3/4" Impact Sockets - Recommendation Request

[AES]

AES, made of Tungum actually, go on tell us the story pls.....what ever it is.....

I find the 1/2 guns either battery or air powerd heavy enough.....
I really bought my 1/2 batt jobby just to work up a ladder /scofolding just to put the new shed together.....m20 bolts top n bottom of stantions......and not drag airlines around.......

I know everyone slags of the Chinese but without them most DIYer's wouldn't have air guns at all....let alone batt ones.....
have a good weekend.....

@clogs: OK, you DID ask for it! (Sorry for thread drift everyone).

Tungum is an alloy, primarily of aluminium, brass, silicon, nickel, and I think copper as well (can't remember the percentages). It's about 100 years old now I think, and a Brit invention. It has 2 very important properties, A) it's very good at corrosion resistance ("proof" against just about anything!), and B) it's structure remains stable even at v low temps.

When I was in the RAF, the aeroplanes I worked on had liquid oxygen as their primary crew breathing system (only the standby/emergency system was gaseous, in a bottle). As I'm sure you know ("shattering bananas", etc?) liquid oxygen ("LOX") is VERY cold (can't remember how low, but VERY low temps!). Out "on the line" (where they parked between sorties) we used to refill the aircraft systems via a small 4 wheel cart which carried an insulated "flask" of LOX. But those carts were refilled from a static supply located well away from everything else. That was piped with this Tungum stuff.

In some areas of the structure it's also used in aircraft hydraulic lines (but much thinner/smaller OD than the stuff I got)!

Apart from the above properties, Tungum is very stiff/hard to bend, and from a mate I got a length of "thick-walled tube" about 3 feet long. The ID was a snug fit over the tommy bar of the above-mentioned three quarter drive socket set. Worked like a charm when I "stood" on it on all that my bloody VW van could throw at it! It, together with the socket set and the "bash-it" impact driver went along with the VW van when I sold it on. We really are talking MANY years ago.

BTW, while I'm wittering away well off topic, I wonder if anyone knows at what point (what size/s) "thick-walled tube" officially becomes "hollow bar"? I should know but don't.

Cheers

 

[bansobaby]

Impact Socket Supplies UK, unsurprisingly, supply all kinds, shapes and sizes of impact sockets, from single items through to sets.

I have used them many times, usually to buy single sockets for a specific task.

I tend to agree with those above who question the need for a 3/4 inch rattle gun. I have a 1/2 battery gun that does 1400 Nm. It shifts most things and a 3/4 socket set plus a long bit of tube and a gas axe will do the odd one that resists further.

 

[XTiffy]

The Ryobai 1/2" impact wrench I have, is listed at 265 Nm and that model is available (bare tool) at just £67 from SGS.
The more powerful brushless model claims 700Nm and sells for around £110.

 

[Tom K]

So was the OP actually enquiring about 3/4 sockets or did he mean 3/8 as popularly used by most mechanics because 3/4 is generally only used by truck mechanics and steel erectors putting up skyscrapers?

 

[Bristol_Rob]

So was the OP actually enquiring about 3/4 sockets or did he mean 3/8 as popularly used by most mechanics because 3/4 is generally only used by truck mechanics and steel erectors putting up skyscrapers?

I was considering 3/4" Impact Wrench and Impact Sockets for general use.

I've now seen that it would be overkill for my needs.
I've now ordered a 1/2" Makita 40v Impact Wrench (bare tool) and the £29.99 deep impact socket set from Halfords.

 

[AES]

By the sound of thing Rob, you've made a wise decision (wish all that "fancy battery kit" was around at sensible prices "when I were a lad")!

 

[Bristol_Rob]

By the sound of thing Rob, you've made a wise decision (wish all that "fancy battery kit" was around at sensible prices "when I were a lad")!

It does make life much easier than when I was on the tools many many decades ago

 

[Richard_C]

A few asides. Someone mentioned Geedore as a decent brand. I bought a Geedore 1/2 drive socket set with ratchet and it's been great. Had to strip and de-gunge the ratchet about 20 years ago, I bought it in 1971.

Back then, any car or similar work was best done with a 1/2 inch set, mostly iron and steel, often lots of space around the engine. I also had a 3/4 drive big T bar with a few sockets for things like VW rear hub nuts (some had one piece brake drums so you had to remove the hub nut to get at anything.).

One weekend a relative borrowed my kit to do the rear brakes on his T2. He called me after a couple of hours, can't get the hub nut off, tried everything, exhausted, can you come round. Arrived, asked why he hadn't taken the split pin out of the castellated nut, he swore, nut came off in a jiffy. These things you remember. So it goes.


Then along came lots more alloy, tighter engine compartments and far more bits bolted on so I got a 3/8 drive Kamasa in the 1980s and later a 1/4 drive Bahco set. All still working fine.

I don't do much on cars these days, but when I do even the 3/8 feels a bit clumsy. For things like driving hex headed coachscrews with an impact driver a hex to 3/8 square adapter plus the relevant deep socket does all I need and I've never had anything break or bend. For workshop machines the 1/4 and rarely the 3/8 do all I need.

I can see that 3/4 drive has its place, but for most of us something lighter is better.