Can anybody advise me where i will be able to purchase metric 8 point sockets. I have had a set of Britool imperial ones for years, they don't metric ones. As square nuts now come in metric measurements it would be preferable to have sockets that fit them, any information will be greatly accepted many thanks Stan.
8 point sockets
- Thread starter schnapps95
- Start date
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bushwhaker
Established Member
Vann
Established Member
I didn't know such sockets existed.
I use 12 point sockets for square nuts (and hex nuts) - or spanners if I don't have 12 point sockets of the correct size.
Cheers, Vann.
I use 12 point sockets for square nuts (and hex nuts) - or spanners if I don't have 12 point sockets of the correct size.
Cheers, Vann.
SammyQ
Established Member
Spendy for a set?
Inspector
Nyuck, Nyuck, Nyuck!
12 point sockets can roundoff a square nut or plumbing plug if a lot of force is needed. I still have 4 point, 8 point and weather head sockets (3 sided to fit over plumbing elbows) from when I was an aircraft mechanic. They didn't get a lot of use but they didn't damage alloy fittings. Pilots didn't like it when fuel and hydraulic lines failed
because someone graunched them and they cracked.
To this day I hate working on things without the proper tool.Pete
pe2dave
Established Member
100% agree.
Equally I gloat to myself each time I pick up a seldom used tool knowing it's the 'right' one for the job.
Possibly my excuse for overspending on tools.
On a related note, if you need to apply max torque to HEX nuts and are concerned that 12 point sockets will slip and round them off, the options I have found are:
1. Impact sockets which are readily available in 6 point / drive on the flats
2. Pipe wrenches like the Facom ones which have 6 point sockets each end
3. Open-ring spanners with a 6 point ring end. Not so common but Britool Hallmark (which are now Taiwanese made but seem OK) range have 6 as well as 12 point rings. The Hallmark sub brand back in the day was targetted at the auto trade and I believe that they copied Snap-On and tried selling them from vans.
1. Impact sockets which are readily available in 6 point / drive on the flats
2. Pipe wrenches like the Facom ones which have 6 point sockets each end
3. Open-ring spanners with a 6 point ring end. Not so common but Britool Hallmark (which are now Taiwanese made but seem OK) range have 6 as well as 12 point rings. The Hallmark sub brand back in the day was targetted at the auto trade and I believe that they copied Snap-On and tried selling them from vans.
Agent_zed
Established Member
I agree in principle, but I hate it more that manufacturers keep changing the tooling so that it's harder to fix anything. Used to be able to work on a car with a good socket set, now you need a dozen different torx fittings or star fittings which might be a male for female, or an allen key fitting or some random combination. do a head gasket on one car and you need a torque wrench, do another and you need an angle guage (or a bit of card with some lines
)Most sockets nowadays are surface drive, so they bear in the flats rather than the corners. Only real disadvantage of six sided sockets is in very restricted areas. Sods law will always dictate that the socket will only go on in a position where you can't swing the ratchet handle enough to engage the next click. Most of the good makers now do ratchet handles with very fine ratchets which only need to swing a tiny amount. Not cheap but invaluable in a tight spot, I have one by Teng and it has been a godsend on a number of jobs. I also find the ratchet spanners are really useful, but do necessarily have quite a large end so only any use where access is pretty good. I have been very impressed by Halfords Professional range, and also have a lot of old Britool stuff in Imperial. I used to work a lot on Renault, and all their specialist tools were made by Facom so I have a lot of them which are very nice quality, and so they should be in view of their eye watering prices at the time.
For cheap spanners etc US Pro tools seem pretty good. Most of their stuff is ok for occasional use, but they do have the occasional lemon. I bought one of their little pullers for a specific job and the thread stripped the first time I applied any real force to it. Their spanners and sockets, which I keep as a rough set for dismantling rusted and generally horrible stuff, have stood up very well to some hard work and a fair bit of abuse.
My Facom bearing pullers are as good now as the day I bought them, probably 40 years ago, but cost a fortune. So you do get what you pay for.
Any good in checking Snap-on ???
But a lifetime guarantee, some fo my Snap-on is 50+ years old and the guarantee is still honored (when needed).
TomGW
Established Member
The Snap-on lifetime guarantee is good, but then you have already paid for the replacement when you initially bought the first one. IMO, Halfords lifetime guarantee is more impressive, given their competitive pricing structure for decent quality sockets.
Agent_zed
Established Member
I bought a halfords advanced spanner set. With the 10% discount for a bank holiday plus £5 off for joining free membership and some other 10% discount that i think they sent through they were too much of a bargain not to. Think it was about £23 instead of £38. One thing that was good with them is that there is every size between 8 and 19 (if I remember correctly). Have to watch out as some sets skip some sizes. I've seen ones with 16mm missing which would be a real pain on european cars.
cowtown_eric
Established Member
I use 8 point sockets on a jig for the TS to fabricate almost perfect octagons on londom pattern chisel handles with a slight taper to them
