Date: 29 Sep 2005 20:17:08 GMT From: Dave Hinz <DaveHinznospamcop.net> Subject: Re: My DIY Saab maintenance experience...
On Thu, 29 Sep 2005 16:07:48 -0400, Malt_Hound <""> wrote: > Dave Hinz wrote: >> snap-on tools. Worth the price of admission any day of the week. >> There may also be lesser vendors, but I've never regretted buying a >> snapon anything. > So how do the snap-ons "grab on the flats?" It sounds like a marvelous > invention... Roughly speaking, the corners are cut out in the socket, and the "flats" are somewhat convex in the socket as seen by the bolt. Um. Hangon. "flank drive" sockets by Snap-on. They make it hard to find a freaking picture, because apparently their website was designed by a brain-deaded lemur on crack or something. Well, picture a hex where the corners are dug out and stretched outwards. Rotate that against a hex head bolt and as the rotation happens, the minor diameter of the socket is going to bear on the head of the hex near the centers of the flats, rather than at the points as a hex socket does. Added benefit is that they go on and off easy, because they're not snug until you're turning them. I can't believe they don't have a freaking page I can find by searching "flank drive", that shows this geometry. Of course, someone is going to find that link in seconds and post it. I'm fine with that. Dave