If you want some good stuff, check out White Industrial.
I would like to try the Kurokin line with the parkerized finish and gold power handle. Looks like I can get it on eBay from Japan for $55 shipped. Not prohibitively expensive.
I haven’t seen the new Vessel yet.
I pretty much concluded that the RBRT was a “specialist” tool. Something to have for emergencies - perhaps the cap screw equivalent of a screw extractor - rather then general use.
-Most likely correct that the threads themselves have seized (unless someone too lazy to replace a worn SHCS) and backing it out will result in a mangled tool or the fastener head just twists off.
-When working on a 25 ton injection mold we offer a silent invocation to the mechanical deities and hope for the best before beheading. The mag-drill and notification to production of the delay is the next step.
The most common time I encounter this problem is removing brake discs (rotors).-Most likely correct that the threads themselves have seized (unless someone too lazy to replace a worn SHCS) and backing it out will result in a mangled tool or the fastener head just twists off.
-When working on a 25 ton injection mold we offer a silent invocation to the mechanical deities and hope for the best before beheading. The mag-drill and notification to production of the delay is the next step.
I'll offer a mild counterpoint here, having worked in several bicycle repair shops. It's quite common to find hex screws on bicycles where the recess is damaged but the threads are fine. This is usually because the owner worked on it themselves first; perhaps with a SAE wrench on a metric fastener, perhaps with a poorly-made wrench that wasn't fully seated, perhaps just general hamfistedness.
-If you're sure of the hardness difference then those are pre 1995 or so.
-The ends are sheared because the material is fed into the press off a large coil and must be cut to length, the "L's" are cut, bent 90°, and stamped (size and brand) in one stroke of the press. It's quite likely that all brands are made the same way as it's an efficient method for mass production as long as the shear station of the die is kept sharp and the die clearance is correct. Some makers will add a secondary operation to clean up the ends but Eklind considered that an unnecessary operation that added cost to the price point. Same thing for the ball ends. I originally programmed the ball end to have a clean-up cut at the tip but was directed to omit the clean-up to decrease the cycle time. OK, you sign my paycheck so....
-It was IMO a better grade of steel (8650 IIRC), they just didn't get all they could have out of it due to liability exposure I've recounted in other threads. I have no idea what they're using now or what other makers are using, there were only a couple of steel suppliers extruding that steel in hex coils back then in the US. There was also a brief period when a competitor cornered the market of our supply, attempting to cripple the supply to Eklind and we had to buy a different type of steel on the spot market to stay in business. It was more than the usual cut throat business tactics, there was a personal grudge between the VP's at both companies. Most outsiders never hear of these tactics or the industrial espionage that's fairly commonplace in many companies.
-I've altered more than a few fasteners that hold the brake rotors in for having trouble with them too. Sometimes I'll alter the fastener, sometimes the counterbore, or both. I don't like struggling with an OEM decision either if I can do something about it for the next time.
-Haven't had the pleasure of working on one.
-Aside from using them to hold carbide cutting inserts in the holders I think that Torx sux for many applications I've seen them in.
-Another excellent choice made by those that have never worked with the consequences of their own decisions. Hooray for theoretical benefit overriding practicality, hope it was red Loctite for your further enjoyment.
-You use what the job calls for. No burning at the stake required but an act of contrition could help your removal from the list of heretics.
Do you happen to have any packaging, Dave? Or know the backstory? I see the "- ENGLAND -" marking, but I have to say, I had no idea that UNBRAKO brand safety head cap screw and keys were ever made anywhere but the US. I am wondering if Standard Pressed Steel - the name of the US company who manufactured them, opened a factory in England, when, and where. My guess would be shortly after WWII.
Rest assured, Woody, you have not gone soft in the head. Yet. The safety head hex cap screws and keys that would eventually be known by the UNBRAKO name were made by Standard Pressed Steel in Jenkintown, PA since 1911. They trademarked the name on March 7, 1933, and their application claimed first use of that name as June 1, 1920. The name of the company was changed from SPS to Unbrako in 2008. I don't know the circumstances of the production in England implied by Dave's hex keys, but I am now just as curious as you.
-Made in Ireland, interesting. Price is a bit ambitious for fasteners even if they are "vintage".
Those boxes are hex keys, in bulk and yes that's the later Irish production in grey boxes.
Vessel calls the modification on their keys Ultra Hex. They have been available for several years.
Very interesting.
I suppose if any of those failed, I could always bring out the big artillery:
Allen Mfg. Co., Hartford, CT 603 hex key set
I need to check but I think my largest hex keys are a pair of 30mm ones.
