We’ve all been there – you’re working on a project and wondering how much to torque something so either we don’t bother or just take a guess. What I only found out recently was that in 2017, NASA published a really cool guide called “Installation Torque Tables for Noncritical Applications” – with the document ID as NASA/TM—2017-219475.
The document provides the torque specifications for a ton of general purpose fasteners that do not have an exact specification assigned – hence the term non-critical. As you can imagine, they get very specific in critical/risky situations.
At any rate, given the size of the bolt or screw, the thread pitch, the material and the depth, they provide a reference torque specification you can follow for both metric (M6, M8, M10, etc.) and SAE (#8, #10, 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, etc.) fasteners. Note, they provide an assembly torque (which is a 65% load from failure) and 100% torque. I use the assembly torque spec.
They also recommend that the depth of thread engagement be 1.5x the diameter of the fastener. So a 1/4″ (0.25″) fastener should have at least 0.25″ x 1.5 = .375″ (3/8″).
Here’s an example table. This is for fasteners going into 6061-T6 aluminum with a thread depth of 3/16″. If we go down for a 10-32 UNF screw, the assembly torque is 22.2 inch pounds. I’d use that lacking any other detailed information. I could go up to 34.2 inch pounds but I have stripped so many fasteners I don’t risk it. I’m a huge fan of Loctite so I go with that and the assembly spec.
Kudos to the two authors and to NASA for making it available. The PDF is a cool reference document and one I use whenever I can’t find a specific torque value for a given application. All you machinists and engineers – you know way more than me so please let me know if you have other resources you recommend.
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I’m to the point with rifles that when I want to maintain accuracy, I know I need an accurate torquing driver. For years I used the Wheeler Firearms Accurizing Torque (FAT) Wrench and it was good enough. For about $40 I got the base unit that included a few bits and a case. The FAT wrench had a range from 10-65 in/lbs and good enough accuracy (+/- 2 in/lbs up to 40 pounds and +/- 5% over 40 in/lbs). My only beef with it was that the mechanical scale that shows you the torque settings was in 5 pound increments. To get close to 18 in/lbs, for example, required going close to the middle between 15 and 20 in/lbs and calling it even.
I used the FAT wrench pretty much exclusively from October 2014 to May 2018. It was good enough at the time – way better than going for ballpark feel “farmer tight” settings but in the back of my head though, I wanted better.
By the way, in case you are wondering why a person would get one of these torque wrenches or drivers, it’s because many torque wrenches aren’t calibrated in inch/pounds (they are often foot pounds in the US) and they may not go down as low as 10 inch/pounds (in/lbs).
My interests span many types of firearms from AKs to precision rifles. With the latter, I own a number of sub-MOA rifles and they demand precision tools if you want repeatability and reliability. These rifles also have very good Vortex scopes and rings as well. If you want consistency and the rings to not shoot loose, the value of a torque wrench becomes apparent fast.
I’m a Vortex fan – there’s no two ways about. Their optics are superb and they have an absolute “we will stand behind it no matter what with no nonsense” warranty. Once in a while I will see guys troll the brand on Facebook but I honestly question whether they have ever actually even owned one.
Folks, I’ve owned probably 7-8 superb Vortex scopes and a ton of red dots. I really don’t know how many red dots of various types – probably approaching a dozen. The glass is good, the scopes are durable and do you know how many times I have used the warranty? — None. In talking with guys that have, Vortex took care of them.
When it arrived, the first thing I noticed was the heft. This is a solidly built metal tool that screams quality. It comes with a few bits. You pull the copper colored locking ring down and turn the handle to get the torque you want. I did find that you have to push the bits in very firmly. There is a detent ball that holds the driver bits in and it is surprisingly stout.
A nice touch is that the end of the handle has a 1/4″ socket if you want to use a ratchet wrench for higher torque applications. For example, Vortex precision rings can go up to 50 in/lbs. I can do that by hand most of the time but a ratchet makes it much easier.
On the topic of bits, it is a standard 1/4″ drive so you can get a large collection of bits and pair it up with this unit. For example, I had a Home Depot Husky brand driver with a ton of bits that I picked up on sale at some point and just had sitting on the shelf. I put it with the Vortex and its few included driver bits. Additionally, when I am working on a firearm, I typically have my Weaver deluxe toolkit open as well. It contains a great selection of bits that you tend to find on firearms.
