Getting my voice back.

 

Wow, I never knew that how you could calibrate the wrench like that. Very good info Jack. Now I know where to go to check my ratchets

 

Bill, the test weight checking is easy, the accuracy depends on the persons care. The ability to adjust the calibration depends on the wrench design and accessibility. The twist up ones are mostly like that, but those other Snap-Ons I haven't needed to get into yet.

Yep, you do.

 

I need a big torque wrench. I keep borrowing Kenny's. With the crew that was there, I don't know now if it is at spec. They where a little ruff on equipment if ya know what I mean.

 

Nice video Jack. I have been checking torque wrenches like that for years, but your setup is a lot better than mine and more versatile, I think a rebuild is in order. Surprising thing is only 1 of my Snapon's has been off in 30 plus years, maybe because I take better care of them than the others. Glad you are getting your voice back.

 

Thanks. 20 minutes of talking and I'm hoarse the rest of the day.

The method certainly isn't new and not unique. When we had to go ISO I still checked against what I had built and there wasn't any discrepancy. I think it's a reasonable way if you occasionally want to confirm everything is fine, and as in my situation, the new acquisition is working. In my past life, you did need to occasionally confirm. The eBay one being off was a surprise.

We also never had a drift issue with the Snap-On wrenches. But the 1/2 and 3/8" type in the video would fail, and usually about when due for the third cal check. It got to the point that after two cal checks when the third was about due I'd just buy a new wrench.

 

Wow really awesome video! My 3/8" and 1/2" are electronic torque wrenches and there is no way to calibrate them and I don't really want to pay to have them "tested" to see if they are still accurate. I'll probably replace them but at at least this will let me know if they are still good or not.

 

Jack -- thank you!

I've been using Precision Instruments, including the multiplier indicators (up to 1 1/2" drives) in the shops and on the tractors where 600- 800 ft lbs is often required -- outstanding instruments and I get them calibrated (quarterly) for less than half Snap On charges.

Reality is Snap On just takes Precision Instruments stuff, puts their silly labels on them and then gouges buyers (not as bad as what Ford is doing to F-Series buyers, but close)....................total rip off.

 

Thanks, guys.

When I first moved into vehicle test management in the early 80's they had a little Snap-On bench mounted tester in the facility. But there was nothing set up for a routine practice and nothing that said the unit was accurate. Much of the instrumentation was sent up to the dyno facility for testing but only when they thought it was off. Just not the way to run an R&D site.

I routinely went to sites like Transportation Research Center in OH where NHTSA does it's thing and went to Ford, Chrysler, Eaton, etc proving grounds so I got to see what they did in the calibration labs. In the 80's everyone was using dead weight testers for fluid pressure, strain gauges and even torque wrenches. It's kind of hard for 100lb or whatever value dead weight to go out of cal. And that's what I made for the facility. If for pedal force it was 100lbs pressing down. If parking brake cable tension, hanging weight. Pressure gauges and transducers had commercial dead weight testers you could easily buy.

ISO and corporate rules changed that and made it much more expensive. And with me kicking and screaming, testing back and forth showed what we did earlier was valid, but not tracible in the manner wished. But having something to you quickly go to in the shop gave piece of mind that we weren't about to screw something critical up and didn't have to wait for an outside source.

The costs I included in the vid is from a current price list from Mountz, but there are others out there. For me, in my current situation, it's just easier to have something I can bolt together when I'm about to use the wrenches a lot to give myself peace of mind when I'm OCD.

Mike, as with the bar wrenches, when you can't adjust the readings it's still good to know how much it's off so you can compensate.

People don't have to go the point of buying steel plates for weight, you just have to accurately know what the object weighs. For instance, 1 gallon of sand weight approximately 12lbs. Fill the bucket to the top, put it in a cardboard box and head to USPS, FedEx, UPS, or wherever. Say you're going to ship it out but need to know what it would cost and get the total weight. All those facilities routinely get those scales cal'ed.

For instance, if you have a 12x12 1/2" steel plate you can put it in a priority envelope and get a precise number. Then you can figure out what size hole to drill for not only a lift point but to adjust your "weight".

 

Thank you, Jack, for the article. I always wanted to do something like that, but hesitated about whether I will get good calibrated weight, etc. The idea about postal scale is a great one.

I got to build one now.

I have a question, when a torque wrench that says +-4%, is that accurate within 4% of each step or 4% or the whole torque?
For example, the smallest increment is 1/2 ft-lbs, is that 4% of 0.5 ft.lbs or it's 4% of say 100 ft.lbs when trying on a bolt of 100 ft.lbs. (96 to 104)

 

Just an fyi that the Precision Instruments split beam torque wrenches are the exact same as the Snap On for half the price. Precision Instruments supplied them to Snap On for over 20 years, only difference was the blue vs red colored branded inserts at the dial window.

It is amusing watching people on Ebay bid $300+ for a used Snap On when they could buy the same exact wrench brand new with a calibration card for almost half that price. CDI now has the contract to supply tq wrenches to Snap On.

 

 

Very informative video, thanks for taking the time and sharing it. Great Facebook page as well!