Novice question about loose spanners

[delobe]

Hi,

I noticed all my spanners are all 1/2 millimetre larger than stated. I was using an adjustable and noticed it was much tighter, the spanners seemed lose.

This is a super novice question, but thought I might ask, is this normal?

Thanks!

 

[RobinBHM]

No it must be your small nuts

 

[artie]

No it must be your small nuts

Cracker

 

[Monkey Mark]

I find it varies between manufacturer, some are better than others.
Adjustables are useful but I find have a tendancy to slip with any real force applied, unless the large heavy duty ones.

 

[delobe]

Yeah, I care much less now after that joke.

But the spanners are King Dick... so...

The joke's on you.

 

[artie]

King dick and small nuts...........

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Hi Delobe, and welcome to the forum!

King Dick spanners are at the top end of the quality range, so it's not down to poor manufacture. Most spanners are made with a slight clearance to allow for the fact that nuts and bolts are made to a tolerance range, so the slight slop (and it is slight) ensures that all spanners of a given size will fit all hex heads made to that nominal size, including the ones that end up at 'maximum metal' dimensions. As a bonus, it means that spanners will fit nuts and bolts having a bit of corrosion on them, or a thin film of finish or plating.

It's sometimes advised that for safest use, it's preferable to use ring spanners or sockets wherever possible, and open-enders only when there's no other option. Ringies and sockets are less prone to slip off. Adjustables can be useful in some cirumstances, but invest in good ones (mine are Bahco and Britool, and have absorbed quite a bit of use and abuse over the years without any noticable wear or damage); cheap shifters with loose, spreading and easily-worn jaws are a safety hazard, and often end up damaging your nuts. Nasty.

 

[bugbear]

Hi,

I noticed all my spanners are all 1/2 millimetre larger than stated. I was using an adjustable and noticed it was much tighter, the spanners seemed lose.

This is a super novice question, but thought I might ask, is this normal?

Thanks!

An adjustable is as tight or loose as you choose to make it, so not really a good comparison.

A spanner that was an exact size would be a nightmare - a real fiddle to get on and off the head. Further, the manufacture of nut and bolt heads is allowed quite a wide tolerance (no one wants to pay for precision engineered bolts when putting up a shed).

So spanners tend to be a loose fit, for good reasons. Of course, really cheap spanners take advantage of this to have appallingly loose fits.

BugBear

 

[Beau]

0.5 of a mm is far too much IMO. Had a problem myself when I rounded off a nut on my planer. Took the vernier gauge to it and it was 0.45 oversize. Checked my whole Halfords set and many of them where oversize upto 0.5 mm. Grabbed my old cheapo screwfix set and worst of them was 0.35 oversize so there is clearly a lot of variation between sets and price does not appear to be a guarantee of quality. Bet Snapon aren't 0.5 mm oversize but I am too tight to find out.

 

[lurker]

0.5 of a mm is far too much IMO. Had a problem myself when I rounded off a nut on my planer. Took the vernier gauge to it and it was 0.45 oversize. Checked my whole Halfords set and many of them where oversize upto 0.5 mm. Grabbed my old cheapo screwfix set and worst of them was 0.35 oversize so there is clearly a lot of variation between sets and price does not appear to be a guarantee of quality. Bet Snapon aren't 0.5 mm oversize but I am too tight to find out.

Halfords are cheap rubbish but sold at a high price on the back of the Halfords name.
In my industry, adjustables are banned and open ended are restricted use.

 

[Beau]

0.5 of a mm is far too much IMO. Had a problem myself when I rounded off a nut on my planer. Took the vernier gauge to it and it was 0.45 oversize. Checked my whole Halfords set and many of them where oversize upto 0.5 mm. Grabbed my old cheapo screwfix set and worst of them was 0.35 oversize so there is clearly a lot of variation between sets and price does not appear to be a guarantee of quality. Bet Snapon aren't 0.5 mm oversize but I am too tight to find out.

Halfords are cheap rubbish but sold at a high price on the back of the Halfords name.
In my industry, adjustables are banned and open ended are restricted use.

Yes and no.
Think you are right about the cheap rubbish bit but don't think £100 for a large set is a high price even if the quality is low.

 

[delobe]

The tolerances of King Dick spanners range from about 0.40mm to 0.70mm for 12mm to 30mm spanner.

EDITED

 

[marcros]

The tolerances of King Dick spanners range from about 40mm to 70mm for 12mm to 30mm spanner.

:?:

 

[bugbear]

The tolerances of King Dick spanners range from about 40mm to 70mm for 12mm to 30mm spanner.

Have you mixed up your units or something on that?

Your tolerances are larger than your sizes, which seems "unlikely".

BugBear

 

[dickm]

Your tolerances are larger than your sizes, which seems "unlikely".

Except when buying from Bee and Poo

 

[woodpig]

It's probably meant to be .4 to .7.

 

[n0legs]

Sad I know but I went and checked a few of mine.
Dowidat 21 mm spanner,it's actual measurement was 21.07 mm 8)
King Dick 30 mm, 30.34 mm

 

[delobe]

The tolerances of King Dick spanners range from about 40mm to 70mm for 12mm to 30mm spanner.

Have you mixed up your units or something on that?

Your tolerances are larger than your sizes, which seems "unlikely".

BugBear

Thanks, edited.