Fitters have to buy their spanners on reputation, hearsay and
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price. To find out how the various brands shape up Workshop put A...1 them to the test.
A. . II fitters have favourite spanners; often for reasons that they could not define. When it comes to buying spanners they have to take a gamble with a lot of their own money. Testing a sample to destruction before investing in a set would remove that guesswork. That is not possible for the fitters — but it is for Workshop.
To sort out those who market a full range of tools we worked on the theory that if a company sells the uncommon spanners then il probably also offers the range of tools the professional fitter needs. With that in mind we chose to test 23mm combination spanners.
The 23mm combination spanner is a strange beast. Firstly it's quite large, the sort of equipment truck fitters need; secondly 23mm is not an ISO preferred size; and finally combinations are rarer than ring or open-ended spanners in any given size. The theory appears to work. Of the dozens of companies who supply tools into the garage trade we could only find 12 that do a 23mm combination. We contacted all 12 and asked for a sample of the spanner, all agreed. In total 14 tools were included in the test. Britool, Hazet and Proto each supplied two spanners representing different ranges, and the Facom sample arrived too late to be included in our test.
The companies
Beta (Turbo 70).
Outlets: 350 static and some mobile.
Price: £6.85 (ex-VAT).
Guarantee: against faulty manufacture (including chrome). Dimensions: A —276, B — 48.4, C —33.6, D — 19.1, E —8.6, F — 5.4, G — 13.5 (not parallel).
Weight: 0.270kg.
Britool (Turbo 71).
Outlets: About 1,500 static plus 20 vans. Price: £20.99 (ex-VAT) auto £8.99 (ex-VAT) industrial.
Guarantee: Guaranteed against faulty manufacture (including peeling chrome). Dimensions: (auto) A — 315, B — 47.9, C 33.7, D — 17.8, E — 10.0, F — 6.6, G — 14.4. (Industrial) A — 315, B —47.8, C — 34.5, D — 18.1, E — 10.1, F — 6.7, G — 15.0.
Weight: 0.314kg (auto), 0.340kg (industrial).
CeKa (Stahlwille) (Turbo 72).
Outlets: Approximately 5,000 outlets, 85 mobile.
Price: £12.64 (ex-VAT).
Guarantee: Lifetime against faulty manufacture (including peeling chrome). Dimensions: A — 278, B — 52.3, C — 33, D — 19.9, E 8.0, F — 5.6, G — 14.2. Weight: 0.254kg.
Draper (Elora) (Turbo 73).
Outlets: around 6,000, mainly static. Price: /6.40 (ex-VAT).
Guarantee: Lifetime against faulty manufacture (including peeling chrome). Dimensions: A —319, B —50.7, C —36.8, D — 18.2 min (19.4 max), E — 8.8, F 5.6, G — 15.0.
Weight: 0.32014. Haut (Turbo 74).
Outlets: 180, mainly static.
Price: £14.15 (ex-VAT).
Guarantee: Lifetime against faulty manufacture (including peeling chrome). Dimensions: A-329, B —52.1, C —36.3, D —19.0, E — 10.0, F — 7.5, G — 15.4. Weight: 0.408kg.
King Dick (Turbo 75).
Outlets: Around 300, all static.
Price: £8.84 (ex-VAT).
Guarantee: Lifetime against faulty manu facture.
Dimensions: A— 260, B — 46.7, C —34.5, 13— 17.5, E —8.2, F —5.7 (convex), G 13.3.
Weight: 0.22614.
Mako (Irimo) (Turbo 76).
Outlets: about 6,000, mainly static.
Price: £6.52 (ex-VAT).
Guarantee: Lifetime against faulty manufacture (including peeling chrome). Dimensions: A —270, B —49.2, C —35.9, D — 20.2, E —8.4, F —5.9, G — 13.2. Weight: 0.28214.
Proto US — professional. Sold through Stanley (Turbo 77).
Outlets: Around1,000, all static.
Price: £15.90 (ex-VAT).
Guarantee: Lifetime against faulty manufacture (including peeling chrome subject to fair wear and tear).
