Which Torque wrench?
I'm looking at these two and was wondering if anyone has any experience of them or have any other recommendations?
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/040210674/
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/laser-torque-wrench-5-25nm-quarter-inch-driv/
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/040210674/
https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/laser-torque-wrench-5-25nm-quarter-inch-driv/
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Comments
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Either of them will do a job but quite how accurately is another thing entirely. You haven't said what you want to use it for and the kind of torque limits you will be working to but you really should give that some thought before pressing the 'buy button'
Suggest you do a search here on BR as there are a number of threads on the forum about torque wrenches. Personally, I have got a Park Tools 2-15 Nm (I think!) which cost me about £80 and is a really nice bit of kit. A mate of mine has got one with a similar torque range from Superstar which is also OK and gives similar readings to mine but it was half the price. £80 (or even £40) can sound like a lot of money but it's not when weighed against potential damage to a far more expensive bike using a cheap and possibly inaccurate tool.Cannondale Synapse Carbon Ultegra
Kinesis Racelight 4S
Specialized Allez Elite (Frame/Forks for sale)
Specialized Crosstrail Comp Disk (For sale)0 -
I have the Clarke one and have never had any problems using it. The difference between the two - is the Laser one has a certificate of calibration - which doesn't mean that the Clarke one is inaccurate though.
I have always felt that the one I have (Clarke) is quite adequate for use on a bike.0 -
Sealey STW1011 or STW1012 (depending on the torque range you want/need) - neither should cost you more than £30 delivered to your door.0
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Sealey STW1011 or STW1012 (depending on the torque range you want/need) - neither should cost you more than £30 delivered to your door.
Yup - used both the 2-12Nm and 12-40Nm ones of these for years: worked utterly perfect, no problems, excellent prices.Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honoursmithy21 wrote:
He's right you know.0 -
Either of them will do a job but quite how accurately is another thing entirely. You haven't said what you want to use it for and the kind of torque limits you will be working to but you really should give that some thought before pressing the 'buy button'
Suggest you do a search here on BR as there are a number of threads on the forum about torque wrenches. Personally, I have got a Park Tools 2-15 Nm (I think!) which cost me about £80 and is a really nice bit of kit. A mate of mine has got one with a similar torque range from Superstar which is also OK and gives similar readings to mine but it was half the price. £80 (or even £40) can sound like a lot of money but it's not when weighed against potential damage to a far more expensive bike using a cheap and possibly inaccurate tool.
Just spent £1,300 on a Genesis croix de Fer 30. I wasn't really too bothered about over tightening bolts on my Ridgeback Speed but I want to be more pedantic with the Genesis...
5-25 should be fine for what I need. I'm looking for something fairly compact too.0 -
Sealey STW1011 or STW1012 (depending on the torque range you want/need) - neither should cost you more than £30 delivered to your door.
Yup - used both the 2-12Nm and 12-40Nm ones of these for years: worked utterly perfect, no problems, excellent prices.
Er - they're 2-24Nm (STW1012) and 7-112Nm (STW1011)0 -
Sealey STW1011 or STW1012 (depending on the torque range you want/need) - neither should cost you more than £30 delivered to your door.
Yup - used both the 2-12Nm and 12-40Nm ones of these for years: worked utterly perfect, no problems, excellent prices.
Er - they're 2-24Nm (STW1012) and 7-112Nm (STW1011)
Smashing - thanks for confirming that!Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honoursmithy21 wrote:
He's right you know.0 -
It's all very well saying I have this cheap wrench or that cheap wrench and it's a good wrench. But if a wrench hasn't been calibrated correctly at the point of manufacture then it's a recipe for disaster. I guess what I need to know is if anyone has tested their cheap wrenches in some way?
