls snap off really easy...or so I'm told.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
Come on Lee.. try one of my head slaps..
>- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
I've never had a problem tightening with a quality ball end, either. It's amazing how "little" contact there is between a standard hex Allen wrench and the screw's socket. In most cases, I don't think the standard end is an advantage.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
If the recess is deep enough to admit the entire ball, it's difficult for it to cam out as well.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
I just took a look at
formatting link
to get myself up to date - and learned that they come with an unconditional lifetime guarantee.
I also learned that John Bondhus died in 2006 - and I mourn the passing of one of the very finest mentors/coaches/teachers to ever touch my life. When John spoke, you could even /hear/ that "Quality" was spelled with a capital "Q"...
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
Never heard of Bondhus, now I will give their products a go. I sure hope that whosoever has taken his place does it with the same standards he had. That CNC of mine is peppered with Allen head screws, so to invest in a fresh batch of ball-ends would...ermm...almost be fun?
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
I think you'll be (at least) satisfied. I'd never heard of Bondhus, either, until someone the Minnesota Department of Economic Development told me to give John a call for advice on getting a fledgling business off the ground. From then on, the name jumped out at me from just about every tool catalog I read. :)
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
stops here. He's a grinning bastard.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
"Robatoy" wrote
I have been known to chase a Snap-Off truck to its next stop. Now one stops here. He's a grinning bastard. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robatoy, a Snap On Stalker? .........., it makes sense.
- Vote on answer
- posted
15 years ago
"Robatoy" wrote
Morris, you find some of the most obscure, yet totally useful links. Never heard of Bondhus, now I will give their products a go. I sure hope that whosoever has taken his place does it with the same standards he had. That CNC of mine is peppered with Allen head screws, so to invest in a fresh batch of ball-ends would...ermm...almost be fun? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was almost gonna kid you about this.
But............., a quality machine like that REQUIRES quality tools to take care of it. To do less would risk the ire of the Tool Gods.
You have been warned.