On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:20:44 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Gunner Asch" wrote in message
.. .
...
Gunner, still scratching his noggin about hammering out his own box end
spanners from scrap steel and hex stock........

My home-made box wrench for brake line fittings:
https://picasaweb.google.com/KB1DAL/...55378162487314
The two halves of the hex opening can be milled with an end mill.

Very nicely done!!


I pressed copper water pipe into oversized sockets to make lug nut sockets
that won't damage the chrome. The copper lasts quite a while at 80 and 100
ft-lbs of torque. I pulled the wheels twice a year to check the brakes and
switch winter & summer tires.

AFAIK you forge a box wrench on a tapered hex mandrel. You may be able to do
most of the pounding on a square-section horn or stake and save the machined
hex for fitting. I've used a Grade 5 bolt head in the vise as the form to
hammer a hex shape.

jsw


--
Maxim 12: A soft answer turneth away wrath.
Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head.