I had an issue with Leyne pumps under reading when compared to two top spec stand alone pressure gauges. Lezynes U.K distributor was adamant they had not had any complaints in the past and that there was noting wrong with them. That's all very well if you buy a pump/wrench and take the readings as gospel. A well known chain of bike shops and the LBS I bought the Lezyne pump from both backed up my findings with regards to the pump. Testing a torque wrench on the other hand isn't so easy to do or costs serious money....0 -
MiniMalts, My thoughts exactly - I only really thought about getting a torque wrench after spending good money on a carbon bike (my Synapse) and to me another £80 was neither here nor there for the added peace of mind of buying what I thought (rightly or wrongly!) would be the superior quality tool. I don't know whether that extra 1 or 2 NM (or even 0.5) that a cheap wrench might put on the seatpost bolt that is meant to take only 5NM would really do any damage but I don't want to find out. That said, as mentioned above, my mates Superstar one also seems OK and it's calibration (with a certificate) seems to be very close to mine.Cannondale Synapse Carbon Ultegra
Kinesis Racelight 4S
Specialized Allez Elite (Frame/Forks for sale)
Specialized Crosstrail Comp Disk (For sale)0 -
Sealey STW1011 or STW1012 (depending on the torque range you want/need) - neither should cost you more than £30 delivered to your door.
Yup - used both the 2-12Nm and 12-40Nm ones of these for years: worked utterly perfect, no problems, excellent prices.
Er - they're 2-24Nm (STW1012) and 7-112Nm (STW1011)
Just checked - yup, the ones I have are:
Part number/stock number
#34750/#30074: 10-80Nm, 3/8ths drive
STW1012 - 2 - 24NM, 3/8ths drive
30014/30317: 30 - 210NM, 1/2" drive
Really glad that's sorted - thank you once again for your post! Cleared up any potential confusion.Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am
De Sisti wrote:
This is one of the silliest threads I've come across.
Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honoursmithy21 wrote:
He's right you know.0 -
MiniMalts, My thoughts exactly - I only really thought about getting a torque wrench after spending good money on a carbon bike (my Synapse) and to me another £80 was neither here nor there for the added peace of mind of buying what I thought (rightly or wrongly!) would be the superior quality tool. I don't know whether that extra 1 or 2 NM (or even 0.5) that a cheap wrench might put on the seatpost bolt that is meant to take only 5NM would really do any damage but I don't want to find out. That said, as mentioned above, my mates Superstar one also seems OK and it's calibration (with a certificate) seems to be very close to mine.
Yeah, I think I'll just have to stump up the £80+ for the Park Tool. Although, I'm tempted to buy the Clarke and follow the YouTube videos on how to test it and see how accurate it is, you know, just for curiosity.0 -
Don't over-think this. I have two bike torque wrenches (and a few automotive ones - 5 or 6 I think)
I have bike one from my local tool factor - comes with a cert. I have the Superstars one that comes with a cert too. Both do the job and, comparing torques, they come up very similar.
The truth is, though, that at the torques we're talking about, your technique, the cleanliness of the components etc will have as much impact as the torque wrench. Get a good one but don't go silly.
Besides all of that, most components have a reasonably wide window and stick a bit of carbon paste on and you can probably err on the low side of the torques.ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH0 -
Don't over-think this. I have two bike torque wrenches (and a few automotive ones - 5 or 6 I think).
This is bordering on torque wrench fetish!Cannondale Synapse Carbon Ultegra
Kinesis Racelight 4S
Specialized Allez Elite (Frame/Forks for sale)
Specialized Crosstrail Comp Disk (For sale)0 -
Don't over-think this. I have two bike torque wrenches (and a few automotive ones - 5 or 6 I think).
This is bordering on torque wrench fetish!
Ha - my excuse is that I live in two places and do a lot of car stuff too.
