Finger Tip Nut Wrench?

Long ago, I had one or two stamped sheet metal "wrenches" that fit on your finger tip. They looked like a metal guitar pick, but with a small hex hole punched in the tip. This allowed holding small nuts from turning when assembling things. I think they might have come as an assembly aid for some sort of a toy or electronics kit.

I have a bunch of stuff that I will need to assemble with 0-80 nuts, and thought one of these would be handy. I don't recall if they went down as small as 5/32" (which is the size of the 0-80 nuts).

However, I can't find ANY info that such a thing ever existed. There is a multisize 3D printed plastic version that might do the trick, but I was very surprised I couldn't find any mention of the original metal ones.

Does anyone remember these or have any info on them?

Just curious as to whether I imagined the whole thing...

Thanks!

Doug White

Reply to
Doug White
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Reply to
Steve W.

That looks sort of interesting, but I think it would be more useful to have hex recesses in the end of a thimble. Even better, would be to have the th imble magnetized, so you could stick the nut in place and reach behind/into /around to the place where it goes with the nut on the tip of your finger r ather than on the pad.

This would be a piece of cake for a jeweler to fabricate, and a simple stam ping to produce.

Reply to
rangerssuck

...

I'll use a dollop of gun grease as the holder to the finger tip for small stuff...can still feel the projecting bolt and it keeps it in place.

Reply to
dpb

Erector set wrenches. They were not THAT small.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Check with Lee Valley. I believe they used to carry them??? Just checked - they now have a plastic multi-fit one.

Also see:

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- not sure how small they go.

Also :

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don't know where to buy tem --

or:

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Or check ebay- search for hexhold (down to 5mm or 1/4 inch)

Reply to
clare

Magnetic would make it auful difficult if the wrench stuck to your work, or to metal parts righr NEXT to where youwanted the nut - - -

Reply to
clare

Or just tape a small "ignition wrench" to your finger if you don't need to bend it much - -

Reply to
clare

For the small stuff like that, I used to put a piece of tape over the back end of a wrench to keep the nut from falling out. I've also used a grinder to hack off everything from a 14" crescent wrench (4" end length) to a 10mm box end wrench (30mm end length) down to usable length for especially tight spaces radially.

And I used a blue wrench to bend box ends 90 degrees and welded extensions on to make my own carburetor and distributor wrenches. (Screw SnapOff w/ their $60 wrench price.)

Other box or combo wrenches got ground to thinner profiles (top and bottom, removing the radiused edges) to fit into very tight spots axially.

Since I usually had several of each size, modifying some didn't hurt. The latter two links show what look to be nylon items which will break over the course of months to years. Wrenches I hacked off in 1973 are still perfectly usable by me in 2016 and beyond.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

Perfect! I wonder if they still sell those. I have an old set of Crapsman combos (very nice) and another old (early/cheap) Japanese set of open ends which were stamped. Both proved very handy, especially for distributor point nuts.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

"distributor point nuts" Good GOD, you're OLD!

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Yeah, must be from very long ago. I was especially appalled that the out-o f-date people here were still talking of using "dial up" a month or so ago, here. That, or people just don't get out that often any more. I mean cel l providers let you plug right into a computer's USB jack. That's why they call it a universal jack. Its supposed to replace everything. No more pho ne jacks or wires. Not even for the re-charger. Even that's wireless, now. But maybe these guys don't get out much, anymore. I can imagine, especial ly with all that talk about serving in Vietnam. You guys must be in your e ighties or so now.

Anyway, I've never heard of distributor point nuts. Then again, I've never worked on engines or motors (in a day job at least). My work was mostly co nstruction/remodeling/installation/repair behind walls or in ceilings of va rious properties, not on a shop floor. So I wouldn't bring anything like t rade or metric sized car mechanic's tools around with me like with maybe HV AC, electricians', drywall or plumbers' ones. Except, maybe for that telesc oping pen magnet for tough to reach lost screws.

Reply to
mogulah

On 02/26/2016 10:20 AM, snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com wrote: ...

You clearly aren't in a rural area where there is not yet a wireless network option...and, yes, those areas still exist in the US of A.

Reply to
dpb

Be not the first by which the new is tried nor the last by which the old has died.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

I live 10 miles from the nearest town in a clearing out in the woods . I have a 6Mb/s down and 768Kb/s up ADSL connection ... and I'm pretty sure that hughes.net is available virtually everywhere . I think they use the same satellites as the TV providers .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

I just bought a set off ebay a few months ago - not as good as the older Craftsman set I had (1969 vintage)- but a lot better then the stamped crap craftsman carries today.

Reply to
clare

I still get to work on stuff that uses them every once in a while. Not as old as dirt yet, but getting there. (work on cars a a hobby now instead of for a living)

Reply to
clare

Places where a cell phone is only a paper weight too.

Reply to
clare

Including New York City:

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Reply to
Jim Wilkins

Aren't WE, though?

Then again, I'm still a 19 y/o in a 62 y/o body with a 90 y/o back.

Reply to
Larry Jaques

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