Hahaha, I started to do the same and then came up with this idea, I used a 1/4 socket on the 1/4 beam torque wrench, to a 1/4 hex shank 1/2 driver to the pinion nut socket… Works like a charm…
1:11pm cst
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Funny, just brought the wife home from knee replacement. Year ago was shoulder replacement. Didn’t Look either time. Fun times ahead.
Before I retired, I worked at a distribution transformer manufacturer. They used a variety of click type 1/2” drive torque wrenches that were “cal checked” twice during each shift. A “cal check” is not the same as a NIST calibration, but a quick check against a calibration level 4 standard.
Anyway, the torque wrenches we used cost anywhere from around $20 from HF to $75 Craftsman. They all lasted about 2.5 months until they no longer passed the “cal check”, no matter the cost. We decided to go all HF and not pay to have them recalibrated as a new wrench was cheaper.
BTW, these got a LOT of use in their 2.5 month lifetime.
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Hi Keith. This comment grabbed my attention. I was interviewing a mobile tire installer, Jay, one of our Car Talk team of experts. He said the same thing. He just buys a new wrench periodically rather than fuss with calibration.
I have a Craftsman click type, must be 30 years old, hasn’t seen daylight in at least 20 years.
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My old work, as of retirement 2021, we used all Snap-on torque wrenches only for lug nut torque, they were swapped out every 6 months to be recalibrated and or repaired… Before Covid, they cost the company about $180.00 each…
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I had the end nuts come undone on my 1/2” Craftsman once. I needed it at the time, so managed to get it back together, and then had to fuss with it a bit to get it back in spec using the fish scale. I’m sure it wasn’t to “level 4” standard (since IDK what that actually means), and certainly not NIST. But I was pretty confident in it. That’s when I started checking it periodically. It didn’t take that long to finagle it back into shape. I’d rather that than spending another $XX - but I’m also not a company. Just a DIY guy who wants to make sure things are right, but doesn’t have the wrench time of pros.
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Just curious, were they always returned to zero after use? Or did they leave them set to a particular setting?
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Good question. I don’t think it applies to the beam types as they return to zero automatically (?). But mine are the clickers. I always back then off after use. Not to zero (as none of mine go to zero or to a positive stop at the lowest value, so I’ve been conservative about it). But I back them down to something close to their lowest value. E.g., my 1/2” craftsman is 20-150 ftlb, so I always back it down to something around 25 ftlb. I don’t actually know the specific internals of how these work. But my understanding is that whatever internals, like springs or whatever, are subject to more wear/fatigue if left loaded. But that’s just my impression.
Using a proper size ratchet always seemed to make it easy to get things torqued down correctly. I can’t imagine using a 1/2” ratchet on a 1/4” hex head bolt/nut not being overtightened by a DIYer.
Of course combination wrenches’ length to bolt diameter is quite appropriate.
No, these were in constant use, two shifts a day. They were not returned to zero at the end of the second shift either but they probably should have. But they were cal checked at the beginning of each shift.
BTW, NIST is the National Institute of Standards and Technology. The level 1 standards are THE standard by which all others are measured against. Level 4 are bench standards that working tools and instruments are checked on. Level 3 are used by calibration technicians to adjust and calibrate the level 4 standards, usually once a year but may be done more frequently if needed. The level 2 standards are used to calibrate the level 3 standards and of course those are calibrated to the level 1 standard.
Level 1 standards may not exist as a physical standard anymore but a description of the standard. I.e. the level 1 for a “meter” is x number of wavelengths of some metal under certain circumstances. I’m sure it is available by Google.
Even the instructions of HF’s say to return to 0.
I was almost embarrassed to say I have a 1/2" beam wrench, glad to see others have them. Worked for me when I needed it, but not doing any work these days I need it for. Left over from the 70’s I think.
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Beam wrenches are dead simple. If it returns to zero after use, that would seem to indicate that nothing is bent. If nothing is bent, I can’t see how they would ever lose accuracy.
I use my beam type to check my click type torque wrenches. Not lab grade calibration but good enough for most shop work, IMHO.
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Yes. The vast majority of these employ springs to set the tension. If kept in a compressed state, they tend to relax over time. For home use, the worst thing you could do is put them away for long periods at a low to high setting. I tend not to go all the way to zero like someone else mentioned only because I forget which turning direction is up vs down. Going below zero is not good, trust me 
I learned how they are constructed that way…
The issue with commercial production use is they are usually left at some initial setting indefinitely. We have numerous torque wrenches on a given workspace, color coded so the operators can easily tell which wrench setting is which. The problem is, they go out of calibration fairly quickly doing that. So we have a monthly calibration service that handles all of our measuring tools and these almost always need adjustment to bring them back into calibration.
Check out this video. I have 2 Craftsman torque wrenches, one of which is 60 years old.
Different work places, different rules. In an environment where the torque wrench is used constantly, returning to zero after each use is not practical. The labor costs alone would be way above the cost of periodic replacement. In this environment, typically the torque wrenches get a cal check every 2, 4 or 8 hours.
In a workplace where the torque wrenches are used only a couple of times an hour, return to zero makes more sense.
A workplace should have an engineering department that tests for the most economical solution for that workplace. There can be a lot of factors that go into the decision making policy besides mean time between failure (MTBF) such as how critical is the torque or is even using a torque wrench the best method for that process.
Different rules definitely- we do checks at the start of a shift or when an operator changes. Analysis has shown anything more than that is unnecessary. In fact, analysis indicates that our wrenches will hold cal for up to 2 months within our tolerance specs so we derate that and do calibrations every month as I mentioned above. BTW- tools cannot be dropped, they are on retractable tether so no need to worry about that kind of damage during normal use.
The risk is that the operator makes an incorrect setting. We found it better to have manufacturing engineering responsible for setting torque wrench values for a workstation, then do not touch them. Operators can and must do periodic checks, as mentioned, but they are not allowed to make adjustments. That is why we have multiple tools with different settings and color coded to match.
Absolutely. Invest in good tools. Do not trust they will stay in calibration, institute a frequent check protocol and then adjust over time as statistically relevant for period. Review engineering specifications to ensure they are not overly tight (no pun intended) as we have had a number of engineers not understanding the costs of tolerancing tighter than our margins dictate…
Is there a way for me to check mine, other than finding a calibration shop?
Yes. They make and sell professional digital torque adapters that you can set and then see if your wrench activates or reads at the correct setting.
You could go full DIY and use a weight of known value hung from the wrench with the socket adapter in a vise. Easiest would be a foot but if you want/need to go different distance, just do the math.