Digital Torque Meter

[racer12306]

A while back Craftsman offered an inline torque meter that read to a box about the size of a DVM, that appears to be gone. I've also used something similar in the past, but can't recall a brand.

Are there any reasonably priced options, other than the HF guy (http://www.harborfreight.com/digital-torue-adapter-68283.html)? I say other than the HF one because I'd like one to go lower than the 29.5 ft-lbs that it does. I know I can buy one of a number of options for $1000+ but, I am definitely not interested in that.

My goal is to self calibrate my torque wrenches. I just bought a 1/2", 3/8" and 1/4" one from HF for $10 each and would like to check them every now and again without spending a good chunk of change each time. If need be, I could just calibrate the meter every year or two and have confidence that I'm torquing to the right value.

 

[LeakySeals]

Just asking. What parts are you so concerned about that your spending money calibrating/verifying torque spec? Assume not gaskets, seals, plugs, stuff like that..

 

[Voltmaster]

Just buy cheaper solutions and replace

send in caliberation i dont think its worth it unless its a dealership or something.

 

[racer12306]

Normal uses for a torque wrench around a car. I'm sure it's overkill, but it would be nice for the times I drop it to check it and make sure it's still good to go. I broke a head bolt on my jr dragster when I was 10 and it scarred me for life, now I go overkill on careful torquing.

I'd also be up to use something that plugs into a Fluke meter, if such a thing exists.

 

[stephen9666]

Eastwood sells them as does Amazon.

I have the HF one and it has worked very well for me. I also used it for checking torque wrences. It's made in Taiwan, not China. A recent comparison my Car Craft found it to be very accurate.

 

[racer12306]

I saw that article too.

I would buy the HF one in a second if it went low enough.

I'll check out Eastwood

Thanks

 

[Vikas]

Do you worry that whatever calibration tool that you buy would need to be calibrated too? At some point, you will have to let your irrational fears go away.

HOWEVER, everybody needs that digital torque meter and I will end up buying it myself as soon as I see it in a local store at a reasonable price.

 

[racer12306]

If you see my posts above, I mentioned that I would probably calibrate the digital device every year or two.

Calibrating one device is a lot better than calibrating three.

As far as calibrating the standards, that's the cal houses problem. I deal with equipment calibrations on a regular basis, so I'm very familiar with the process.

 

[stephen9666]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
Do you worry that whatever calibration tool that you buy would need to be calibrated too?


And then you'll need to calibrate the calibration machine, and then you'll need to calibrate what you used to calibrate the calibration machine, and they you'll need to calibrate the...

Just kidding, of course. As you mention, eventually you have to just use what you have. By using a torque adapter to check his torque wrenches, the OP is going far beyond what the average person will ever do. I used my torque adapter to check all my wrenches and either they're all pretty accurate or they're all off by the same amount.

You may not be familiar with how some of these torque adapters work.

Mine came with a calibration certificate and it has a very, very simple mechanism. It has really almost no moving parts. It has what appears to be basically a single metal extension that twists at a predetermined rate. It doesn't have a spring loaded mechanism like a torque wrench.

In theory I'm sure the torque adapter would eventually become inaccurate from use, but if you store it properly and handle it carefully, I'm guessing it will be accurate for quite some time.

 

[racer12306]

I figured it had a little transducer in it.

I know this is overkill, but I could point out a lot of people on here who go overkill. Maybe not on this particular situation, but with other things. How many people won't go to 3001 miles on an oil change? How many people change their air filter annually or with every oil change? I could go on, but I won't.

 

[Vikas]

I will say this again. There are more cases of screw-ups when somebody uses torque wrench without too much of thinking. It seems as if having a torque wrench makes them not use their brain.

One thing which I will categorically say is that for working on the car, very few fasteners needs anything more than +/- 15% accuracy. Anybody who tells you otherwise does not have engineering background. There are some fasteners which needs to be closer in torque with each other that is repeatability and consistency is more important than the raw accuracy.

It is not that difficult to find if your existing torque wrenches agree within that margin. Once you have done that and have some feel of typical torque values, you will no longer try to get the "best" or the "most accurate" torque wrench.

 

[racer12306]

I'm not trying to "get the best" or the "most accurate" and this should be apparent by me owning HF wrenches and not wanting to spend $1000 on a good bench top torque meter.

What's wrong with checking what you have?

Honestly, you aren't going to convince me otherwise so you may as well stop trying.

I appreciate the other useful answers that have pointed me in a good direction. I even stumbled on an AC Delco one that goes down to 4ft-lbs, per it's description, for $55 shipped. I just had to change my search keywords a little.