At work, I've got a motor assembly I tear down regularly to switch configurations. To access the motor mount, which is what I change regularly, I have to remove the plastic housing around the motor. The plastic housing is held together by just a single screw. That damned screw is behind the output drive gear so you can't reach it with any normal driver or wrench. Pulling the output assembly so I can get to the gear and then pulling the gear takes 2/3rds of the time for the whole job and none of those parts actually need to come off for any reason other than getting access to this damned screw. I have less than an inch between the plastic housing and the back side of the output gear. That means I can fit a normal short 1/4" hex-drive bit down in there to hit the screw but nothing taller. Unfortunately, the clearance hole in the plastic housing isn't so clearancey if you know what I mean. The 1/4" hex-drive bit basically sits flush against part of the housing when the bit is properly aligned to the screw head. The room to get the bit ratchet in there 100% comes from mis-aligning the bit to the screw. I had a guy help me one day who had a tiny-headed little bit ratchet and with that I could reach up behind the output gear (because the bit was short) and get the bit into the screw close enough to straight to not strip it (because the head of the ratchet was tiny). Pulling that screw out with that little ratchet was a massive time saver.
Unfortunately, I never remembered to ask him what brand the ratchet was. Doh.
My Wera Zyklop bit ratchet, which I use for most jobs like this, has too thick of a head and it forces the bit to tip over enough it doesn't bite in the screw head. EDIT TO ADD: My little bit ratchet has a 17.5mm (0.69") diameter head. I need something that's probably below 15mm (0.6")
So what bit ratchet has a tiny thin head? This is a really low torque application (single digit inch pounds probably) so the ratchet doesn't have to be strong. The access for ratchet swing is also really open so it doesn't need to be a high tooth count or anything. It just needs to have a darned small head to fit where it needs to go.
Any suggestions?
Unfortunately, I never remembered to ask him what brand the ratchet was. Doh.
My Wera Zyklop bit ratchet, which I use for most jobs like this, has too thick of a head and it forces the bit to tip over enough it doesn't bite in the screw head. EDIT TO ADD: My little bit ratchet has a 17.5mm (0.69") diameter head. I need something that's probably below 15mm (0.6")
So what bit ratchet has a tiny thin head? This is a really low torque application (single digit inch pounds probably) so the ratchet doesn't have to be strong. The access for ratchet swing is also really open so it doesn't need to be a high tooth count or anything. It just needs to have a darned small head to fit where it needs to go.
Any suggestions?
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And, made in USA. Bits may be proprietary …
