There's some poetic justice in an Indian company buying up British manufacturing....
No idea what I was thinking when I ordered those. That one on the right is huge.
Allen / Allen Mfg. Co., 135 Sheldon St., Hartford, CT / Apex Tool Group, LLC / https://www.crescenttool.com/hex-keys / http://alloy-artifacts.org/allen-manufacturing.html / https://wrenchwiki.com/allen-manufacturing-company/ / https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/c-1920s-allen-bay-state-set-no-19.426398/ /
Okay, one more post, just for some fun.
Those have to have something to do with beverage service. Or maybe something else.Okay, one more post, just for some fun.
You may know what these are, but some guys will likely be scratching their heads at the fanciest, most ornate hex keys they have ever seen.
-Because you prefer them?
-Not my preferred brand but do recall that size being made.
www.acehardware.com
this thread praised that Eight Tapered Ball quite highly
Hate to tell you, but Deepak didn’t buy the British factory - that had already been closed by then.
I’m not a great fan of Ikea fasteners, but all too often they are proprietary and can’t easily be replaced. They usually capitulate if even threatened with a Snap On ratchet and bit socket!
Ding ding ding ding ding!
Probably need to add 3d printers to the list as well. I think I need to up my <3mm game now. Although think I am going to gravitate towards drivers and t handles more so.
As I’ve said before, you can jam two smaller sized hex keys into a socket head when things are desperate. Not a practice I recommend, just like using an Allen key to turn a Torx, but it can be done.
No, I don't get to chose what a manufacturer uses on their equipment. This is our canning line, made in Lincoln, Neb. It's frustrating as hell to work on as it is, sine all the main frame uses SAE fasteners, while all the controls, pneumatic valving and cylinders use metric.-Because you prefer them?
-Not my preferred brand but do recall that size being made.
Eklind 3.5 mm Metric L-Handle Hex Key 1 pc Mfr# 14607 - Ace Hardware
EKLIND TOOL COMPANY is America's leading manufacturer of high quality, industrial grade hex keys, made with pride in the U.S.A. since 1950. The EKLIND 14607 3.5 MM Long Series Hex-L Key allen wrench meets the most stringent requirements of professional mechanics, tradespeople, do-it-yourselfers...
Eklind Tool 18607 3.5mm Ball-Hex-L Key Allen Wrench, Pack of 5: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvement
Eklind Tool 18607 3.5mm Ball-Hex-L Key Allen Wrench, Pack of 5: Amazon.com: Tools & Home Improvementwww.amazon.com
Most of our brewery equipment uses Allen fasteners, both metric and SAE.
-Why would you contend that their process is different? I suppose anything is possible but I see no reason to do it differently. Which models? Show examples please.
-I can't see them being forged, there's no advantage to forging them and it would be absurdly time consuming to do so. Hex stock is extruded to shape/size and coiled for production purposes. Eklind used to buy extruded hex stock in 12 foot lengths and fed by hand into the presses. One of Howard Eklind's buddies told him it couldn't be run off a coil as an auto-fed process, we proved him wrong.
-Not necessarily true, the ball drivers on the "L" keys have the ball finish last, it's all about the loading/feed and how that's done.
-Indexing is how Bondhus made theirs with opposing broaches. Eklind and the German company developed a superior/faster method of making the ball. Other companies soon followed by, presumably, using the same method. Eklind was the first as far as I know. I could likely determine the method by inspecting under magnification.
handtools-from-germany.com
Sorry, I think we misunderstand each other here, I am not talking about standard all hex keys but keys like these:
Any view on Bahco? Bought a set years ago, they seem about the same price.
I see they're available aftermarket, but can't find any for sale anywhere https://www.wihatools.com/pages/search?q=ergostar holder
Originally, Bahco tools were pretty decent. Since the buyout however, and the transfer of most manufacturing to Spain, they have not maintained the quality. Generally, I’d consider them “mid grade” at best.
www.unbrako.com
www.independent.ie
In all likelihood, SPS figured there was too much competition in the hex key and fastener market, and that most future business would be about lower cost, so an agreement was made for manufacture and marketing of of Unbrako products in India, were labor cost are significantly lower, and were hand tools are probably more commonly used even in industrial settings, and then after Deepak showed they could do the manufacturing, the whole entity was sold to Deepak.The Indian company seems to disagree:
In 2005, an agreement was signed with SPS Technologies to manufacture & market Unbrako in the Indian subcontinent. In 2008, Deepak Fasteners acquired the brand Unbrako from SPS Technologies, along with sub-brands Durlok & Sel-lok, Ireland manufacturing unit & the Melbourne warehouse.
History of Deepak Fasteners Limited | Unbrako
In 2008 Deepak Fasteners Ltd acquired the brands Unbrako, Durlok & Sel-lok from SPS Technologies, along with Shannon manufacturing unit & Melbourne Warehouse.
