Cordless drive/torque tool

[FigureItOut]

Sometime recently I saw this tool being used on one of the shows, maybe it was "How it's made", and keep wondering about it.

It looked similar to an electronic torque wrench but quite a bit bulkier and with a battery pack. It was used in assembly and would drive a fastener quickly and then stop automatically at a preset torque.

I don't recall what they were assembling but I had the impression it required a fair amount of precision, they were building something expensive, perhaps an exotic car, and the tool had that unmistakable high dollar look to it, pure badassery.

Anyone use one or have an idea what it may have been that can satisfy my curiosity?

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[80mirada]

They are usually just referred to as cordless torque guns. When I worked at John Deere we had (1/4" drive) Atlas Copcos, and Bosch ones. We also had some really big ones on action arms.

 

[FigureItOut]

They are usually just referred to as cordless torque guns. When I worked at John Deere we had (1/4" drive) Atlas Copcos, and Bosch ones. We also had some really big ones on action arms.

Thanks. Googling cordless torque gun yields a bunch of impact wrenches, and this IR one at $4800 which may have been the one I saw, based on the color scheme. Looks like they're also called a nutrunner. Pretty damn cool.

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[theoldwizard1]

The automotive manufacturing industry has bee using similar devices, of various size and torque capacity for many year. Some are electric, some are pneumatic. Typically the torque is controlled by and electronic controller next to the "line", which gets its specs from a main computer. Also, the controller, records the final torque and reports it back to the main computer.

The real "fancy ones" are designed to work with "torque to yield" bolts. First it is torqued to a low spec. Then a number of additional turns are added causing the bolt to elongate. Operator just hold the button and waits for the "green light".

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

The Pistol Grip Tool is a self-contained, computer- controlled, battery-powered 3/8 inch drive power tool with a pistol-style handle. Numerous torque, speed and turn limits can be programmed into the tool for mission-specific applications. A light emitting diode display on the tool tells the astronaut what torque he or she is applying, at what speed, and how many turns the motor has made. It also displays error messages. The motorized torque ranges from 2 to 25 foot-pounds, the speed from 5 to 60 rotations per minute, and the number of turns from 0 to 999. In manual mode, the Pistol Grip Tool can apply 38 foot-pounds of torque. The specifications for every fastener are preprogrammed into the PGT before each mission and the PGT then logs the actual data during EVA.