Choosing a complete set of Nut spinners for BA screws

[geoff5269]

For a long time I have relied on a cheap set of Nut spinners to easily screw down the fixings on my engine builds which are done many times as you are constructing, and these limit the ware on the heads. So I started looking for a second set and found it really hard to find a complete range that was suitable quality. I am talking about BA sizes available in UK. Also I have used a lot of 8BA with small head and this size is harder to find a spanner for. I think my pictures will show some types available but in the end I found only one make Wera micro which has every size Nut spinner from 1.5mm - 6.0mm and a larger range 300 series which has 3.0mm-13mm.
When I am working out how close to an edge or obstruction the screw should be I use the size of the nut spinner as a guide, so a 8BA spinner is 6mm diameter so the hole should be 3.0mm from the edge. I hope this makes sense.
Geoff

[Florian Eberhard]

Hi Geoff

I am currently using two Wiha PicoFinish nut spinners, they are not cheap but I am pretty happy with the quality.
The heads of those are pretty slim aswell and they also have inch dimension spinners. If you are interested, I could measure the dimension of the heads of my 3mm and 4mm spinners in the next few days.
What I don't know ist if you can buy them in the UK but at least amazon lists them. 
The Wiha PicoFinish line by the way also includes all sorts of other head styles like allen, flat, philipps and torx drives.

Florian

[Mcgyver]

i rolled my own, a set of BA and model engineering sized.  Some ME sizes might be available, but I wanted a really thin wall so they could get into tight spots

[crueby]

Mcgyver - how did you cut the hex openings in the drivers?

[Mcgyver]

Mcgyver - how did you cut the hex openings in the drivers?

I made hexagonal dies, drilled holes in blanks a slightly less than the across the points measurement of hex and forged the drivers around them, then cleaned them up in the lathe.  For a lot sizes I used Allen keys figuring tough stuff, for ones of no common key size I made the dies from O1.  It appeared as an article in Home Shop Machinists a few years ago....I'm please to say they have the cover photo on their homepage currently  .

[mikemill]

Members may find a set of BA spanners made by http://www.modelengineerslaser.co.uk/ as a useful addition to spinners, as the name suggests they are laser cut from stainless steel and very accurate one end open the other a ring. For some reason they do not list these on their web site so you will have to contact them, I have two sets one flat the other bent to various angles to get into those difficult areas.

Mike

[Alyn Foundry]

Hello All.

Many moons ago Martin, one of the Alyn trio, came up with using Imperial Allen cap screws as spinners.

You can Machine the outside diameter to suit your requirements and the threaded portion simply glued, screwed into a shaft.

A very cheap alternative to “ shop bought “ !

Cheers Graham.

[simplyloco]

Shucks! And I thought I was the first to think of it! Mind you, it was a long time ago...

WP_20171031_15_46_32_Pro[1] by inkaboat, on Flickr

[steam guy willy]

I have been buying up BA Nut spinners at car boot sales .....also i colour code them with the resister colour code   Black ,brown red yellow......0  1  2  3  etc etc also a wobly one for getting at the bolts on my County Carlow  i staRTED BUILDING 50 YEARS AGO.......sorry caps lock button...  Also the 12BA nuts and bolts from EKP are different AF sizes as they make the bolts but not the nuts !!