2008 was a busy year, Tata bought Jaguar and Land Rover that year
Jack
Still no British factory involved in the deal!The Indian company seems to disagree:
In 2005, an agreement was signed with SPS Technologies to manufacture & market Unbrako in the Indian subcontinent. In 2008, Deepak Fasteners acquired the brand Unbrako from SPS Technologies, along with sub-brands Durlok & Sel-lok, Ireland manufacturing unit & the Melbourne warehouse.
History of Deepak Fasteners Limited | Unbrako
In 2008 Deepak Fasteners Ltd acquired the brands Unbrako, Durlok & Sel-lok from SPS Technologies, along with Shannon manufacturing unit & Melbourne Warehouse.
It was obviously not clear who the purchaser was at the time but the sale of an operating concern is clear.
Fears for 80 jobs at Shannon firm SPS following its sale to US concern
A QUESTION mark looms over the future of 80 jobs at Shannon-based Unbrako Europe SPS International following the sale of the company to an unknown US firm.
2008 was a busy year, Tata bought Jaguar and Land Rover that year
Jack
-Perhaps my misunderstanding as well, it's the limitations of the font format. Appreciate the photo.
-Forging also wouldn't produce the tolerances needed for size/shape that a hex key requires.
-A quick price check confirms your assumptions. Hoo boy they're proud of them. I can see where you may be correct about the process to make them. Can also see where I might be correct too. What is certain is the knurling and double ended shapes dictate a different or additional process than what's used on standard keys made from hex stock in a stamping die. The ball end appears to be made from the automated process/machine developed by Eklind and now used by almost everybody else. The short arm hex could also be made by the same process with a different programed cycle, even in the bent state. The feed magazine, shuttle, and presence/absence of live tooling are critical to determining how it was made.I assume Allen keys like these are an order of magnitude more expensive to manufacture
-I'm less concerned about flex in the tool and more concerned with excessive torque values in the fastener that ruin it. JMO
-There is also less concern for concentricity using over-sized round stock. It was/is a big concern when using hex stock, less when using round stock. As for tighter tolerances on the profile, that's just a matter of programming the cutter.
-Perhaps so but the service life is now limited by wear/deformation on the ends. When either end goes bad on the round stock type they're now rendered useless. With the hex stock type I can grind off the worn/deformed part and still have a functional hex key. That's just personal preference and doesn't mean I'm right.
Thank you for your replies, it is very interesting for me to read about the manufacturing behind it.
You're quite welcome, this would bore other people so I don't talk about it much.
-They don't "grind" off the point at all. The ends of standard hex keys are rather crude looking, by comparison, because they're sheared off a long coil in the stamping press. The sheared ends are the same on ball drivers as well but appear to be different because of the CNC controlled machine program. They're cut in a machine that's similar to a lathe with live tooling. The ball profile is cut with a single point insert that's rotating in time to the headstock rotation. This produces features that are nearly flat in cross section but also faceted, in this case 6 facets. The ball profile is just a matter of programming movement of the single point cutter in the shape of a ball. The point is generated by the "flat" beginning at the center or not. Most other makes decided to eliminate the point in order to reduce the cycle time, the point has no real function anyway other than esthetics/appearances.
-It's a matter of where on the ball radius we start the cut. Less cutting is less cycle time.
-I will readily concede that the features/details on the PB Swiss are quite good and the finish is very clean looking. For the very high cost of these I would certainly expect them to look exceptional, they are. Even the knurling looks very good with no mashed teeth or swarf in the valleys. Too expensive for me to justify the purchase of a perishable tool but they are indeed nice.
I have seen that before (even on a manual lathe with a fixed gear rotation, making a cube) but I somehow completely forgot it exists. For sure, that is how the transition from the bar stock into the hex ball has a neat radius as well. Very informative, thank you!
Yes, I think I am going to have to try some of those.
Could be worse, you could have Whitworth as well!
Thanks. I was going to show some comparative pictures of the ball ends, but you saved me the trouble.I managed to dig out the photos of my own set and a comparison with Bondhus and Wera. The unique thing about the ball ends is that they actually end in a perfect point while others seem to grind that point off. I assume it is likely more consistent and easier to finish off by grinding off that point but PB Swiss keeps it. The details all around the PB Swiss keys are on the highest level of manufacturing (even when compared to other market leaders).
Although this forum borders on the exceptional with regard to the level of knowledge of many of it’s contributors, there are still relatively few posts that have contributions from someone directly involved in the design and manufacture of the tools in question. Let alone the politics and back story!
I saw these, but have had no feedback regarding their effectiveness.A lot of insightful conversation here, thanks @Dave455 for starting it. There have been a few comments about new innovations - I just picked these up from PB Swiss, their new 90/100 deg. stubby keys that allow a range of standard to 100 deg. access without losing strength like a ball end.
For anyone wondering - these make working on those shallow head allen screws a lot easier. Those screws are not too common though, and not sure if all standard shalow heads have the pilot hole, but if you go at them without these keys you need to be very careful to to strip them.Oh, and some keys with pilot pins for due diligence:
