On Thu, 18 Apr 1996, Denise Thorpe wrote:
> Snap-on has had this for years, it's called "flank drive." The inside
> angle of all wrenches and sockets is relieved slightly with a circular
> cutout. The wrench or socket pushes on the nut slightly back from the
> corner where the nut is stronger. If you took this idea to an extreme,
> I can see how one socket would fit different sizes that were close, but
> I don't see the benefit of this. You're _least_ likely to round off a
> nut with a socket that's the closest in size. Snap-on tools may be
> expensive but you get what you pay for.
Exactly!
I believe that this flank drive works only when the socket fits the nut
very tightly. If it doesn't, the socket can rotate further on the nut and
the area of the socket that is supposed to apply pressure to the flanks of
the nut will now catch the corners of the nut again!
So in my opinion, while the wrench might fit several different size nuts,
the benefits of "flank drive" are probably lost, and I wouldn't be
surprised if these wonder wrenches work less well than regular ones (this
is usually the case with stuff advertised in infommercials. A friend of
mine ordered the twin-blade wipers for her CRX, and they were so bad, she
went back to regular ones costing 1/5, Felt good for me though - "I told
you so")
Just use common sense - if the stuff was any good, they wouldn't need
expensive infommercial.
Ulix ("Buy a good crescent wrench")
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'67 Sprite '66 Caddy
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