emeraldcoupe
Well-known member
so how often should a split beam tq wrench be calibrated? I picked up a nice cornwell (pi) 1/2" for a song, and don't know when it was last done.
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how often to calibrate a split beam tq wrench?
- Thread starter emeraldcoupe
- Start date
tmcquinn
Well-known member
I have mine done every 12 months to please the FAA. By then it is usually a little off. I went 24 months once and it was off by a considerable amount. Last time it came back rated for clockwise only but that won't affect anything I use it for.
guy48065
Well-known member
I have mine done every 12 months to please the FAA. By then it is usually a little off. I went 24 months once and it was off by a considerable amount. Last time it came back rated for clockwise only but that won't affect anything I use it for.
Every split-beam I've seen has been clockwise-only. I don't think the internals are symmetrical but honestly I've never tried to check one CCW.
As for "how often" to calibrate: Calibration is done to lower the risk of being inaccurate. If what you do doesn't involve any RISK to you, customers or equipment--then there's no need to ever calibrate.
If all you ever do is wrench on your bicycle, your risk is low; if you wrench on the helicopter that carries the President, you probably ought to get that wrench calibrated at least 2X per year.
(Unless you vote Democrat, of course!)
OP
emeraldcoupe
Well-known member
I use it for ( personal ) automotive work. i'll prob send it out to have it checked out anyway.
tmcquinn
Well-known member
Every split-beam I've seen has been clockwise-only. I don't think the internals are symmetrical but honestly I've never tried to check one CCW.
My bad. Mine is NOT a split beam, just a very old clicker.
Send it out for service, you need a higher quality testing device than whatever is lying around the garage. However, you can sanity check it if needed to make sure its not wildly off (potential immediate liability), using a beam (bending beam) wrench with no moving parts. The general rule tho is you multiply the error by a factor of 2, so a 4-5% accuracy beam will give you 8-10% accuracy sanity check. To get at a proper 4% calibration you typically need a 1% testing device.
Stahlwille has some infromation online about calibration process for their split beams. It gives you a sense of what they do at the shop. The short of it is that stahlwilles are much easier to calibrate than other styles of wrench (usually no disassembly and no replacemnt parts), but you still need testing gear and some types of error do require dis-assembly. For other makes and styles you'd probably want correct documentation.
Stahlwille has some infromation online about calibration process for their split beams. It gives you a sense of what they do at the shop. The short of it is that stahlwilles are much easier to calibrate than other styles of wrench (usually no disassembly and no replacemnt parts), but you still need testing gear and some types of error do require dis-assembly. For other makes and styles you'd probably want correct documentation.
guy48065
Well-known member
...split beams are good to go unless they've been damaged...
What's to dispute about that statement? Or do they say you never need to calibrate one unless damaged?