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Unless it has a NIST traceable certificate of calibration you'd probably be better off with a German torque wrench. you know an allen wrench and a ghoodundtight setting.Comment
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You'd have to remap the numbers on paper and keep that with the wrench.
That's not something I care to deal with. and If I opened a box with a tool inside that had corrected numbers on it, what is that going to look like to a customer?
For 99% of the general public though it's probable fine.
CDI torque wrench 1/4 drive with a max torque of 50 in/lbs is about $100 and comes with a cert and can be sent out to be recalibrated.
You'll need a second one and way and of a ratchet like design to torque action screws.Comment
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You would do far better with a used one of these:
It goes up to 36 inch pounds which covers #4 through #8 screws as used on firearms.
If you need more than 36 inch pounds, use one of these:
Both of those will set you back less than $75 and will outlast you and your grandkids.Randall Rausch
AR work: www.ar15barrels.com
Handguns: www.handgunbarrels.com
Bolt actions: www.700barrels.com
Foreign Semi Autos: www.akbarrels.com
Most work done while you wait on a scheduled shop visit.Comment
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That 10%.
There are probably millions of guns owned by millions of people who have used them to do whatever it is they do with them and few of them used a torque wrench or driver to tighten screws, bolts or anything else.
The guy who tightens his scope mount or rings in his cold garage in winter and then the following summer heads out to the desert where it's 105 degrees has already introduced more than a 10% variance into the mix.
GO ahead, its a simple test. On a day when it's maybe 40 degrees in your garage or say outside as when you might need to use a portable torque wrench/driver, properly torque a screw, say on one of your best rifles and most expensive scopes and as often typical, torque it as so many people do, to the upper limits of the spec. Then wait until summer for some hot day as it might be when you go hunting in areas where it gets hot.
Do ya think that 10% is now the big deal when the torque value has changed as much as 20% and nothing has changed except the temperature?
The thing about calibration is that almost always there is a temperature for when the measurement should be done and any significant temperature variation from that renders the calibration but another number. No doubt, machinists and such working in tool rooms, mechanical inspectors with $10,000 surface plates and so on, in settings where the temps are controlled will dive into the weeds about minute degrees of tolerance and torque but for the typical person just wanting to mount a scope or tighten a screw out in the field, at 10% doesn't mean diddly squat and neither does the calibration standard in some room set to 68 degrees. If you're going to start with temp charts and all that, you've gone way past what any of this is all about.
As for warranty claims and such, if you aren't the one always going to max or min then it's not going to be an issue either. Take your torque wrench/driver/adapter and just put your stuff together and enjoy it instead of worrying about 10% of anything. If someone is paying you money to do the work, that is different but if it's just you and your stuff and enjoying it, do what untold millions have done without any problems and stop worrying about being the 1%.
.Last edited by SharedShots; 11-24-2022, 9:24 AM.Let Go of the Status Quo!
Don't worry, it will never pass...How in the hell did that pass?
Think past your gun, it's the last resort, the first is your brain.
Defense is a losing proposition when time is on the side of the opponent. In the history of humanity, no defense has ever won against an enemy with time on their side.Comment
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Why pay attention to torque values?
The items that we work on are subjected to high pressures and significant recoil shock. It is true that some of the fasteners we deal with are more important than others but you still have to weigh the consequences if the fastener should break due to over-tightening or fall out because it wasn't tightened enough.
It is also true that tightening by feel doesn't necessarily lead to problems. But the same thing is true about the measurement of your powder charge. Some people are good at eyeballing amounts. The better practice, however, is to use your best diligence to make sure everything is correctly done.Comment
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That 10%.
There are probably millions of guns owned by millions of people who have used them to do whatever it is they do with them and few of them used a torque wrench or driver to tighten screws, bolts or anything else.
The guy who tightens his scope mount or rings in his cold garage in winter and then the following summer heads out to the desert where it's 105 degrees has already introduced more than a 10% variance into the mix.
GO ahead, its a simple test. On a day when it's maybe 40 degrees in your garage or say outside as when you might need to use a portable torque wrench/driver, properly torque a screw, say on one of your best rifles and most expensive scopes and as often typical, torque it as so many people do, to the upper limits of the spec. Then wait until summer for some hot day as it might be when you go hunting in areas where it gets hot.
Do ya think that 10% is now the big deal when the torque value has changed as much as 20% and nothing has changed except the temperature?
The thing about calibration is that almost always there is a temperature for when the measurement should be done and any significant temperature variation from that renders the calibration but another number. No doubt, machinists and such working in tool rooms, mechanical inspectors with $10,000 surface plates and so on, in settings where the temps are controlled will dive into the weeds about minute degrees of tolerance and torque but for the typical person just wanting to mount a scope or tighten a screw out in the field, at 10% doesn't mean diddly squat and neither does the calibration standard in some room set to 68 degrees. If you're going to start with temp charts and all that, you've gone way past what any of this is all about.
