I was asking about the HF clicker torque wrench recently ("Cheap
click-stop torque wrench" - 9/18). I bought one and just tested it,
using a lever & weights:
http://home.comcast.net/~bobengelhardt/TorqueCheck.jpg

The lever is a 1" square tube, with a sawed-off 3/8" socket welded to
one end. The coffee can has lead weights in it. I gradually move the
weight out 'till the wrench clicks, measure between the center of the
socket and the weight-holding wire, and multiply that distance by the
weight.

With the wrench set to 20 ft-lbs, it clicked at a torque of 17.4 ft-lbs.
13% low. Set at 50 ft-lbs, it clicked at 43, 14% low. HF claims
that it's accurate to 4%.

Also interesting is that it has memory. I.e., it acts differently
depending upon what it has just done. E.g., when testing the 20 ft-lb
setting, it clicked when I got the (8.54 lbs) weight out to 22". But if
I then moved the weight back, it would click at shorter distances (lower
torques), until 20-7/8" (16.6 ft-lbs). If I let it sit a bit & started
over, it didn't click until 22" again. It loosens up when it clicks.

I was tempted to test whether this was a matter of the viscosity of its
grease by seeing if temperature affected the click point, but I wasn't
that curious.

I dunno if I should send it back. Maybe my testing is not as accurate
as I think (although there's not that much room for error). I can
pretty easily add 15% to the torque setting (e.g., set it for 23 when I
want 20). Opinions?

Thanks,
Bob

BTW - those of you who noticed that 8.54 lbs x 22" is not 17.4 ft-lbs,
it's because there's also 1.79 ft-lbs of torque from the weight of the bar.

Bob Engelhardt wrote:
I was asking about the HF clicker torque wrench recently ("Cheap
click-stop torque wrench" - 9/18). I bought one and just tested it,
using a lever & weights:
http://home.comcast.net/~bobengelhardt/TorqueCheck.jpg

The lever is a 1" square tube, with a sawed-off 3/8" socket welded to
one end. The coffee can has lead weights in it. I gradually move the
weight out 'till the wrench clicks, measure between the center of the
socket and the weight-holding wire, and multiply that distance by the
weight.

With the wrench set to 20 ft-lbs, it clicked at a torque of 17.4 ft-lbs.
13% low. Set at 50 ft-lbs, it clicked at 43, 14% low. HF claims that
it's accurate to 4%.

Also interesting is that it has memory. I.e., it acts differently
depending upon what it has just done. E.g., when testing the 20 ft-lb
setting, it clicked when I got the (8.54 lbs) weight out to 22". But if
I then moved the weight back, it would click at shorter distances (lower
torques), until 20-7/8" (16.6 ft-lbs). If I let it sit a bit & started
over, it didn't click until 22" again. It loosens up when it clicks.

I was tempted to test whether this was a matter of the viscosity of its
grease by seeing if temperature affected the click point, but I wasn't
that curious.

I dunno if I should send it back. Maybe my testing is not as accurate
as I think (although there's not that much room for error). I can
pretty easily add 15% to the torque setting (e.g., set it for 23 when I
want 20). Opinions?

I'd also like to see you test an expensive name brand.
Can you borrow one?

Bob Engelhardt writes:

With the wrench set to 20 ft-lbs, it clicked at a torque of 17.4 ft-lbs.
13% low. Set at 50 ft-lbs, it clicked at 43, 14% low. HF claims
that it's accurate to 4%.

If the error was repeatable, you could write your own calibration chart.
But as you observe it isn't repeatable.

Why do imagine you in the HF store with your lever and coffee can, going
through every torque wrench on the shelf to find a "good" one?

On Oct 13, 4:43*pm, Bob Engelhardt wrote:
I was asking about the HF clicker torque wrench recently ("Cheap
click-stop torque wrench" - 9/18). *I bought one and just tested it,
using a lever & weights:http://home.comcast.net/~bobengelhardt/TorqueCheck.jpg

The lever is a 1" square tube, with a sawed-off 3/8" socket welded to
one end. *The coffee can has lead weights in it. *I gradually move the
weight out 'till the wrench clicks, measure between the center of the
socket and the weight-holding wire, and multiply that distance by the
weight.

With the wrench set to 20 ft-lbs, it clicked at a torque of 17.4 ft-lbs.
* *13% low. *Set at 50 ft-lbs, it clicked at 43, 14% low. *HF claims
that it's accurate to 4%.

Also interesting is that it has memory. *I.e., it acts differently
depending upon what it has just done. *E.g., when testing the 20 ft-lb
setting, it clicked when I got the (8.54 lbs) weight out to 22". *But if
I then moved the weight back, it would click at shorter distances (lower
torques), until 20-7/8" (16.6 ft-lbs). *If I let it sit a bit & started
over, it didn't click until 22" again. *It loosens up when it clicks.

I was tempted to test whether this was a matter of the viscosity of its
grease by seeing if temperature affected the click point, but I wasn't
that curious.

I dunno if I should send it back. *Maybe my testing is not as accurate
as I think (although there's not that much room for error). *I can
pretty easily add 15% to the torque setting (e.g., set it for 23 when I
want 20). *Opinions?