There is one thing I changed though – the Vortex unit comes in a round plastic case that is nice and strong but I don’t have the patience to try and put it all back together for storage. So, I hopped down to Ace hardware and bought a case to hold the Vortex torque driver, the Husky driver and all the bits plus I have room for more storage. I also used some of my spare pluckable foam left over from cases to pad the bottom of the case.
In case you are wondering, here are photos of my FAT and Vortex torque drivers side by side:
In this next photo, you can see what I mean about precisely setting the torque on the wrenches. My Vortex Precision Scope Rings specify a torque of 18 in/lbs. With the Vortex wrench, you can precisely set it for 18 pounds. With the FAT, it’s somewhere around 17-19 pounds plus we already know the wrench’s accuracy is limited to +/- 2 in/lbs as well.
On the topic of accuracy, the Vortex driver comes with a certificate of calibration to testing standard DIN-ISO-6789 by a gentleman named Tom on Feb 27, 2018. You can see my specific wrench nails the accuracy – no more guesswork and no more ballpark torque setting.
3/28/24 Update: I use this for any small screw or nut with a torque spec in its range. I use it for rings, handguards, you name it and always reset it to zero afterwards to keep it accurate. Beware of knock-offs that look like it – you’ll get what you pay for.
9/21/23 Update: This is still my go-to tool for scope rings. It’s still working great – just remember to reset it to zero before you put it away.
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Guys, I remember tuning a car by ear with a timing light, vacuum gauge, feeling things out literally with my hands and so forth. Boy has the world changed. As the vehicles got smarter and smarter, someone decided to add On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) in the early 1980s first with the idiot “check engine” light and then it got more and more involved. Modern cars and trucks in the US have an OBD II jack where you can plug in, read and clear fault codes, access real-time information and so forth.
Back in 2013 I saved my pennies and finally bought my own Autel Autolink Scanner for $102. Wow – I thought was so cool. I used it whenever fault codes popped up to figure out what it was but I had to lug the thing around and it wasn’t something you could readily update, etc.
A friend of mine came over about a year back to check on one of our cars. He pulled a little black rectangle out of his jacket, plugged it into the car and then started looking at his phone. I asked him what he was doing and he showed me that he was accessing the codes. I was floored.
In June 2016, I decided to go the phone route to have a current scanner and a better interface. After digging, I bought a BAFX Products 34t5 Bluetooth OBDII adapter for Android phones (about $22) and I got the Torque software for my Samsung Note Android phone off the Google Play store for free. What a difference. The BAFX adapter was easy to carry around, I could customize the gauges I was looking at, and so forth. For me this combo rocks. It does all I need. I really like it being cordless – you can walk around and so forth and still see the data.
By the way, installation is simple. You follow the instructions to pair the scanner to your phone just like you would any other Bluetooth Device. I downloaded Torque from the Google Play store on my phone in a matter of minutes and it is pretty much good to go. You can create profiles for different vehicles in the software, change gauges you want to watch, their style, how they are grouped and so forth.
The following are screenshots from my phone plus you can see the little adapter that is a bit smaller than a cigarette box.
I use Torque to read and reset the ODB2 codes as needed. I really like it.
The Torque app lets you set up different gauges or even go in and look at the data.
This plugs into the ODB2 port
For example, my 2002 Camry’s check engine light is on and I could use the BAFX adapter and Torque to find out what the code was and then search using Google to decide what to do:
Yeah, you have to love that check engine light.
I really like the combination and recommend them. In general, I am amazed by all the functionality that is showing up where the smart phone provides the brain and display thus dropping costs dramatically. My recent GiraffeCam endoscope is another example.
By the way, I am so happy with this combination of BAFX scanner and Torque software that I sold my Autel scanner on eBay.
9/.29/21 Update: I still have the original two. They have saved my bacon many times and I always take one with us on trips. I highly recommend them. They have bounced around in the glove box, in the console, baked in the summer heat and frozen in subzero weather and they still work.
2/27/20 Update: I now have a couple of them and use them all the time with Torque.
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