A question about torque screwdrivers

[HappyHippyDad]

I have been umming and arghing about a torque screwdriver for some time but have not yet bought one.

My fears are the following:

1. There are set torque settings that conductors in a consumer unit should adhere to. However, in the neutral bar which are screw terminals I tend to screw a 6mm in tighter than a 1mm (for example), as if you screw in a 1mm too tight it can shear. You can screw in a 6mm pretty much as tight as you can without fear of it going through the copper. I cant see how a torque screwdriver distinguishes between a 1mm and 6mm. Does it? Does it need to?

2. Are torque screwdrivers always accurate? If I use my normal screwdriver I have a 'fairly', if not 'very' precise feel for how tight I have made the connection. This experience will only improve over the years and you will make varying degrees of tightness as required. You lose this with a torque screwdriver and put all your trust in the mechanism.

I wonder if a torque screwdriver may not be a good option for someone who knows how to use a screwdriver properly? However, I am very much open to persuasion hence the post.

 

[telectrix]

That way you only have to get the 200gm weight and 1000mm rule calibrated instead.

thought that was a bloody long rule till i looked it up on a dual tape measure and saw it was only a yard and a bit.

 

[ipf]

they are just today's fad. never catch on, same as DC electric lighting back in the late 19th C, that one didn't either.

....changed that one, tel.
Tesla 1-0 Edison.

 

[ruston]

But it was Tesla 0 in the long run ... They stuffed him.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Oh missis being stuffed when still alive, that smarts.

 

[ipf]

But it was Tesla 0 in the long run ... They stuffed him.

Yeah...and used plenty of his genius ideas to their gain...
If only he'd gone to Manchester instead of NY.

 

[ruston]

Yeah...and used plenty of his genius ideas to their gain...
If only he'd gone to Manchester instead of NY.

He should of teamed up with Lord Armstrong. Bit of an age difference , but who cares.

 

[ipf]

He should of teamed up with Lord Armstrong. Bit of an age difference , but who cares.

Too true, with Tyneside manufacturing. I'm just thinking of the possibilities for industry around these parts but we could have been years ahead in all sorts of fields. Mind you, there were always money men to cut the futuristic down to size.

 

[ruston]

Too true, with Tyneside manufacturing. I'm just thinking of the possibilities for industry around these parts but we could have been years ahead in all sorts of fields. Mind you, there were always money men to cut the futuristic down to size.

That's what basically happened to Tesla. Armstrong was a bit more pragmatic.
We did Ok though with leading the world with inventions during the Victorian era.
Armstrong was ahead of his times with his views. Here is a cut from Wikepedia.

Armstrong advocated the use of renewable energy. Stating that coal "was used wastefully and extravagantly in all its applications", he predicted in 1863 that Britain would cease to produce coal within two centuries.[4] As well as advocating the use of hydroelectricity, he also supported solar power, stating that the amount of solar energy received by an area of 1 acre (4,000 m2) in the tropics would "exert the amazing power of 4,000 horses acting for nearly nine hours every day".[13]

 

[HappyHippyDad]

as i came across the other week. meter monkey had sheared the head off one of the terminal screws on the meter Lout. was a right pain getting it out with the juice on.

How did you?

 

[Julie.]

How did you?

Carefully?

Plus some more words

 

[DPG]

We know a song about that don't we Johny.

Hale and Pace. Brill.

 

[telectrix]

How did you?

1 side of the screw was left, but other side of slot gone. careful use of sidecutters to break lock, then screwed out with long-nose pliers.

 

[Megawatt]

I have been umming and arghing about a torque screwdriver for some time but have not yet bought one.

My fears are the following:

1. There are set torque settings that conductors in a consumer unit should adhere to. However, in the neutral bar which are screw terminals I tend to screw a 6mm in tighter than a 1mm (for example), as if you screw in a 1mm too tight it can shear. You can screw in a 6mm pretty much as tight as you can without fear of it going through the copper. I cant see how a torque screwdriver distinguishes between a 1mm and 6mm. Does it? Does it need to?

2. Are torque screwdrivers always accurate? If I use my normal screwdriver I have a 'fairly', if not 'very' precise feel for how tight I have made the connection. This experience will only improve over the years and you will make varying degrees of tightness as required. You lose this with a torque screwdriver and put all your trust in the mechanism.

I wonder if a torque screwdriver may not be a good option for someone who knows how to use a screwdriver properly? However, I am very much open to persuasion hence the post.

Happy in the US in the 2020 NEC edition we have adopted that all that terminations be torqued to the manufacture ins-trucking and pass inspection by code enforcement

 

[HappyHippyDad]

One last thing about this..

Do you have to send off your screwdriver to be calibrated or can you buy some sort of calibrating tool to do it yourself?

 

[telectrix]

i calibrate mine . if it clicks, it works.

can just imagine Fuzz Towshend saying " i can't refit this cylinder head in time as my torque wrench is away for calibration".