What brand of 1/16th hex key is better than Brighton-Best ?

"Pogo" wrote in news:fceTh.2167$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe12.lga:

Bondus

Bondhus is indeed what most machinists have, altho my recent purchases of Bondhus show a much rougher finish than the original sets I have. Disappointing.

Eklind makes sets similar to bondhus, without the ball. Husky at HD had a very interesting metric/sae set, has held up so far.

I think a lot of people make their own. Simply buy hex stock, bend, harden. Perty easy w/ 1/16. We had thousands of unmarked hex keys, all 1/8 or so, for some app. Don't know where they came from, but clearly they were not name brand. Seemed strong enough.

with a product I will be selling that includes several set screws.

quality of *these* ones seems to be spotty. Some of them seem to perform flawlessly, but quite a few I have tried get rounded off on the long end and consequently just jam into the set screw - becoming very difficult to remove.

Allen

Of course! :) But proly not cheap at all.

Not sure what brand they carry, but McMaster usually has good stuff and their price for 1/6 short arm hex key is $.16 so their box price will probably be less. Give them a call to inquire about the brand they carry.

Oops, it was only 13 cents each.

I don't want to spend *tons* of money on complimentary hex keys, but the quality of *these* ones seems to be spotty. Some of them seem to perform flawlessly, but quite a few I have tried get rounded off on the long end and consequently just jam into the set screw - becoming very difficult to remove.

Can anyone suggest a better brand ?

Thanks ! JCD

According to Proctologically Violated©® :

That rougher finish *may* be to keep it from slipping out of the socket.

From a good industrial supplier, you can get hex keys in a given size in box quantities. Once, when I needed a bunch of 0.050" ones, the box I bought contained a gross of them -- and IIRC, it cost less than most sets of hex keys. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

with a product I will be selling that includes several set screws.

quality of *these* ones seems to be spotty. Some of them seem to perform flawlessly, but quite a few I have tried get rounded off on the long end and consequently just jam into the set screw - becoming very difficult to remove.

Hex keys by Allen are good and (suprised me) not too expensive. Enduro makes a very strong key as well.

However, when we used Sears keys we began to call them "Safety Keys." The reason for this is when you'd put alot of torque on them they would tend to twist into something that looked like a peppermint stick, instead of breaking. While this cut down on the number of broken keys it also restricted how tight you could make the bolt.

I'd suggest, if you feel there's any chance of personnel injury, you consider using the keys you have now, assuming they tighten as well as needed.

dennis in nca

Thanks for the link ! JCD

message

Just wanted to thank everyone for their input ! JCD

with a product I will be selling that includes several set screws.

quality of *these* ones seems to be spotty. Some of them seem to perform flawlessly, but quite a few I have tried get rounded off on the long end and consequently just jam into the set screw - becoming very difficult to remove.

Those sound like the Unbrakos. Guy at the tool place I used to go to had a demo rig, he could twist one of the smaller keys up like a pretzel, didn't round out the socket. He claimed that if it DID shear, the stub could be picked out with a magnet, it didn't deform in the socket. The set I've got has worked for 30 years, don't know if the current crop is like those.

Stan

include with a product I will be selling that includes several set screws.

quality of *these* ones seems to be spotty. Some of them seem to perform flawlessly, but quite a few I have tried get rounded off on the long end and consequently just jam into the set screw - becoming very difficult to remove.

I think you're right. Unbrako is what I was thinking of. I've yet to break one, (or an Allen) and that's with liberal use of cheater pipes.

dennis in nca