I have a relatively cheap Sealy torque wrench, few years old now but never been abused. Is it worth getting the calibration checked, had a look online and looks like I could get a new torque wrench for not much more than the cost to calibrate it. Sealy themselves quoted me more than the cost of the wrench. Cheers.
Do it yourself. I know it's another forum, sorry, but it'd take me too long to do it again on here https://triumphmotorcycleforum.com/t/calibrate-a-torque-wrench/1445
I followed a couple of YouTube videos and checked my Sealy basic wrench myself. It was still within spec
Thanks, was thinking about doing it myself but seems a bit of a faff and not sure how accurate it would be. I'm sure it's fine, havn't used it for about a year and noticed I'd stored it away set to well below the minimum setting which you are not supposed to do. Anyway, looks like I've found a mobile service which will do it for £15. Average price was about £45 plus postage.
When I got into doing the valve clearances on the Ducati I decided that it it was time for a new torque wrench that is calibrated in a lower range than my old Norbar wrench that I bought in the 60s. Fortunately my new Norbar torque handle is capable of checking torque for both right and left hand threads and there was a fair overlap of the ranges of the two wrenches. So it was easy to check the accuracy of my 50 year old wrench by connecting the two together by using a large sump plug hex bit on one and the appropriate six point socket on the other wrench. To my surprise the old wrench performed remarkably well which I put down to it being made by one of the most reputable manufacturers of such tools and always winding it back down to it’s minimum setting when finished with. Sadly, I read recently that Norbar, an hour up the road from me at Banbury, have now been bought by Snap-On.
I still use a 1/2" drive Williams Autotorque I bought around 40 yrs ago, plus a more recent 3/8" drive Halfords "Professional" which goes down to 5nm. I also have a huge, brand new 3/4" drive Draper I won on ebay for £15 when a jilted Wife was selling the contents of her husband's garage after he buggered off with a younger model. I've only used the Draper once on some suspension bolts on the SUV torqued up to over 200lb/ft. I checked the other two with the weight method recently and they were, near as damn it, bang on. I always store them wound fully back to the stop then back in 1/2 turn. There's no real zero on them as, even wound fully out, there's some light tension on the spring. If you don't have a TW, a basic rule of thumb is tighten until it strips, then back off 1/2 turn.
If you buy another wrench.....how will you know if thats accurate. I check mine with a digital luggage scale.....very accurate.
I guess I was just thinking at the time a new wrench(which you'd have to assume was accurate) was not much more than getting mine checked, so buy a new one, check the old one and admittedly end up with 2 wrenches of the same range! Give 1 away. Anyway, posted it off to be checked now.
Each of my Norbar torque wrenches came with their own calibration certificate. You get what you pay for.
I sent it to: Visit Our Website www.basicwelding.co.uk Sent it Friday last and not heard anything back yet.
