Need to tighten up a couple of bannister bolts with the nuts recessed in a tight opening:
Any suggestions what to look for?
Won't a standard 14/15mm ring spanner do the job? The castellations are generally used in conjunction with split pins.
Too tight to get a ring spanner around I think.
Simple box spanner?
Bob Eager formulated on Sunday :
The access would need to be improved on the left hand side of the recess, but a shortened box or tube spanner, with additional holes for turning it will work.
Why mate with the castellations?
You either need a thin ring spanner, chisel a bit of wood away to allow a thicker ring spanner in, or simply tap it round with hammer & punch.
Ive never seen any tool that mates with the castellations, as someone else said they are just for use with a securing split pin.
Mike
It is a bit hard to judge the angle but you might be able to get a box spanner on it, other than that you could use a ring spanner with the end ground off to make it a semi-open ended spanner which will grip by the corners like a normal ring spanner rather than by two faces but might give you a bit more rotation.
Richard
These might work. Not what they are designed for but they are often better in confined spaces than straight rings
A slim C spanner, as used on the locking ring on a bike's BB. Needs to be smaller and, to make up for the thin wall, a bit wider than the bike sort. Should be possible to make from a gash spanner.
Looks to me like an open-ended spanner would fit, the 'normal' type where the opening is angled slightly. Tedious, as you'd probably need to keep flipping the spanner over every 30 degrees.
If the OP had a multitool then cutting away a bit more timber to the left would allow an open-ended or ring spanner to get a grip on the nut.
It was tightened up at installation somehow.
Thanks all for the suggestions. As it is, there is no clearance to get anything useful fully around the nut. I was hoping there would be some clever tool that engaged it from the top, but it seems not.
The bolt is over to one side of the cutout, so a small open spanned and some patience may be the way. If that doesn't get it tight enough I'll "dremmel" out the LHS, but as you say, it was tightened up originally.
The spanners intended for doing up brake unions (see the link from TNP) are the type most likely to wiggle their way in.
Looking at the wear on the nut you photographed, I wonder whether they turned it with a thick screwdriver pushed into the castellations?
But someone may have fallen against the bannister and that's why the nut is now over to one side of the cutout.
Because they're an open ring they tend to have a "thicker" ring cross-section than a standard ring spanner. If pushed a ring spanner can be ground down to make even thinner.
I think a small pair of pointed pliers could tighten the nut sufficiently.
I'd make something the goes verticlally into the castellations.
Risks breaking the castellations off tho.
Id wrap a bit of strong tape or a ziptie round the nut and round a socket extension.
Treat like an oil filter in miniature
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