Where to have torque wrench calibrated?

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May 25, 2005
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Hi all,

So my torque wrench if I remember correctly is a craftsman. Recently I had to torque bolts to 20 ft lbs and ended up snapping the heads off. Now I'm looking to get my torque wrench calibrated. What to look for, and who does a good job of calibrating torque wrenches? Will the Snap-on or matco mobile trucks do it on their truck? All help suggested.
 
It probably isn't worth doing on a Craftsman torque wrench. Having said that there are a few good YouTube videos floating around on how to DIY, that's what I would do.
 
I maintain precision tooling as a service so the first question is: (not knowing what exact wrench you have)

Is the TW actually adjustable or do you just want to see how out of spec it is?

Low end wrenches generally are not worth it and don't hold spec long even when calibrated.

For field level calc, there are a number of videos on how this is done- they are what they are but not everyone used an actual load cell and checks the overall structure and components. ( that has a cost)

But, if you are snapping heads at that low a range, I would be checking the bolts for grade and the joint- suggests to me something else is wrong
 
As a follow up. My dads cheap torque wrench was able to torque the same bolts to 20 ft lbs with no problem.
 
Find a beam type torque wrench. Connect the business ends with some sort of adapter. See if the click wrench gives at the same place as the pointer shows.
 
As a follow up. My dads cheap torque wrench was able to torque the same bolts to 20 ft lbs with no problem.

Just to avoid a false sense of security and potentially avoid a possible misdiagnosis....

You didn't state the size so assuming the bolts proper in question will withstand 20 ft lbs of torque by the grade designation

Assuming the other torque wrench is accurate and there is 20 ft lbs of actual torque on the remaining bolts ( wouldn't be the "same" unless you welded the heads back on)

You still may very have a potential issue with the bolts/joint because that's not a huge amount of torque and defective or not, unless you honked down and literally twisted the head off- it still shouldn't have happened. ( TW out of spec or not)
 
Hi all,

So my torque wrench if I remember correctly is a craftsman. Recently I had to torque bolts to 20 ft lbs and ended up snapping the heads off. Now I'm looking to get my torque wrench calibrated. What to look for, and who does a good job of calibrating torque wrenches? Will the Snap-on or matco mobile trucks do it on their truck? All help suggested.

What size torque wrench are you using, that is fairly low torque. Were these TTY bolts?
 
Type "Calibration Laboratory" and the name of your city into your browser. Most any calibration lab does torque wrenches. The cost of calibration is probably going to be around $35 or so. If your wrench is far enough off to snap bolts, I would be surprised if it can be adjusted to tolerance. The old Craftsman click torque wrenches have a cylinder inside the handle. The cylinder has all the numbers on it and as you adjust the torque you can read the appropriate number through a window on the handle. If that cylinder comes loose a good technician can fix it.
 
They were for the brake caliper on my chevy cavalier. I purchased new bolts and then torqued them with my dad's. Yeah 20 ft lbs isn't much.
 
We used to send ours out at one of the shops I worked at in the past. We would include our Canadian Tires ones and cheap ones from home as well as they just did them all for us as a package. Never had any issues even with the cheap ones and unless dropped or damaged all seemed to hold their calibration decently.
 
Contact this company

 
I’ve had good results testing the calibration on my lower end torque wrenches. I like to use angel repair (ship to them) for nicer models.

HF also has a digital torque gauge one can use to check your wrenches... if you trust it (I have one also which has been spot on).
 
Our tool guys at work will calibrate any brand of torque wrench if it isn’t their brand they charge a small fee which is absolutely amazing. I am fortunate enough to have 3 tool truck guys for three different brands and each one is able to calibrate a torque wrench on their truck without having to send it off which is great because then you don’t have to worry about having a spare or anything because my spare is one of the $20 Harbor Freight ones that really isn’t good at all lol.
 
Our tool guys at work will calibrate any brand of torque wrench if it isn’t their brand they charge a small fee which is absolutely amazing. I am fortunate enough to have 3 tool truck guys for three different brands and each one is able to calibrate a torque wrench on their truck without having to send it off which is great because then you don’t have to worry about having a spare or anything because my spare is one of the $20 Harbor Freight ones that really isn’t good at all lol.
I dunno- my HF is as accurate as the other 6 tw's that I own. A bit more bulky than the rest but it works okay
 
I dunno- my HF is as accurate as the other 6 tw's that I own. A bit more bulky than the rest but it works okay
Mine stopped clicking even after calibration lol so I don’t trust it anymore I think one of the coworkers may have dropped it and didn’t tell me. There is a reason I don’t loan them my good torque wrench lol,
 
Yeah, my 1/2 HF is pretty accurate as tested by a digital torque adapter. I do "exercise" it before I use it. For my 3/8, I have a precision instruments split beam.
With the HF torque wrenches, make sure you get the one from Taiwan not China. The shrink wrapped ones are from China. I had a 3/8 from China that would not click. Promptly returned that junk. The Taiwan 1/2 makes a very cloud click.
 
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