Not strictly building DIY but I am looking for an opinion on buying torque wrench from the Sealy brand. They seem resonably priced and seem to offer a range of professional equipment, but I haven't actually used the brand. Otherwise any recommendations for a reasonably priced accurate torque wrench?
Halfords £49-95 job gets good reviews....
Nick
A pre-settable one with a 'click and break' action is accurate enough for most DIY jobs, if you really want the dogs you know what's then there are a few digital (audible) torque wrenches about now (not sure if Sealy do them).
*Don't* be tempted by the cheap 'bendy bar' type, they are crap and quite possibly grossly inaccurate.
Norbar. Last forever and accurate enough for all DIY use.
I bought a Sealey torque wrench recently and thought it worth paying extra for the calibrated model, AK 624. Tooled-up had them on special offer - perhaps they still have - for around 30 pounds.
A possible drawback with many wrenches is they can only set the torque in one direction, unlike the Britool range where the wrench can be turned over and the drive pushed through enabling reverse torque to be applied.
This turned out to be important for my application where a lock nut on a shaft had to be tightened to a specific torque. The end of the shaft was restrained with the torque wrench and the nut tightened with a ring spanner. The torque spanner needed to work in reverse direction.
Britool have a spring offer on some of their classic torque wrenches until
31 July. e.g EVT 1200 1/2 inch model at 82.25 inc vat. I haven't seen these prices on the web, they are apparently only available though their agents, they don't sell direct or on line. Ring them on 01992 702200, asking for the 'Britool Selection 2005' brochure.They will also give you the nearest dealer -turned out to be the Vauxhall main dealership just up the road from me- who will supply at the prices in the brochure. No postage charges, it took about three days to come in.
Incidentally for Sealey and Draper stuff I found 'Just Off Base' tools often have the best prices:
torque in
turned over
Well, talk about penny pinching design, I would disregard any wrench that doesn't have a reversible action at the drive end, what else have the designers skimped on - just how much extra does it cost to make the thing with a standard reversible ratchet head or 'push-through' drive....
Is =A310 reasonable enough?
Got mine (made by Kamasa) from Screwfix, complete with a lifetime warranty and calibration certificate (it's rated to +/- 4%):
It's reversible and comes with box, 1/2"-3/8" adapter and extension bar. It goes up to 210Nm too which is why I needed it.
Mathew
Most have the 'standard reversible ratchet head' but don't have the push through drive. Classic Britool torque wrenches have the push through drive but no ratchet action. As you say implementing the simple push through drive feature looks like an economy too far, but maybe there is a patent on the push through drive?
I was daft enough to think that when I switched the direction lever on the standard ratchet head torque wrench the direction of the torque action would change too. Of course it didn't and when tightening in the reverse direction I began to realise the set torque must have been exceeded. Then it dawned on me there was no torque indication in the reverse direction. Fortunately nothing came amiss.
Roger
A Norbar has the standard ratchet action and a push through drive. They may be slightly more expensive than some, but mine's survived some 25 years of abuse. ;-)
I've just had a look at the Norbar website and their products look the business. They have a much wider range than other brands, ratchet, ratchet with push through drive, bi-directional ratchets, and separate handles supporting a range of plug in spanner ends.
This latter type would have been especially useful on a recent suspension job on my 'Astra' car where the strut to lower arm ball joint is supposed to be torqued up to a particular value but it is quite impossible to get in with a conventional wrench. A spanner end wrench would do the job.
I've not seen any prices and don't imagine this quality comes cheap but if they give service as long as yours has, the extra cost would be justified.
Roger
Didn't realise they had quite such a varied range. I've got three which are all of similar design - ratchet with push through. But 3/8 and two different 1/2 drive ones to cover the things I've needed them for over the years. And since the ranges overlap, it makes it possible to do a rough check of one against another, and they're all the same.
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