- Joined
- Feb 13, 2017
- Messages
- 2,138
Up front, there won't be any photos, because most of my uses are so small that all you would see would be the handles or drivers. With that considered, there are occasional uses that require a specialty socket wrench but something we're not willing to spend money on. To put things in perspective, the largest size that I have is 6mm hex.
On the back of my laptop case for use to open it up. Anything larger, I have sockets that will fit. Further, most of my "custom sockets" are used on my models. To a scale slighty larger than 1/8":1 ft. As in, the smallest size fastener has a head size of 0.035". A little under 1mm. Such fasteners are so small, they often cannot even be seen once installed.
I do spend the time to "dress up" sockets to fit, but the sockets themselves are no more than Socket Head Capscrews and Setscrews. Allen head screws, both imperial and metric. They are, for the smaller sizes, fitted into threaded holes in brass and soldered in place. For larger sizes, such as the 6mm screw mentioned above, they are epoxied into wooden handles.
This concept is for small fasteners but will work on larger sizes. I have Allen wrenches as large as 1/2 inch and in metric, 15mm. Surely one has sockets larger~~~ Just a matter of what you need, where, and when. And if you are building for someone else, what better touch than providing the wrench for adjusting it. I put the "parent" fastener in the lathe and shave down the head a little and face enough to get a flat surface. And sometimes drill into the socket to get relief for longer screws. The end user needn't know it's just a capscrew.
This is not my idea, having been known in the modeling arena since before I was born. But I've noticed a propensity for people to just "throw money" these days toward unconventional concepts rather than find a suitable solution. So I pass along an idea to the world at large to possibly help solve a problem. And add to the toolbox for a fraction of the cost. If you are going to build one, why not a set of the useful sizes for the work you do.
On the back of my laptop case for use to open it up. Anything larger, I have sockets that will fit. Further, most of my "custom sockets" are used on my models. To a scale slighty larger than 1/8":1 ft. As in, the smallest size fastener has a head size of 0.035". A little under 1mm. Such fasteners are so small, they often cannot even be seen once installed.
I do spend the time to "dress up" sockets to fit, but the sockets themselves are no more than Socket Head Capscrews and Setscrews. Allen head screws, both imperial and metric. They are, for the smaller sizes, fitted into threaded holes in brass and soldered in place. For larger sizes, such as the 6mm screw mentioned above, they are epoxied into wooden handles.
This concept is for small fasteners but will work on larger sizes. I have Allen wrenches as large as 1/2 inch and in metric, 15mm. Surely one has sockets larger~~~ Just a matter of what you need, where, and when. And if you are building for someone else, what better touch than providing the wrench for adjusting it. I put the "parent" fastener in the lathe and shave down the head a little and face enough to get a flat surface. And sometimes drill into the socket to get relief for longer screws. The end user needn't know it's just a capscrew.
This is not my idea, having been known in the modeling arena since before I was born. But I've noticed a propensity for people to just "throw money" these days toward unconventional concepts rather than find a suitable solution. So I pass along an idea to the world at large to possibly help solve a problem. And add to the toolbox for a fraction of the cost. If you are going to build one, why not a set of the useful sizes for the work you do.
Bill Hudson
