8-Point Sockets

[cody1325]

I have a few 8-pt. sockets from the '60s out of an old Craftsman set my Granddad had--I thought they were mostly for square bolts and nuts.

Recently, I was ordering a couple Williams sockets to replace Kobalt ones I'd recently lost out of my 1/4 kit (for US-made and the same price as imported Kobalt--why not?). I was surprised to find Williams still makes 8 pt. sockets.

Are there 8-pt. bolts on which they might be useful? Aside from Meccano sets, I've not seen anything with square bolts in a long time.

 

[ecotec]

Old furnace fans, railroad track bolt (on fish plates), vintage furniture, pipe plugs, old semi truck brake adjusters, differentials, transmissions, old garage door springs… you can use them as tap sockets, you can throw at people you don’t like… what can’t you do with them?

 

[Dave455]

You’re right, they are for square head nuts and bolts. I don’t see a huge number of those, but I work on older machine tools and they are common there. They are also common on newer machines, for some specific applications, e.g. toolpost‘s.

They are common on coach screws (would you call them lag screws in the U.S?)


They are very common on pipe plugs.


And those sockets are useful generally for anything with a square shaft, such as machine vices or leadscrews. The pliers wrench shown is the other option.


Personally, I wouldn’t be without them, but as always, it depends what you do!

Snap On even offer “Flank Drive” bi-square sockets, and they are superb!

 

[KnurledNut]

I have a few 8-pt. sockets from the '60s out of an old Craftsman set my Granddad had--I thought they were mostly for square bolts and nuts.

Recently, I was ordering a couple Williams sockets to replace Kobalt ones I'd recently lost out of my 1/4 kit (for US-made and the same price as imported Kobalt--why not?). I was surprised to find Williams still makes 8 pt. sockets.

Are there 8-pt. bolts on which they might be useful? Aside from Meccano sets, I've not seen anything with square bolts in a long time.

Square head roof bolts are holding up mountains all around you.

 

[Firebrick43]

Many very large industrial bearings and collars use square headed set screws to this day, large machine tool fixture push pull adjustment screws, and pipe plugs of course. I don’t think there is a thing as a double square/8 pt bolt. There e torx and tri square but those are entirely different animals

 

[CHI_Tool&Die]

You’re right, they are for square head nuts and bolts. I don’t see a huge number of those, but I work on older machine tools and they are common there. They are also common on newer machines, for some specific applications, e.g. toolpost‘s.

They are common on coach screws (would you call them lag screws in the U.S?)


They are very common on pipe plugs.


And those sockets are useful generally for anything with a square shaft, such as machine vices or leadscrews. The pliers wrench shown is the other option.


Personally, I wouldn’t be without them, but as always, it depends what you do!

Snap On even offer “Flank Drive” bi-square sockets, and they are superb!

I use my 8pts for the vises in the mills at work.

 

[cody1325]

Looks like much more than just old square bolts then!

I may end up getting a full set of them--I think I only have two or three Craftsman ones I've plucked out of 5-gallon buckets of hardware.

 

[Kscardsfan]

If you like to tinker with old stuff they're pretty invaluable. Even antique furniture tends to have a lot of them on there. Old farm machinery, implements, and tractors are covered with them. Even into the late 60s and 70s they used a lot of square heads on machinery and attachments. As someone who likes old trucks, tractors, and machines, I tend to use them more than most; so to keep them organized I had a buddy 3D print me a holder to keep them in one spot in my box.

 

[Callelle]

I use a snap on 8 point for adjusting air brake shoes if it's the square style adjuster.

 

[dscheidt]

You’re right, they are for square head nuts and bolts. I don’t see a huge number of those, but I work on older machine tools and they are common there. They are also common on newer machines, for some specific applications, e.g. toolpost‘s.

They are common on coach screws (would you call them lag screws in the U.S?)

Those look like lag screws to me, sure, but modern american lag screws have hex heads, not square. square heads used to be pretty common on them, but they went to hex in the middle 20th century, same as most other bolt beads.

 

[Samuel D]

I encounter square-headed nuts and bolts and square shafts of various kinds more often than I would expect. They’re not common but neither are they exactly uncommon.

But because I have no idea what sizes all of these things are and suspect poor standardisation (maybe even both metric and imperial sizes?), I have not made the leap to buying bi-square sockets.

I make do with other tools, especially the pliers wrench mentioned by Dave455.

Maybe I should measure every square fastener I come across for a while and write them all down, then buy sockets of the relevant sizes.

 

[RTM]

As others have mentioned I see them a lot on vintage hand tools and occasionally vintage power tools. Vintage grub screws or set screws have square heads and my hardware store still carries set screws with square heads in their miscellaneous bolt section. I have almost all of mine in a single container not sorted by brand just because it's hard to remember where they are when sorted by brand. If you complete sets have them in there but the rest are just mongrels.

 

[Shoreline_]

I use them for taps. They came in a kit and I never bought tap sockets lol. With the new lisle kit I just might now.

 

[RTM]

I use them for taps. They came in a kit and I never bought tap sockets lol. With the new lisle kit I just might now.

Probably work for screw extractors too, per another thread.

 

[micromind]

I use them occasionally, I know for a fact that Wright makes a bunch of them; I recently bought a few.

 

[abachman]

They are common on old cars/trucks. I have several. Model A Fords have a number of them. The motors have several, and a wrench will not work as the area around the bolt/not is confined, so only a socket will fit there.