ROAD < Scott Foil HMX Di2, Volagi Liscio Di2, Jamis Renegade Elite Di2, Cube Reaction Race > ROUGH0 -
Your choice, your cash - but the Sealeys come with a calibration certificate - so at least you know how close to the claimed torque it was when tested and you could have both Sealeys (and change) for the price of the Park Tool.Yeah, I think I'll just have to stump up the £80+ for the Park Tool. Although, I'm tempted to buy the Clarke and follow the YouTube videos on how to test it and see how accurate it is, you know, just for curiosity.0 -
Your choice, your cash - but the Sealeys come with a calibration certificate - so at least you know how close to the claimed torque it was when tested and you could have both Sealeys (and change) for the price of the Park Tool.Yeah, I think I'll just have to stump up the £80+ for the Park Tool. Although, I'm tempted to buy the Clarke and follow the YouTube videos on how to test it and see how accurate it is, you know, just for curiosity.
I'd prefer 14" drive and have something small enough to transport (to a free to use bike workshop) easily. The Sealeys are just too big.
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The truth is, though, that at the torques we're talking about, your technique, the cleanliness of the components etc will have as much impact as the torque wrench.
De facto the accuracy of torque wrenches is futile compared with the impact of lubrication/ surface condition/
type of thread which can make > 50% difference of the bolt tension.
Read this:
http://james-p-smith.blogspot.nl/2011/05/torque-wrenches-and-bicycles.html
I don't use torque wrenches on bikes... 0 -
I started to read it but quickly lost the will to live. Just in case my initial impression was wrong, I had a quick look at some of the other stuff in the blog and started to feel even worse.
I'm not really qualified to comment authoritively on that stuff but suffice to say that I personally am more than happy to carry on using my torque wrench and am also equally happy for anyone that has chosen a different path.Cannondale Synapse Carbon Ultegra
Kinesis Racelight 4S
Specialized Allez Elite (Frame/Forks for sale)
Specialized Crosstrail Comp Disk (For sale)0 -
The main thing about torque wrenches is make people happy indeed
That's good, because that's pretty much the only thing they do............0 -
It's all very well saying I have this cheap wrench or that cheap wrench and it's a good wrench. But if a wrench hasn't been calibrated correctly at the point of manufacture then it's a recipe for disaster. I guess what I need to know is if anyone has tested their cheap wrenches in some way?
I had an issue with Leyne pumps under reading when compared to two top spec stand alone pressure gauges. Lezynes U.K distributor was adamant they had not had any complaints in the past and that there was noting wrong with them. That's all very well if you buy a pump/wrench and take the readings as gospel. A well known chain of bike shops and the LBS I bought the Lezyne pump from both backed up my findings with regards to the pump. Testing a torque wrench on the other hand isn't so easy to do or costs serious money....
Automotive torque wrenches need to be more accurate than bike ones. A stripped thread on a cyclinder head is a bit more expensive than on a bike. Torque wrenches on bikes are overkill for the majority of jobs theres several grades of tight - finger - two fingers on an allen - several fingers on an allen - hand on an allen - elbow - full weight. Never had to to the last one yet except for getting them off.
Common sense over using the torque wrench tbh. If you are stripping threads or breaking carbon frames then i'd suggest you skip the torque wrench and take it to a bike shop.0 -
Automotive torque wrenches need to be more accurate than bike ones. A stripped thread on a cyclinder head is a bit more expensive than on a bike. Torque wrenches on bikes are overkill for the majority of jobs theres several grades of tight - finger - two fingers on an allen - several fingers on an allen - hand on an allen - elbow - full weight. Never had to to the last one yet except for getting them off.
All very true...
Regarding cylinder heads: parts and bolts manufactured by 1 manufacturer and mounted by a well thought description about lubrication make the difference , nothing of that is applicable to bike parts in general.
And STILL most cylinder heads are not torqued anymore completely by torque wrenching but limited to the first stage of torquing the bolts.
The later stages are almost always a certain amount of degrees which gives more control of the desired equal bolt tension.
The vast majority of torque wrenches used for bikes create an illusion of doing well not supported by any technical facts.0
