Wing Nuts

Home-made would be dead easy.

Piece of pipe that will fit over the centre part of the wingnut. Hacksaw a pair of slots to grab the wings. Drill a hole in the other end through both walls of the pipe, stick in a beefy screwdriver to turn the thing.

Slot a piece of 3/4" pipe to fit over the wing nut. Cut to a handy length and weld a tee handle on. Bugs

They exist but they're not easy to find. Here's a link to a couple of varieties of wrenches:

And here's a link to sockets, about halfway down the page:

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

I'll chime in with the fact that wing nuts really should be tightened by hand - that is why they exist. Making a tool for them has also been mentioned by others so I won't repeat it here. 5" or so will generally make it a custom item.

-- Why isn't there an Ozone Hole at the NORTH Pole?

Thanks for all the suggestions..... I *can* make a homemade wrench, as suggested by some, but I was hoping to find something which would be almost a perfect fit down on top of the wingnut, to prevent breaking off the "ears". The pipe with a slot will probably work, and the links provided show basically that style plus one looking like a piece of folded-over metal but still not exactly what I was wanting. I guess I could get a 3/8" wingnut, and start machining....... Thanks for the help. Ken.

You could also remove the wing nut and replace it with a hex nut. Use an open end wrench to make adjustments. . . . or a custom made deep socket [welded to a pipe handle] Bugs

I've successfully used a long coil spring--I think it came off a tractor implement--to unwind a stubborn wingnut. Not exactly home made, I simply picked it up and used it. Only grabs one wing, though. You could also look into a spanner socket and used the little pegs against the wings. Dunno how deep you can get those, though.

Ok - I made some for my wife out of wood, but metal is easy also.

Think of an H the bottom of the H allows the round part of the wind nut to slip up into. The legs of the H are closer than those of the wings. In other words, take a square that is larger than the nut - a rod or short one. Drill a hole down the center of the length - 5 or more ? - or just poke out the top - you could make a 10" length with a 5 inch bore... Then slot the end such that the slots are large enough to allow the wings to enter.

Place over wing and with a hand or wrench - turn in the needed direction.

The ones I made were over size - and allowed my wife to hand twist nuts without mashing her fingers and being able to tighten with more torque...

Mart> >

I'm probably going to try something like this, Martin. I will want to machine the bottom end of the "device" so that there is a good fit around and down over the entire wing nut, shaped so that there is no "slop". Reason being is that (damn engineers) the motor is mounted to a flat plate, and the long 3/8 bolts come up through the bottom of the machine, then a wingnut is placed on both of the long bolts (upside down, then the plate is set down over the bolts and another wingnut is installed in the proper direction down to the plate. It's used to provide belt tension for the machine. Problem is: there is about 4 or so inches of bolt above the wingnut - and it gets rusted (they couldn't have used stainless?) and the wingnuts can't be loosened due to the rust. I'm thinking with some PBBlaster and the proper tool, I will be able to get them loose. Thanks for the idea. There doesn't appear to be anything suitable made commercially. Ken.

To make sure you do not break the wingnuts, freezing them in place, use your homemade or bought tool to remove both nuts, lapping them into place as you go with some silicon carbide "Clover" or equivalent grease-mixed compound. _Don't_ just unscrew them; they will jam eventually, and you will break a wing. Rather, loosen and tighten alternately, working the compound in, preventing the buildup of tension that will break the nut. A lot like using a tap, loosen some, then retighten, never simply run it all the way out.

I agree they are made to be tightened by hand and should be reconditioned until they do tighten by hand. Simply forcing them will end up with a broken nut, and a non-adjustable adjustment.

Once free of the screw, they will be worn and loose but can be replaced. If the new nuts are tight, then lap them into place, as well, until they work smoothly. A thread resizing die can be used if you have removed all the compound. If not, you'll ruin the die.

On 3 Feb 2005 06:16:03 -0800, "Bugs" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

.....but I think "how" is the whole problem.