Recommend me a 1/4" drive torque wrench.

[Fazed]

Greetings tool fans

I'm in need of the above after my ancient no-name 1/4" drive decided to pap itself recently.

The usual spec: short-ish, 5-25nm, decent quality, etc.

I have no need for Strap-On or sMac Tools, because I'm tight and can't justify spending that amount, however I have been pointed toward Teng tools.

Any other recommendations please chaps? Ta.

 

[brightspark]

Greetings tool fans

I'm in need of the above after my ancient no-name 1/4" drive decided to pap itself recently.

The usual spec: short-ish, 5-25nm, decent quality, etc.

I have no need for Strap-On or sMac Tools, because I'm tight and can't justify spending that amount, however I have been pointed toward Teng tools.

Any other recommendations please chaps? Ta.

norbar if u can get one cheap enough of ebay . they aint cheap mind

 

[tigler]

Believe it or not, Halfords torque wrenches got a best buy award in Car Mechanics mag a short while back !!

 

[Sean]

And so did sip welders for years - so id not really be looking to Craptical Plastics for that much advice

Britool torque wrenches for me

 

[@Turbo]

I've a 3/8 halfords one and it seems to work well and a 1/2 britool I got on offer is very good. have a search around the shops facom/britool always have leaflets out were I am.

teng stuff is generally been good to me as well tho I never bought a t wrench off them.

 

[Epicyclic]

A colleague at work bought a Halfords one recently and was very pleased with it, he was surprised as it came with a test certificate.

Even better value if you get one of their trade cards...

 

[Ragnarok]

I've always found teng tool stuff to be pretty good, between the really expensive stuff and the cheap stuff, but everything I've had from them has been great, the finish isn't quite as nice as the expensive brands, but it's tough and does the job well, never used the teng torque wrench though, but i can't imagine it being bad personally britool also a good option.

 

[Blurk99]

+1 for Teng for general use - that's my tools that the nipper uses when he's helping me fix his bike etc... i've got a small torque wrench - think it's a 'probike' or 'park tool' pushbike one, quite like it

 

[Ragnarok]

the bike brands torque wrenches are a different torque range from usual workshop ones the cross over between two of the standard ones, I remember trying to find nonbike tool brand ones for working on bikes, cause I always find that bike tools are over priced for the quality, but i couldn't find one that would do the whole range of bike stuff :/

 

[hotrodder]

Rumour is that hellfrauds professional torque wrenches are acutally made and calibrated in the UK by Norbar. They certainly look kinda like an older Norbar design. Kind of a mute point as the smallest one on the halfords site is 3/8 drive, 8-60Nm.

The Teng offering looks fairly generic, i like their screwdrivers and combination spanners are ok but ratchets and sockets are bulky compared to other brands

 

[Ragnarok]

teng make FRN and metal ratchets the FRN are bulky but very light, the metal ones are comparable to other brands, i've found the small socket set i have from them pretty good i like the rough finish on the sockets, good when you have oily hands

 

[Fazed]

Thanks chaperoos!

Looked at Halfrauds and Hotrodder is right - no 1/4" drive.

Had a flick through the Machine Mart rag and there's a Clarke one for (off the top of my head) £20ish and a Laser one for £30ish and they look exactly the same. it seems you're paying an extra tenner for a blue box instead of a red one.

I'm leaning toward the Teng - good price (not uber-cheap) and it looks capable of doing some damage .

 

[zzr1200]

This might help:

http://www.cromwell.co.uk/static/publication/1187/pages/967.pdf

 

[Robotstar5]

This might help:

http://www.cromwell.co.uk/static/publication/1187/pages/967.pdf

Damn, beat me to it! although looking at the Norbar ones reminded me that one of my old Norbar wrenches has a similar plastic window as the one in pic and it is almost opaque after 35 years making it difficult to read.

 

[tigler]

This looks ok,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Professio...37?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item256dc1d415

 

[paul_f]

Rumour is that hellfrauds professional torque wrenches are acutally made and calibrated in the UK by Norbar. They certainly look kinda like an older Norbar design. Kind of a mute point as the smallest one on the halfords site is 3/8 drive, 8-60Nm.

I have a Beta torque wrench which is almost identical to my Halfords one (stickers and everything) but the head is slightly different

http://www.betawork.com/catalog/art...ang_en/__catlang_en/__catalog_beta/__filters_

 

[Ragnarok]

I bet the beta one is a lot better quality than the halfords... beta are good tools, halfords are mostly bad replicas....

 

[hotrodder]

^^I wouldn't be suprised if they're both made by Norbar. Tool 'manufacturers' having kit made elsewhere/rebranding ain't exactly new and as good as Beta kit is getting your torque wrenches made by one of the industry leaders is, if anything, a smart move imo. Another torque wrench test here, http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/products/products/233472/torque_wrenches_tested.html ignoring the fact the Hellfrauds entry won it (beating Norbar on both average accuracy and value) scroll down to the dregs and in last place is what looks like a Britool disguised as Sykes-Pickavant. Britool earned their reputation over many years, then Facom bought 'em and now both are little more than brand names of the Stanley Black & Decker empire.

 

[Ragnarok]

true britool has dropped quality considerably lately, the made another step down in quality last year with the new range, but the previous spec socket sets were excellent quality and didn't cost a ton, I have had a 1/2" set for along time can't think how long but it has to be 6-7 years by now and it's all still perfect, when i saw that the new range was coming out and what it looked like i ordered the 3/8" and 1/4" immediately very happy with them too!

I think that probably the better branded ones would be better quality, even if they are made by the same company, I'm sure they must make some to a tighter budget than others, worse finish, less quality control, cheaper materials and the like.

 

[hotrodder]

Maybe but brand 'prestige' is worth at least a few quid too. The halfords torque wrenches aren't as cheap in real terms as their socket sets/combination spanners, from a quick google the 8-60Nm torque wrench is around a score less than the equivilant 'pucker' Norbar 13010