That fancy torque wrench failed me on a simple job

Spent $300 on a digital torque wrench. Thought I was being smart. Last Tuesday I'm doing a simple head gasket on a 2015 Civic. Torque to spec, 44 foot-pounds. Snapped a bolt right off. Checked the wrench later. It was off by 8 foot-pounds. Went back to my old beam-style. Cost me an extra 2 hours and a bolt extraction kit. Anyone else have high-end tools let you down like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

sarah81819d ago

Calibrate that thing every couple months or it'll screw you every time.

tylerj2219d ago

Yeah "screw you every time" is exactly what happened to me last year. I forgot to calibrate for like 4 months and my prints kept shifting like a half inch to the left. @sarah818 is totally right, I set a reminder on my phone now for every 6 weeks just to be safe. It takes 10 minutes but saves you from wasting a whole roll of filament on a failed print.

jamie77019d ago

Used to think calibration was some kind of overkill OCD stuff that only super picky people did. Then I had a print that was supposed to be a simple bracket come out looking like a staircase because the Z axis was off by like 2mm. Spent an hour troubleshooting and finally checked the calibration and felt like such an idiot. Now I do it every time I swap filament brands even if it's the same color.