A torque wrench is a specially designed wrench that indicates how much torque is being needed to whatever you are trying to wrench. It is usually in the form of a socket wrench, with special internal mechanisms. This was invented by Conrad Bahr in 1918 while he was working for the New York City Water Department. He designed this tool to prevent over-tightening bolts on water main and steam pipe repairs underground.
Accuracy
in the tightening of fasteners is very important, especially when fixing high
advanced machinery where accuracy can be affected even with the slimmest discrepancy.
Over-tightening can damage head gaskets, brake rotors and transmission valve
bodies. There are many precision torque tools that provide you all the choices
you need to tighten just about any fastener. There is a big selection of torque
tools like torque screwdrivers or full performed calibration systems. These
tools are highly recommended in the factories and mechanical shops.
For home shop use, there are two types of torque wrenches; the beam type and the clicker type. Beam type torque wrench is the most inexpensive torque wrench. They are very accurate, reliable, simple and handy to use. The beam performs by the beam bending in response to the torque. Be sure that when tightening a bolt, only put force in the midpoint of the handle. You must not over torque the wrench because it may bend permanently. Click type torque wrenches are accurate when properly pre-calibrated. However, if the mechanism is more complicated, the effect will be sooner the loss of calibration.
It's vital to use the manufacturer manual relating proper force, torque pattern, and torque tightening or releasing cycles. Any measurements that are not within operating range can lead to a dangerous condition and inaccuracy. For instance, bike and component manufacturers commonly provide torque specifications especially for screwing in anything that is wound. Usually, it is in N-M, ft-lb, or in-lb, which provides a safe mount of torque to be applied on. Commonly, you only need one torque wrench and a good set of sockets (with hex and other typical bike fittings) to work on most parts of your bike.
There are many different types of torque wrench that can be used and utilized in a wide range of applications and situations. Wherever you want to use or utilize your wrench, you must be certain that it is the correct wrench for the job.