As for warranty claims and such, if you aren't the one always going to max or min then it's not going to be an issue either. Take your torque wrench/driver/adapter and just put your stuff together and enjoy it instead of worrying about 10% of anything. If someone is paying you money to do the work, that is different but if it's just you and your stuff and enjoying it, do what untold millions have done without any problems and stop worrying about being the 1%.
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Recalibrating torque wrenches is not temperature dependent.
Instruments that measure size, distance, or length are temperature dependent.
The point of calibration is reduction of uncertainty. which is the same reason to us a torque wrench to begin with.
Are they needed for 99% of the gun owners out there? nope. But I'm not the 99% I'm the 1% the competes at a high level. and all our gear must be verified correct. The key to all this is knowing when you need to be that meticulous and when you do not. I have rifles that never seen a torque wrench and never will. I also have rifles that have more records documented than than i have medical records. It's all about what you want from your firearms and how you intend to use them.Last edited by kcstott; 11-24-2022, 10:53 AM.Comment
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Add to the above personal needs. In my world dealing with guns is like dealing with HVAC or window washing on a zillion feet high building. There are times I am extremely cautious while other times not so much. I need to stay alive as long as possible to protect the wife against the wolves. Those are my needs. I recognize, however, that others approach things differently and I find no fault in that.Comment
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Torque wrench calibration is affected by temperature. How much depends on the temp variation from the expected. Go ahead and research it for yourself and you'll find out why and how they are affected.
All the parts of a torque wrench change their size, length and distance from one another due the temperature, thus your second statement is correct, the first not and even contradicts the second.
The thread was about some pocket sized torque wrench, the kind you'd use on a trip where carrying primary tools isn't practical.
In the end, so what? If you are trying to be very precise to the point it matters, I doubt this is the tool for the job and I doubt the manufacturer intended it to be that.Let Go of the Status Quo!
Don't worry, it will never pass...How in the hell did that pass?
Think past your gun, it's the last resort, the first is your brain.
Defense is a losing proposition when time is on the side of the opponent. In the history of humanity, no defense has ever won against an enemy with time on their side.Comment
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1. The company I work for has multiple metrology labs that keeps track of everything that requires calibration.
2. Out of everything we calibrate our torque wrenches do not get temp soaked for 24 hours before testing nor is their a place on the cert for temp to be recorded.
3. NIST procedure for torque wrench testing mentions nothing about temperature.
4. That Machinist and tool maker you mentioned working in climate controlled rooms... Yeah I'm one of those guys you're referring to. At least I was for about 25 years. Now I fix the machines I use to run, and get paid more doing it.
My three personal CDI brand (snap on) torque wrenches have certs and there is no temp recorded.
Now my joe blocks show a temp, My three sets of pin gauges show a temp.Last edited by kcstott; 11-24-2022, 6:31 PM.Comment
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Your 3 personal CDI brand wrenches were all calibrated using temperature sensitive calibration device, every one of them. I probably got ahead of myself because calibration equipment is almost always temp sensitive and ISO has a standard for it, including devices used to calibrate torque wrenches. So my goof for conflating that point.
My last time dealing with calibrating equipment was in the late 70s, if I'm not mistaken, ISO still published standards for the calibrating equipment environment. Hand tools might not be required to be calibrated while they are a certain temp but the devices used to calibrate them are. The result is probably the same given the tolerances allowed.
I maintain that if you torque at 40 degrees and torque at 105 degrees they aren't going to be the same value despite what the wrench indicates when they are swapped into each other's environment. That torque obtained at 40 degrees isn't the same at 105 degrees. If the user is relying on 10% and at max torque at 40 degrees and the wrench is 10% over, the value is far more than 10% measured at 105 degrees. That is why I said the 10% isn't something to be very concerned about, there are enough other factors that will impact the torque, making the hand tool of the type the OP used ok for what it was designed to do. Its different if the wrench compensates for temp but most available to us regular people are not.
Anyone who has ever had to remove a barrel has probably experienced how temp affects torque and that cooling a receiver and torquing a heated barrel nut to properly indicated torque will result in trying to loosen that barrel nut, that the torque isn't even close to the torque range expected. The cooling and heating, even a small amount threw the original torque setting out the window. I'm not explaining anything new to you, not trying to, just explaining my post in proper context.
BTW, Those FAT wrenches? The ones I had went into the trash. It wasn't that they were off, they were so far each other having several handy wasn't worth the hassle of making them for accuracy.
.Let Go of the Status Quo!
Don't worry, it will never pass...How in the hell did that pass?
Think past your gun, it's the last resort, the first is your brain.
Defense is a losing proposition when time is on the side of the opponent. In the history of humanity, no defense has ever won against an enemy with time on their side.Comment
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