Recalibrating Torquewrench ?

[Winmon]

I have a torque wrench that I have had since the 80's. I have no idea what brand it is. I got it from my then girlfriend's Dad (he had a tow truck business and took it as a partial payment on a tow). It does not have a brand name on it anywhere for some reason.
Anyway, can torque wrenches be recalibrated? And if so, does anyone know where it can be done at?

 

[SuperKid]

Yes, torque wrenches can be recalibrated. If it's a beam type, you can do it yourself. Just bend the rod back to zero. If it's the click-type or dial-type, check in your phone book for specialty tool stores. Many of them have the equipment to recalibrate torque wrenches, or they should atleast be able to give you the name of someone that can.

 

[Winmon]

Thanks! Now if I can just find a place that does it. I just searched Google and found nothing but a few conversations about it.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

This was just discussed here about a week ago. One place mentioned was Teamtorque.

http://www.teamtorque.com/lab.html

http://www.teamtorque.com/images/pdfiles/torquepricing.pdf

Charles

 

[Winmon]

Thanks Charles!

 

[Rrumbler]

There should be some place in the greater Seattle-Tacoma or OlyPen area that can do it, or has connections to a service. Check your Yellow Pages for "Tool Repair" and call and ask; you might get lucky.

 

[malibu101]

Look for "metrology" in your area phone book. There is a company that comes to my employer to check labratory balances (accurate scales). I asked them about torque wrenches once when they were here and had them calibrate mine. It's been about 3 years since mine were checked. Price was about $30 each as I remember.

 

[steve392]

Winmon,
I have an S-K clicker type torque wrench, and a few years back sent it to Team Torque to have recalibrated. They did a nice job and sent me a copy of the calibration data. It turned out that the wrench was still within specs, and just needed a little tweaking.
This wrench cost around $100 when I bought it, if I remember, and the cost to ship it down to Team Torque, have it recalibrated, and shipped back was almost $50...
I guess the quality/cost of the original wrench may dictate whether or not you invest in a recalibraton.

Hope this helps,

Steve

 

[RPH]

About 40 bucks for my SK, only calibrate the good ones. Replace cheap ones.

 

[Winmon]

Well, I think I might have found out where my torque wrench came from. I had mine all packaged up and ready to go out to Team Torque. Then about an hour later I got the lastest Northern Tool catalog in the mail. So, I thought I would check out what they had for torque wrenches. There it was in their catalog for $39!

So, needless to say, I will just buy a new one, probably a S-K wrench. What really PO's me is if I remember right, I paid my then-girlfriends Dad $100 for it SOB........ I will say though that for a cheapo wrench, it has held up really well. It still clicks and adjusts nicely. I am sure it definitely needs to be re-calibrated though, seeing how it is 20+ years old and never been done. Thanks again everyone!