Dimensions: A — 313, B — 48, C —34, D —19.4, E— 10.1, F — 8.0, G — 14.3. Weight: 0.34614. Proto UK. Sold through Stanley (Turbo 78).
Outlets: Around 1,000, all static.
Price: £8.93 (ex-VAT).
Guarantee: Lifetime against faulty manufacture (including peeling chrome subject to fair wear and tear).
Dimensions: A — 270, B — 47_5, C — 35.7, D — 19.2, E — 8.3, F — 5.9, G — 13.1. Weight 0.2741cg. torque equivalent to twice the BS test load. Several samples failed to reach this torque; they just kept bending.
The final test was to put as much torque on the spanner as it would take. Some bent and rode up over the torquing post on the test arm; others deformed and then broke and two showed little sign of being under stress until they broke. A collar on the post would have stopped samples bending up over the post, but a scaffold pole over a spanner in the workshop does not have its direction restrained, so nor did our test sample.
The perfect spanner
Interpreting the results is a complicated matter: every fitter has his own view of the perfect spanner. Firstly it must be said that all the spanners withstood the BS test torque easily, so all are professional standard tools. Indeed the lowest breaking torque we recorded was almost 1.5 times the BS test load. But even that figure can be misleading. In each case the force required was far in excess of what could be achieved by a fitter using his hands alone; that would require the ubiquitous length of scaffolding that lurks in every workshop. To break the range of tools we tested would require a 76kg (12 stone) fitter to stand on extensions ranging from 0.76m to 1.7m.
But the way in which the tools failed is also important. It would take a particularly stupid fitter not to notice the spanner he was using (or misusing) was bending inside his scaffolding pole. But a spanner that remains straight right up to the instant it snaps could send the unsuspecting fitter flying across the workshop.
The three spanners that withstood over 1,000Nm are worth a special mention. They are Hazet (1,266Nm), Snap-On (1,0631'lm) and Irimo (1,102Nm). Of these only the Hazet deformed; the other two broke suddenly through the ring without taking a permanent set.
Prices range from £6.10 for the Teng to 124.80 for the Snap-On — equal to four Teng spanners for the price of one SnapOn.
The Beta (£6.45), Irimo (£6.52) and Teng (6.10) look good value, but all are at the shorter end of the range and are not polished.
Polishing takes a long time and costs a lot of money. By way of a comparison the two Britool ranges are basically the same spanners but one has a polished chrome finish, the other has satin — the polished (automotive range) spanner costs £12 more than the industrial range product.
Whichever you choose, remember that peeling chrome is not only very sharp but also poisonous. All the manufacturers will replace a tool with peeling chrome given that it has not been caused by abuse. Two of our samples suffered cracked chrome during destruction testing: the contenders from Britool industrial and Sykes Pickavant.
Weight and markings
Other points worth considering include the weight of a spanner, and its markings.
Holding a heavy spanner at arm's length for a long time is tiring, and searching for the right tool can be irritating. Not surpris ingly the shorter spanners are lighter, with the Saltus weighing 0.22kg. The Hazet is the heaviest, at 0.44kg.
Snap-On gets the prize for size marking its tools at both ends on both sides. Hazet and Stahlwille mark their tools on both sides but only at the open-ended end. Britool only puts size markings on one side and that is towards the centre of the shank.
As to guarantees, most of the companies represented will exchange a tool, regardless of age, that fails in use provided it has not been abused. The exception is Sykes Pickavant, which only gives a 12-month guarantee.
Given that the quality and price are right, availability is important as the fitter does not want to spend all week at work and go trekking around looking for tools at the weekend. All the companies in our test have a lot of outlets. Snap-On, of course, simply takes tools to the workplace. This has been very successful and others are beginning to put more effort into van sales (for more information about a particular range circle the turbo number we have put against the company's name).
Unlike the full BSI test ours was only made on a single spanner from each manufacturers' range, so it is possible that the result may not be typical of the marque. But a fitter only expects to buy one of each size and he, and the manufacturer, must put their faith in each single tool.
by Colin Sowman
0 In a future issue we will be including a voucher entitling Workshop readers to a discount on hand tools.