Thanks,
Bob

BTW - those of you who noticed that 8.54 lbs x 22" is not 17.4 ft-lbs,
it's because there's also 1.79 ft-lbs of torque from the weight of the bar.

oldjag wrote:
Try moving the lever that applies the weight closer then further away
from the head along the axis of rotation. I have a Craftsman click
type unit and it is easily upset by any off axis loads so it's almost
impossible to get any accuracy with an extension. I took the first
one back, but the second was not much if any better. My Snap-On click
types are not as sensitive to inadvertent off-axis pulls on the
handle. I have two beam types that also don't seem as affected
either. It's a little difficult to apply load to the handle only in
the direction of rotation when working in a tight spot, lying on your
back etc. so this to me is an important consideration on a click type
unit. Any slop in the pivot for the head and it's very likely it
won't work very well unless held perfectly perpendicular to the axis
of the fastener while torquing.

Good point - I hadn't thought of that. In my test set up there is very
little extension, but there is some & it would mean that there is a
force perpendicular to the wrench's axis. There shouldn't be enough to
make it off by 13%, but maybe. I should try a set up where that's avoided.

Thanks,
Bob

Interesting to me. I just finished torquing the cylinder heads on a 16
hp Onan with my ancient mechanical/pointer torque wrench. The spec was
17-19 foot poounds. It is very hard to tell the difference between 15
and 20 pounds on the scale if you are looking directly at it, leave
alone any problems one might have with parallax. I wonder what the
engine designers had in mind when they chose that range?
Were they thinking about us shade tree mechanics and the tools we'd
be using? Were they mostly interested in not stripping the threads?
Were they worried that some folks might think the "finger tight" was
good enough? Did they do any testing to see what the accuracy range of
tools in the field might be?

I wonder if there's somewhere where design engineers go to talk about
such things.

We used to use dial torques wrenches to test fasteners in my dad's
Sems screw factory. Of course, every test had a procedure and was done
in a most tightly controlled environment.
-Thread stripping torque.
-Head breaking torque.
-Washer seating torque.
I believe we had all the wrenches calibrated on a regular basis.
Everyone there (I was a young grunt, then) seemed happy with the
accuracy of those wrenches. 80% of our customers were automotive.

Pete Stanaitis
----------------------

Bob Engelhardt wrote:
I was asking about the HF clicker torque wrench recently ("Cheap
click-stop torque wrench" - 9/18). I bought one and just tested it,
using a lever & weights:
http://home.comcast.net/~bobengelhardt/TorqueCheck.jpg

The lever is a 1" square tube, with a sawed-off 3/8" socket welded to
one end. The coffee can has lead weights in it. I gradually move the
weight out 'till the wrench clicks, measure between the center of the
socket and the weight-holding wire, and multiply that distance by the
weight.

With the wrench set to 20 ft-lbs, it clicked at a torque of 17.4 ft-lbs.
13% low. Set at 50 ft-lbs, it clicked at 43, 14% low. HF claims that
it's accurate to 4%.

Also interesting is that it has memory. I.e., it acts differently
depending upon what it has just done. E.g., when testing the 20 ft-lb
setting, it clicked when I got the (8.54 lbs) weight out to 22". But if
I then moved the weight back, it would click at shorter distances (lower
torques), until 20-7/8" (16.6 ft-lbs). If I let it sit a bit & started
over, it didn't click until 22" again. It loosens up when it clicks.

I was tempted to test whether this was a matter of the viscosity of its
grease by seeing if temperature affected the click point, but I wasn't
that curious.

I dunno if I should send it back. Maybe my testing is not as accurate
as I think (although there's not that much room for error). I can
pretty easily add 15% to the torque setting (e.g., set it for 23 when I
want 20). Opinions?

Thanks,
Bob

BTW - those of you who noticed that 8.54 lbs x 22" is not 17.4 ft-lbs,
it's because there's also 1.79 ft-lbs of torque from the weight of the bar.

On Oct 13, 4:43*pm, Bob Engelhardt wrote:
I dunno if I should send it back. *Maybe my testing is not as accurate
as I think (although there's not that much room for error). *I can
pretty easily add 15% to the torque setting (e.g., set it for 23 when I
want 20). *Opinions?

The things you observe (including "memory") exist in almost all torque
wrenches. They're just ten times worse in the HF stuff.

My gut feeling is that out of the bunch HF has, you got one of the
better ones.

Do you need a 4% accurate torque wrench because anything you do
actually matters? If so, you'd get a good one. If you just want "a"
clicker torque wrench you got the HF one.

I personally don't send any HF stuff back - it just goes into the
metal recycling bin when I get fed up with it or it breaks. I think
that as far as cheap crappy tools go there is some value but only as
long as I regard it as throwaway. Often I toss them not because
they're actually broken but just because they feel, in use, so much
inferior to the good quality tools.

Tim.

D.I. or
D.T.I. 10 turns type

DIY on a torque wrench will be more

convinient to read accurately .

On Oct 14, 3:30*pm, spaco wrote:
Interesting to me. *I just finished torquing the cylinder heads on a 16
hp Onan with my ancient mechanical/pointer torque wrench. *

Pete Stanaitis
----------------------


You can buy torque wrenches of the mechanical/pointer with different
ranges. The one that are easy to read in the 17 to 19 foot lb range
are usually 3/8 inch drive and may be calibrated in inch lbs. Using
one of them makes it easy to read the torque accurately.

The engineer that specified the torque probably did not consider the
accuracy of the tools in the field. Very likely he used a standard
chart for torques for various size bolts. Looking on the internet I
found

http://www.portlandbolt.com/technica...FYZM5QodOnHIjQ

Which gives 17 foot lbs as the torque to use on a 5/16 -18 plain grade
5 bolt.

Dan