 

[neophyte]

I have a few 8-pt. sockets from the '60s out of an old Craftsman set my Granddad had--I thought they were mostly for square bolts and nuts.

Recently, I was ordering a couple Williams sockets to replace Kobalt ones I'd recently lost out of my 1/4 kit (for US-made and the same price as imported Kobalt--why not?). I was surprised to find Williams still makes 8 pt. sockets.

Are there 8-pt. bolts on which they might be useful? Aside from Meccano sets, I've not seen anything with square bolts in a long time.

Square head fasteners are still a thing in current production.
Also,
Simply because newer made items are less likely to use square head fasteners, or to require square sockets, doesn't mean the items made over the past 150+ that used square head fasteners were taken out of service and replaced.
Plenty of buildings and plenty of industrial equipment may still be in use 100 years after manufacture.

 

[1982fxr]

I have a few 8-pt. sockets from the '60s out of an old Craftsman set my Granddad had--I thought they were mostly for square bolts and nuts.

Recently, I was ordering a couple Williams sockets to replace Kobalt ones I'd recently lost out of my 1/4 kit (for US-made and the same price as imported Kobalt--why not?). I was surprised to find Williams still makes 8 pt. sockets.

Are there 8-pt. bolts on which they might be useful? Aside from Meccano sets, I've not seen anything with square bolts in a long time.

Where are you ordering from?

 

[decableguy2000]

Utility poles use square head hardware.

 

[EDRJR]

I bought a set just to have the correct one for my ride on mower oil drain plug. I even flagged it with masking tape so I don't have to guess which one every oil change.

 

[KnurledNut]

But because I have no idea what sizes all of these things are and suspect poor standardisation (maybe even both metric and imperial sizes?), I have not made the leap to buying bi-square sockets.

Machinery's Handbook is great for referencing stuff like this. They have specs on square bolts, nuts, screws.
But most of this info can be found with a simple internet search.

 

[Retired dozer fixer]

You kids do know don’t you that 12 pt. sockets work on square fasteners right???

 

[L.Cheapo]

You kids do know don’t you that 12 pt. sockets work on square fasteners right???

They might, but they are not the proper tool for them.

A 12 point socket has 120* angles.

A square fastener has 90* corners.

Does it work? Sometimes!

 

[liliysdad]

I use my 8pts as tap sockets. They work well for that.

 

[L.Cheapo]

I have a set of Craftsman USA 8 point sockets I bought in the 90s. I mostly use them on small engine drain plugs. We have one vehicle in the family that uses a square peg to lower the spare tire. 8 point socket and a cordless drill running slowly beats cranking with the jack handle!

 

[Renegade1LI]

Bought a couple sets from Wright, we find square head in a lot of mechanical rooms in the older buildings.

 

[cherrybomb]

I have an old Cub Cadet lawn tractor that has a square pipe plug in the oil pan.Hard to get to,don't want a problem, so I use the correct socket.My Dads socket tool box has numerous 8 points,used back in the day.All tho I haven't used them,I see Pro Tool Warehouse has Williams 8 point sockets .I have other Williams sockets that I rate highly

 

[Loud Lyle]

We see them regularly in the Elevator trade.

 

[liliysdad]

Lots of square plugs in older 4wd stuff; diffs, transfer cases, etc.

You can typically get to them with a wrench but a socket on an extension is nice on occasion.

 

[Loud Lyle]

These are clamped to an elevator rail to use as a rigging point and must be torqued on every use so a socket is necessary

 

[NHtoolguy]

Over 40 years ago I purchased a full set of Williams 1/2 drive eight point sockets. In all those years, I think I've used two of them for drain plugs. But hey, I'm ready for any square-headed fasteners or plugs that come my way!

 

[NHtoolguy]

You kids do know don’t you that 12 pt. sockets work on square fasteners right???

One advantage to a 12 point spline drive is that it fits square fasteners pretty well, as opposed to a standard broach profile.

 

[four.cycle]

^ If its a 1/8-NPT brass plug, a 12-point is going to mangle it.

 

[cherrybomb]

^ If its a 1/8-NPT brass plug, a 12-point is going to mangle it.

I heard that thru the grape vine!

 

[Professor Gascan]

I have a 5 of them, 1/4-1/2 that came with a mid 90's Husky tool set. The only 4 point fasteners I've ever come across are the nuts that hold the mudsill to the foundation of my house.

 

[RTM]

I bought a home made workbench as part of a package deal. Square bolts on all legs, forget how many per, but saved them all.

 

[Codyboy]

I have a few with a 1/4" drive set from my dad.
It's a Craftsman set he bought probably back in the 50s or 60s.
There's some 6 point in the set too. Not sure if the whole set was 8 point when new or not and maybe had 6 points swapped in.
Pretty cool socket set in a metal case. It has a spring type wiggle extension and a tiny sliding breaker bar.

 

[NoahG]

Lots of beam and purlin clamps use square head set screws for attachment.

 

[4xdog]

They are very common on pipe plugs.

+1

This is how my 1950s Snap-on 8-point sockets get used. Mostly for oil fill/drain plugs on my 1962 Triumph TR3’s drivetrain.

 

[KnurledNut]

Tamper resistant wall hydrants and utility cabinets are two common modern uses of square head fasteners/valves. Usually accessed with a sillcock or control cabinet key.
I didn’t see that mentioned.
We discussed them recently here:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum...on-a-ratchet-or-hex-bit.554103/#post-11481655