On 2011-09-04, J. Clarke wrote:
In article , cayoung61
says...

Recently dropped a FRS walkie talkie, which now transmits
but without any TX audio. I'm curious what's inside.

The Harbor Freight security bit set has T8 and T10. And as
Goldilocks said about the porridge, one is too small and one
is too large.

[ ... ]

With a small allen wrench, and some time on the bench
grinder, I was able to make an oddly shaped tip, which was
supposed to be smaller allen wrench tip. Didn't work out as
well as I'd hoped. But, it did remove the necessary screws.

O.K. A surface grinder and a small index head can work wonders
on making small (or non-standard) Allen wrenches. SWMBO has a Tarus
5-shot .38 Special with the protective lock built into the hammer. It
came with two "keys", which were 0.100" Security Allen wrenches with
black plastic handles to go on your key ring. My ring I wear on my
belt, and the plastic broke so my copy was lost, so I had to make a
replacement -- with an aluminum handle so it will stay with me.

I guess that a metric country would think that an imperial size
in a non-standard size would be secure enough -- but it is also a pain.
There is now way that I'm going to order another from them and have the
same failure. :-)

I also opened up a nonworking set I got off Ebay, which had
corroded alkaline batteries. The contacts were beyond
repair, or at least beyond my own abilities.

Glad you got it open, but for future reference, Harbor Fright has three
sets, an orange one, a yellow one, and a red one.

The orange one with the green-and-black handle, flex shaft, and
magnifier is the only one with T9, as well as small metric allens and
some others.

Hmm ... sounds like the set I got from MicroCenter (the computer
box store), except that while the bottom half of the box is orange (the
top is clear), the handle is orange and black instead.

It has four rows of bits, straight, Philips, torx (including
T9, but not security T9 if you need that) and Allen (they call them hex)
in metric sizes.

The flexible shaft looks like a lifesaver waiting for the right
project, but it and the magnifier together are a pain, because the flex
shaft is stored bent, and tries to pop out when you open the case, and
the magnifier has to rest on top of it so the case can close, and tries
to launch when the flex shaft pops straight. :-)

If I need a security torx in these sizes which is not in my
current collection (I think that I've got them all covered in 1/4" shank
ones of better quality anyway), I can always pop it in a hex collet in
the lathe and drill the "security" clearance hole.

Enjoy,
DoN.

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