Featured this issue:

Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later
Ask the Experts – Mechanical vs. Electronic Torque Wrenches
Canadian Owned?
Cheap Tools?
Registered Again

Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later

Price vs. Quality – Can You Have Both? Whatever happened to quality outweighing the best price?

Transducerized tool A cost $10,000, tool B cost $11,500, but did you consider the cost of calibration and service after installation? What about downtime and back up costs afterwards? Is it a component system or complete replacement? What are the warranty restrictions? Is preventative maintenance required?

Not unlike cell phone companies offering free phones when signing 3 year contracts – tool companies may do the same thing. Think about the idea of giving the tools away for service fees. The simple fact is there is much more money in service than there is in selling new tools – check it out. When was the last time service costs were  part of the Monday morning production meeting?

I’ll bet you will be outraged when you find out what the costs are.

Purchasing wants the lowest capital costs – service costs come out of a different budget so these costs are either not scrutinized like capitol equipment or these costs are predetermined based on past experience. Regardless, the two costs are typically not linked. The true tool cost of the tool isn’t exposed.

Consider purchasing very high quality tools that are maintenance free and watch your costs drop over the short term and exponentially over the long term. You always get what you pay for.

Ask the Experts – Mechanical vs. Electronic Torque Wrenches

Mechanical torque wrenches are available in numerous designs. The most common are beam, dial and click wrenches. The first question to be asked is “What do I want to use it for?” Do you want to analyze a pre-torqued fastener or do you want to apply a pre-determined amount of torque to a fastener in production. It is possible to use a beam or dial wrench for the later but it’s a painfully slow process.

The beam wrench is the simplest. A beam connects the head of the tool with the handle. A pointer is connected to the head, parallel with the beam. The pointer extends almost to the handle, but does not connect to it. At the base of the handle is a metal plate with a torque scale. When the wrench is pulled, the beam deflects, but the pointer stays still, indicating the torque on the scale.

Dial wrenches are easier to read. In this design, a torsion bar goes from the head of the tool to a rack-and-pinion mechanism. As the bar deflects, the mechanism turns a dial that indicates torque. Keep in mind beam and dial wrenches are typically very operator dependant.

Of all the designs for mechanical torque wrenches, the click, or toggle, wrench is commonly used on assembly lines. That’s because operators don’t have to read a dial or gauge; they simply pull the wrench until it clicks. In this design, the drive head is connected to a lever that, in turn, is connected to a adjustable spring loaded cam mechanism. As a load is applied to the handle of the tool, the lever shifts the toggle, compressing the spring. When enough load is applied, the spring triggers a toggle with an audible click, and the tool becomes rigid. You can still over torque a bolt here. Keep pulling the wrench and you will keep applying torque to the bolt.

Mechanical wrenches are simpler than electronic wrenches, but even they can get high-tech. For example, new click wrenches are available with electronic sensors that detect the release of the toggle mechanism. The sensor communicates each click of the tool to a PLC through a cable or a wireless connection. This enables engineers to error-proof the process. For example, if the operator is supposed to check four bolts on an assembly, but the PLC only records three clicks of the wrench, the assembly cannot be released to the next station.

Another click wrench takes a visual approach to error-proofing. When a fastener has been tightened to the right torque, the wrench marks both the fastener and the assembly with a quick-drying ink. Thus, the operator or an inspector can tell at a glance if any fasteners were not tightened (they would be unmarked) or if any fasteners have subsequently loosened (the marks on the fastener and the assembly would be misaligned).

Electronic torque wrenches measure torque with a strain gauge. These wrenches are more expensive than their mechanical counterparts, but they’re also more accurate. The big advantage of electronic wrenches is that they record each torque measurement. Individual measurements can be matched to specific assemblies via bar code for liability protection. Data can be analyzed for statistical process control. Data fluctuations could be an early warning that power tools need service or operators need extra training.

Electronic tools can be tethered to a portable controller, or they can communicate wirelessly to a remote unit. Some portable controllers even have displays that show the operator which bolts to check and what sequence to check them in. Like the toggle wrench with the “click detector”, electronic torque wrenches can be set up for error-proofing.

Ask yourself – How much do you want to spend? What is your cycle time? How critical is your torque?

Canadian Owned?

If Ontario manufacturers are doing well, why are the plants moving to the USA and abroad? Maybe our problem is large manufacturing plants in Ontario are not always owned by Canadian companies. When times were good (remember those?) many Canadian owned companies sold to large US conglomerates. Those US stock-based companies took our profits, along with theirs, and drove stock prices up. Shareholders loved it. Now that we are in a hole looking up, these same companies we looked up to, to make us money are taking our good Canadian companies and are bringing them back to increase profits and increase shareholder dividends. They have too..Don’t kid yourself. You would do the same thing if it was your company and you stared at the bottom line everyday. We don’t own it and we don’t have control. All of us are responsible for what we have created. What incentive is there to stay Canadian owned? We have to be careful what we sell. Money drives the world and there may be no turning back…Do you agree?

We will post a reader’s review every issue and welcome your comments. Send your ideas – if we post them we will send you a free gift.

Cheap Tools?

Impact and a click wrench, there’s some cheap production…NOT!

I’m still amazed to see this type of philosophy still being used in plant production.

A typical ½” drive impact puts out approx. 200 ft.lb torque – oh, and don’t forget the +/- 40% accuracy.

Click wrenches tell you, you have reached a minimum torque level. Your bolt torque spec. is 35 ft.lb. Your run it down with the impact above – of course the torque wrench will “click” and indicate that you have achieved minimum torque. But it doesn’t tell you how far over your bolt torque you are – Hit a good bump and your wheel falls off! Impacts have their place, but that cheap tool can get very expensive in warranty repairs. Consider only 4% of product costs are tooling. The impact is getting more expensive by the minute.

Registered Again

Core Technologies is proud to announce another successful audit and re-certification of our company to: ISO 9001:2008.

We had no non-compliances, either minor or major. Thanks to all, for their hard work and support. It is a large expense to have your process analyzed and recognized. We are proud to be registered, where many of our competitors are not.

The Production Link

Contact Core Tool’s professionally trained sales staff for help!