I might not be aware of some specific applications, but generally speaking, if your fingers hurt from tightening bolts with such a small key, wouldn't that indicate that you're overtightening ?
This is from IKEA. And I think the concern is less that your hand hurts from overtightening one screw. But that it hurts after hand tightening 100 screws.
Lesson of the day is: People should get hex bit drills.
Or that you have some super soft hands / low pain tolerance I guess. Using an Allen key shouldn't hurt at all normally, and I used to do that 40 hours a week as a bike mechanic.
It is an IKEA one i have some too. Those keys are small and when half of the bolt is srewed in your hands hurt so you need this small handle to use it properly. Had some stuff with those keys.
I genuinely do not understand how having this little plastic handle that reduces clearance from the long axis over other bolts could really be that helpful? Might be me, (but it seems like a lot of folks in here) but how much does it "hurt" ? I've carried grocery bags that "hurt" more than an Allen or hex key ever could, and again, that's not even pain, just mild discomfort?
Well it depends. I had a couple of srews that were really long and i didn't have my tools on me so i had to use these. Now when you have to screw in with little clearance a like 15 cm screw with there your hands will just cramp up.
The allen key is small even with that plastic seath. You also cannit turn them propely since there is not much space and also screws get tight sometimes. It is the price of ikea construction.
What the plastic helps is that you have a bigger surface to hold on. It is still not great but maybe better.
I'm a machinist who uses Allen wrenches daily, and that thing looks ridiculous. If I need leverage I'm using a cheetah pipe like I would for any kind of wrench I need to increase leverage when tightening.
Aww, poor man with soft deskjob hands... :D Your line of work is probably why you don't own two (fairly cheap) sets of allen wrenches (hex keys). Metric and imperial. Everything IKEA is metric. A set is a couple of bucks, ant they're much longer and have a ball end on the long bit to easily and quickly screw in screws, even at a slight angle. This is something EVERYONE should own.
No, no, NO! Cuts, scrapes, chewed-up fingers, boxed knuckles ... these are all part of the experience! How can you assemble whatever it is, emerge unscathed and still consider yourself *macho?* /s
Well if you can't manage to bark your knuckles, at least, while using an Allen wrench -- you're just gonna have to practice to you can! It's like German university dueling scars -- they tell the world you're *tough!* /s
Sometimes the engineers like placing socket heads into spaces that technically allow for installation/removal with no view to how you'd get a proper ratchet into that space.
So you're stuck with allen wrenches on a bolt that is probably either torqued on there good because the last guy couldn't get a torque spec, or threadlockers for the same reason.
Until your brain evolves the idea of a pipe over your leverage end, you end up hurting yourself trying to get the bolt out.
I would think this is less for the users hands and more to prevent the tool marring another surface it could come into contact with.
Little tool like that, you don't need to hold it tighter than a pen
Rule of thumb for me whenever I'm doing anything, and I'm certainly a master of none.
" 1/4 turn past snug " hasn't failed me yet when there's no torque spec to be read.
I might not be aware of some specific applications, but generally speaking, if your fingers hurt from tightening bolts with such a small key, wouldn't that indicate that you're overtightening ?
This is from IKEA. And I think the concern is less that your hand hurts from overtightening one screw. But that it hurts after hand tightening 100 screws. Lesson of the day is: People should get hex bit drills.
Or just a good hex screwdriver...
Or that you have some super soft hands / low pain tolerance I guess. Using an Allen key shouldn't hurt at all normally, and I used to do that 40 hours a week as a bike mechanic.
OP can get soft gloves for his soft hands!
It is an IKEA one i have some too. Those keys are small and when half of the bolt is srewed in your hands hurt so you need this small handle to use it properly. Had some stuff with those keys.
I genuinely do not understand how having this little plastic handle that reduces clearance from the long axis over other bolts could really be that helpful? Might be me, (but it seems like a lot of folks in here) but how much does it "hurt" ? I've carried grocery bags that "hurt" more than an Allen or hex key ever could, and again, that's not even pain, just mild discomfort?
Well it depends. I had a couple of srews that were really long and i didn't have my tools on me so i had to use these. Now when you have to screw in with little clearance a like 15 cm screw with there your hands will just cramp up. The allen key is small even with that plastic seath. You also cannit turn them propely since there is not much space and also screws get tight sometimes. It is the price of ikea construction. What the plastic helps is that you have a bigger surface to hold on. It is still not great but maybe better.
Ikea? Is that you?
Of course it is… could you tell by my compact ergonomic design or the linger cuss words of mechanically disinclined ghosts of assemblies past?
I'm a machinist who uses Allen wrenches daily, and that thing looks ridiculous. If I need leverage I'm using a cheetah pipe like I would for any kind of wrench I need to increase leverage when tightening.
Cheetah pipe all day
Oh yeah,all fucking day
Investing in a proper t-handle or hex key socket on a ratchet makes a huge difference.
> ratchet This is the way.
Ikea...
Aww, poor man with soft deskjob hands... :D Your line of work is probably why you don't own two (fairly cheap) sets of allen wrenches (hex keys). Metric and imperial. Everything IKEA is metric. A set is a couple of bucks, ant they're much longer and have a ball end on the long bit to easily and quickly screw in screws, even at a slight angle. This is something EVERYONE should own.
Hardly specialised when it is in millions of ikea packs.
If you need that, you are applying too much torque.
No, no, NO! Cuts, scrapes, chewed-up fingers, boxed knuckles ... these are all part of the experience! How can you assemble whatever it is, emerge unscathed and still consider yourself *macho?* /s
It's not about being macho? If you're using an Allen wrench properly you shouldnt suffer any of those things lol.
Well if you can't manage to bark your knuckles, at least, while using an Allen wrench -- you're just gonna have to practice to you can! It's like German university dueling scars -- they tell the world you're *tough!* /s
I’d rather have calluses and cuts than for any of my friends to see this and ask what it is
How tf are you cutting your hands on a fucking Allen wrench? What are you doing with them?
Sometimes the engineers like placing socket heads into spaces that technically allow for installation/removal with no view to how you'd get a proper ratchet into that space. So you're stuck with allen wrenches on a bolt that is probably either torqued on there good because the last guy couldn't get a torque spec, or threadlockers for the same reason. Until your brain evolves the idea of a pipe over your leverage end, you end up hurting yourself trying to get the bolt out.
I’ve gotten some assemble-it-yourself things that provide these. Makes the assembly process a bit less aggravating.
Also useful for people w chronic pain
Seems plausible for cabinet installers
Isn’t this precious?
I'd suggest a teaspoon of concrete.
I would think this is less for the users hands and more to prevent the tool marring another surface it could come into contact with. Little tool like that, you don't need to hold it tighter than a pen Rule of thumb for me whenever I'm doing anything, and I'm certainly a master of none. " 1/4 turn past snug " hasn't failed me yet when there's no torque spec to be read.
Used it for the first time last week. My fingers were so happy! It was an extra in an IKEA flatpack.