?Fixing? a socket wrench

[Chris Holmes]

Hi All,

Happy New Year for the non Grinches among you.

I was about to throw out the wrench for my socket set as the ratchet slips.

Then I thought maybe it could be welded or brazed so it can be used as a bar (it looks as if the main part was cast).

Now, I don?t have a welder, and as far as I know, I don?t have brazing equipment.

I do have a Taymar gas blow lamp that I?ve used for plumbing.

Does the team think that if I put some flux on it, heated it with the blow lamp and ran a load of plumbing solder into it, that would ?fix? it?

Or would it need brazing / welding?

TIA

[Jack Harry Teesdale]

Plumbing lead solder is relatively soft and would most likely not be strong enough the withstand the force if used as a 'wrench'.

Welding would be the best bet.

[newshound]

A risk with welding is that you either soften or embrittle parts. Or both.

If it is a bouncing ratchet then filling up the interior with epoxy might be quite effective provided the ratchet is in the right place. You probably won't be able to disassemble it far enough to give it a good clean and to make sure the epoxy permeates into all the right places. Metal loaded epoxy might be even better. How effective it all is depends on how good a load path you have through the "sprag" bit between the inner and the outer. If the sprag is gone or all the teeth have worn away it won't work. Also, it is likely to be stronger in the "right" direction than the wrong one, so overloading it the "wrong" way could undo all the good work.

Presumably this is a half inch which is probably too beefy to braze with propane. But, if it is 3/8 or 1/4 you might be able to get it hot enough if you can make a little brazing hearth out of brick and/or the vermiculite slabs that are used to line some woodburners. I suspect that silver solder will not attach well to chrome plate even with an aggressive acid flux, and you do normally have to get everything pretty clean to make a solid joint.

I agree that soft solder is not likely to work, also the intermediate melting point aluminium brazing rods that you may have seen advertised.

[The Natural Philosopher]

car body filler

[Fred]

Yes, but its unlikely to resist the strongest forces, the solder is too soft for that.

That would certainly be better. But a new bar from china or one from a car boot sale wouldn?t cost much. I got one from china for starting the nut undoing with car wheels, the one supplied with the car wasn?t long enough. This sliding extendable one didn?t cost much and works fine.

[newshound]

I think this is the right answer. Ratchet drives are sometimes inconveniently "bulky" compared to a standard sliding T-bar which also has the merit of being adjustable in a tight space. eBay throws up 1/4 and 3/8 ones in the UK for a fiver in my first ten hits although I didn't immediately spot a half inch one.

[Fred]

Mine is definitely a half inch one and I got it from aliexpress.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

I'd agree, most soldering also fractures very easily due, one assumes to different expansion and contraction criteria. Maybe you can lock it with a screw through the mechanism some place. I don't think I've ever had a ratchet go on a socket set driver. They do tend to fail on screwdrivers, but that might be more to do with, ahem my usage, than a fault!

Brian

[rick]

Solder be no good - plus you would have to strip fully to remove all the old grease. If you want to butcher it ... why not drill a through hole, push through a nut & bolt and rivet over the end. Be much stronger than solder.

[Muddymike]

Try it.

Mike

[Fred]

No point, the solder wont take given its greased inside.

[Andy Burns]

it might be chromed too.