Sometimes you find the best tools because they are not for bikes.

[PCeBiker]

Awesome!!
I didn't know it was available on Amazon, but they don't ship to Canada,..

I can get a set of two for $160 all in.

I might do it?
I think they're fricken cool as well as functional.

They've got the reliability of a regular spring.
No fancy clicky stuff that goes out of spec.

They'd be funner to own than any other torque wrench.

 

[PCeBiker]

I can get a set of two for $160 all in.

It turns out that is in US dollars.

I can get the single red (0-65 in/lb) fix it stick for $133 CAD.

 

[spokewrench]

It turns out that is in US dollars.

I can get the single red (0-65 in/lb) fix it stick for $133 CAD.


View attachment 186365

This intrigues me.

Amazon.com

It goes to 6Nm at 2% accuracy and warns not to exceed 7.2Nm (62 inch pounds). It reads torque as you go and warns when you're getting close. You can switch between measuring systems.

If it uses the same technology as a 5kg digital kitchen scale I bought 8 years ago for $16, it may be very reliable in the long term. The scale measures the strain on a metal bar. Lately I bought a set of 7 calibration weights from 1 to 100g. That gives me 128 possible combinations up to 188g. After 3,000 days of weighings several times a day amid the food and water that splash around the counter, it read correctly at every combination I tried. At 188g, that would be within 0.27%!

 

[PCeBiker]

Hmmm,..
I don't like it because it's digital and it takes batteries.

My concern would be checking the calibration. A digital scale is easy to check with the weights you have, but a torque wrench pretty much needs special equipment to test it accurately.

I still like the mechanical spring in the fix-it-stick. I'm more inclined to trust it in the long term.

 

[spokewrench]

My concern would be checking the calibration. A digital scale is easy to check with the weights you have, but a torque wrench pretty much needs special equipment to test it accurately.

Modern valve cores require more torque than they once did, and I didn't know the spec. Three years ago I bought a Slime valve core torque tool, set up a device where I added water to a 2-liter soda bottle to apply torque to it, and found that it clicked and slipped at 4.8 inch pounds. I guess the spec is 5.

 

[PCeBiker]

Yeah that gets tricky.

I made a torque wrench for my axle nut using my body weight at about 11" from the fulcrum to get me in the ballpark,..

That was before I bought my big torque wrench for over $100

I used that torque wrench twice before I quit driving. Now it sits unused.

 

[spokewrench]

Yeah that gets tricky.

I made a torque wrench for my axle nut using my body weight at about 11" from the fulcrum to get me in the ballpark,..


That was before I bought my big torque wrench for over $100

I used that torque wrench twice before I quit driving. Now it sits unused.

My 1/2" torque wrench goes to 140 foot pounds. That wasn't nearly enough for lug nuts installed with an impact wrench and no adapter. I came up with 250 foot pounds by putting a pipe on a wrench and estimating how much weight I put on it. I supported the head of the wrench so the downward force on the pipe wouldn't tip the socket off the nut.

One still wouldn't budge and I was afraid to push harder. A propane torch lengthened the stud a few microns and the nut came loose easier than the others.

 

[spokewrench]

Yeah that gets tricky.

1/4" box wrench, string, soda bottle. Put the box end on the bit in the screwdriver so that the wrench is cantilevered horizontally and read the inch pounds. With a short, light wrench, it will probably be trivial. You can also calculate the approximate torque at the weight of the wrench times half the length.

Now slide the wrench off the bit. Weigh the string. Tie it to the open end of the wrench. Measure the distance from the suspension point to the center of the box end. Make the free end of the string a noose to hold the neck of the bottle.

Now weigh the bottle, add the weight of the string, multiply by the distance, and add the torque from the wrench itself. That's your expected reading. See how close the screwdriver comes. You might want to rest your hand on a table for stable readings. Try it with different water weights. Forty inch pounds would be a weight of 10 pounds (more than a gallon) at 4 inches.