Homemade Wrench for Impact Driver

This idea makes general sense. The socket and extension that attach to the impact driver may need to be of hardened material, which might be affected by welding on it. You might be able to apply a pipe wrench to your impact tools to assist in this same way.

Penetrating fluids...heat the outer part...hammer the outer part to bump loose any rust encrustations inside (this may also relieve the engaged threads)...weld a bigger nut to stuck parts...

Just a few other ideas. All's fair in love, war, and getting stuff apart (within reason).

"hammer the outer part to bump loose any rust encrustations inside (this may also relieve the engaged threads"

I have a tool, not the one asked about above, to hammer sideways on stuck fasteners. I have not used it enough yet to know how well it works. I got it at NAPA auto parts; their on-line catalog (www.napaonline.com) shows it as part number NPT 65290. It is made for use in an air hammer for loosening tie rod sleeves on cars; it has a working end like a hammer head with a cylinder cut out of it to keep in on the the rod sleeve.

I think he is referring to an impact driver, not an impact gun, a sort of spring loaded cylinder where you insert a bit style of the fastener head type of choice in one end, engage the bit on the fastener head, give the driver cylinder a counterclockwise torque (clockwise if left handed threads) and downward thrust until you sense the tool innards have risen up on an internal cam/ramp, and then you strike the head of the cylinder with a suitably heavy hammer with a quick and sharp blow. The action of the tool innards being rapidly forced down the internal cam/ramp against the opposing torque being applied by the user creates a sharply applied torque along with a downward thrust to shock loose any offending binding action (corrosion,galling, etc.) The maximum revolution of the driver bit is, I'm guessing now, on the order of about 20^o. It is an absolutely essential tool for working on motorcycle where small diameter ferrous fasteners are assembled into aluminum castings subjected to multiple heat cycles.

I believe, if he is in fact talking about a 1/2" drive Impact (anything), it would most certainly be an Impact Wrench (probably pneumatic). I cannot recall a 1/2" drive Impact Driver.... You would need a pretty substantial hammer to strike a 1/2" drive Impact Driver, and, who the heck would you get to hold it whilst you struck it with your 8 lb. sledge?

I have both a 3/8" and 1/2" impact drivers (somewhere. I can never find either when I need one. That's why I bought the second one). The 3/8" is a common name brand of good quality. The 1/2" is a cheap flea market find. I guess, the lesser the quality tool is built to a larger size to reduce breakage. Both work well but the cheap one is mushrooming nicely.

Indeed, Who would you get to hold it? certainly not I. LOL

I think we used a 1/2" drive impacter to remove the flywheel so we could change the points on our dirt bikes, wow that's awhile ago, even so I can't see a handle being an advantage unless you swing is questionable.

Took the words out of my mouth.

Have been on the receiving end of a few unexpected journeys using low-speed/high torque 1/2" electric drills, especially fun when on top of a ladder.

Maybe something like a ratcheting box end wrench, or a handle that would have an adustable clutch mechanism.

The drawing looks like the device could be extremely dangerous, possibly even lethal!

The extension rods are available anywhere. Though I have never seen these with Hex head formed.

The forged ring spanners are there for the hammer tightening, but for obvious safety reasons these are always put directly on the screw head and not extension.

When you hammer tighten (usually for us it is loosening jammed bolts, which don't come out due to ages of use, misuse and rust, despite using all the usual chemical solutions) you don't want the spanner to be too far away from support. This gives the extra bending moment at the head, and the extension is almost sure to fail due to the shock+bending+torque.

Wow, you brought me back to my childhood days. My Grandfather was a master mechanic for GM and constantly made his own tools. (Some we still haven't figured out) But he had several large springs with rods welded to them. These did not attach to anything but were inserted in the proper direction OVER the socket he was using. When tightened down the spring would grasp the socket and start applying torque in the desired direction. When the nut broke free the tension on the socket would release and allow it to rotate freely. You had to hold the rod or the little tension on the spring would cause the rod to spin and crack your knuckles. Good gloves were a must as well as face protection. He didn't use them much and only for large size nuts and bolts but they did work. Back then you could get away with this, but safety wise it was not a good idea.

If you want something like that you are going to have to make it yourself! No manufacturer is going to make that because they know that someone will get hurt and they will be sued for a whole lot more than the profit from hat wrench! Common sense says use a pipe wrench around the socket so when the nut/bolt does break free the jaws will just slip as the socket turns. As a side if you make that tool as you have drawn it the vibrations from the impacting will travel through that rod and sting the hell out of whomever hand is applying the pressure.

Every extension you add reduces the amount of hammering actually applied to the bolt in question.

I've welded nuts on sockets or ground a couple of flats to expedite the use of wrenches or pipe wrenches. When the stuck part breaks loose, it rarely is dangerous.

If I were going to make the illustrated part, I would use something better than 1/2" round, which can be bent fairly easily

Cool depiction, so I can now envision using my impact wrench to mix paint or cement eh?

Yes there is a commercially available tool as such, made by Milwaukee tool and forge company>

And from Handy twins international company see the nut shape on the socket exterior allowing another wrench too?

the first chucks in a muffler gun, and may have a square drive for sockets, the second is called a slugging wrench.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=power&item_ID=7391&group_ID=863&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

http://www.tristarindia.com/slugg.htm

I have one of the upper tools; it is not substantial enough for the heavier work with 12 or 6-point sockets. Mine has no attachment for a torque wrench supplying torsional impacts. Instead it attaches to what I call an air hammer which provides axial impacts. It works OK for screws--Phillips driver shown.

The other one I know as a sledge wrench instead of slugging, but it is the same thing. I have seen them used only for larger sizes; 2.25" high strength (104 ksi) and 3" studs for the poles I designed. Probably used where turn-of-nut torquing was used.

I saw some mechanics using a combination of tools that produces the same efect, a hammer and torque wrench as the most common solution. If you use the combination to loose a joint.

Weld a socket onto a swing bar or an old rachet have the socket up so the impact will fit into the square end of the socket and insert the swing bar or rachet into the size of socket you are needing and presto you have your wrench and impact working together. I have done this before and it works great. Another thing you could look into is a torque mutiplier they are usually a 4 to 1 ratio, 100 ft/lds in 400 ft/lbs out and they also can be adapted to your case.

Good Luck

Taz

My mind refuses to get around your description. Is what you call a "swing bar" what I know as a "breaker bar?" If so, it makes sense, but the welding might mess up the pivot on the breaker bar. Thus, you need one this way and one unaltered.

I have a set of 1/2" drive deep sockets which also have a hole through the side walls. I've placed a rod through the side wall holes to apply torque when there was not enough room to put a ratchet or breaker bar in the square drive. Works well. I suppose using the the side holes to apply torque with a rod and applying an impact wrench to the square drive would accomplish the the same thing your tool would do.

If the idea is to apply extra torque above what an impact wrench can apply, the torque multiplier (proposed above) is the best option.

I do not like the idea of using a pipe wrench on a socket as it will scar the face and leave ridges which will either weaken the socket or provide a rough surface which collects grime or could cut one's hands. But when the situation is desperate, all is fair.

Good! My deep sockets do not have a hole thru them, but some of them do have a hex built into one end that an open or box end wrench could be used on in addition to the impact wrench in the square drive hole. However, the ones I have are not impact quality, nor 6-point.