John Rumm wrote:
On 09/04/2021 09:10, Spike wrote:
On 07/04/2021 17:51, Chris Green wrote:
Spike wrote:
On 06/04/2021 19:05, Chris Green wrote:

Is there any sensible way to tighten SWA gland earthing ring nuts?
Even on the smallest size (20mm hole) the gland nut is 24mm or 25mm
and I've never managed to find a spanner of that size that has any
chance of getting at the nut.

I guess a short stub of a box spanner with a tommy bar welded on might
do the job but I doubt if you can get a socket onto the nut, it's too
thin. I don't have any box spanners this big anyway.

Sounds like something in the style of a plug spanner for single-cylinder
Velocettes:

https://www.groveclassicmotorcycles....-Handle---14mm

The BSA plug spanner is similar. I'm sure the ones I had were shorter,
but we're talking sixty years ago...

Yes, exactly! That's almost the perfect tool for the job at
installation time when the cable isn't connected. Probably quite
cheap too, box spanners don't have to be made of particularly hard
material.

Having had a number of single-cylinder Velocettes, I now recall the plug
spanner came in different forms. Most were a short box spanner with
loose tommy-bar as shown in the link. but one I had was based on a very
short box spanner, shortened to just above the flats, with a short
tommy-bar welded or brazed onto one side of the spanner. Doing this made
it quite short in height, and turned upside down it looked like a pipe
for smoking tobacco. Box spanners are cheap and cheerful, and if anyone
wanted to DIY a tool for tightening the SWA gland nut, this could be a
way to go.

Although if the cable is in place, you have to be able to thread the box
spanner onto it, past the tommy bar, so that you can get it anywhere
near the nut.

But it's doable with a box spanner, unless the cable is actually
connected, as you can thread the cable through the box and past the
tommy bar.

A short piece of box spanner with a handle welded on (rather than
going right through) seems to be the ideal solution to me, why
electricians toolboxes don't have such a thing as 'standard' I can't
understand.

Socket and ring spanners are not so good because they tend to have a
chamfer at the working face so, given that the SWA ring nut is so
thin, they don't hold well. A box spanner generally doesn't have such
a chamfer.

A set of such things (box spanner with welded on tommy bar) for, say,
25mm to 35mm in 1mm steps would be ideal and should be very cheap as
well. Maybe I'll go into business! :-)

--
Chris Green
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