Ponovo wing-nut sockets

[georgerkahn]

One of my (very few ) annoyances in our wonderful casting hobby had been the unscrewing/screwing/unscrewing... the wingnuts on my two Thumler Tumblers. (Sadly, Mother Nature his dictated wet-tumbling (would ice work?) be on hold 'til Spring -- necessitating the dry tumbling.)
A couple of years back I put my Harbor Freight el cheapo grinder to use cutting a slot in a 1/4" drive socket to which I inserted a 1/4" square to 1/4" hex adapter -- enabling me to use my small battery-operated screwdriver to perform this not-loved task.
Not very pleasing to the eye... but it worked.
Seeking a part for my air compressor on Amazon dot com last eve, what should pop up but an awesome looking commercial version of this! Less than eight U S dollars for two!
I thought I'd share... for what it's worth, I ordered the pair with my idea to "retire" the one I fabricated, using the 2nd as a wee gift for a fellow local 'loader. (...and -- the part for my compressor )
geo

[No_1]

Nice tip George.

[gmsharps]

Didn't know such an animal existed. I now have one on the way. Thanks George

gmsharps

[MrWolf]

I bought a couple of them when I put my led lights up in the garage. Ended up having to cut one even a lil wider to use on a hand mill as I made a. Intake and bought two bags of pellet feed for my chickens. Brats won't eat them as they like the crumbles. Not to spoiled.

[dverna]

Very nifty!!!

Thanks for sharing.

BTW, I never went with wet tumbling so have been "stuck" with using corn cobs. No water in my reloading shop and not feasible to do outside during winter.

[beagle]

Not to hijack the thread but I use my battery powered drill on the shaft on my #450 sizer when it's time to add lubricant. Backs it off quick, add lube, start by hand and a couple of light taps on the drill switch seats it tight and ready to lube again. No tireless cranking to back off the pressure screw. Works on the RCBS sizer as well./beagle

[Green Frog]

A friend of mine who did set ups and load outs for various big production shows (music, etc) invented and sold on a friend to friend basis a device he jokingly referred to as a “crack pipe”. It was basically a flat wrench version of this wrench to speed up building and breaking down the maze of scaffolds, supports, etc that are frequently held together with heavily torqued wing nuts. Since these were weight bearing devices, they had to be put together very well, but they also needed to be assembled and disassembled quickly. I bet John and his friends would have loved this little tool of yours.

Froggie

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Very nice, George. Worthy of submission to Brownell's Gunsmith Kinks!

DG

[BLAHUT]

I just use a deep well socket that fits the wing-nuts in the battery drill

[Nueces]

Good tip. I also hated wringing those wing nuts tight with cold fingers, so I replaced them with union nuts. Unions are just hex steel nuts about an inch long. Easy to hand start then tighten with whatever small power tool you have using a standard hex socket.

[Mk42gunner]

I can see the usefulness of a home modified socket for this, not sure I would spend money on one though.

As to wet tumbling in freezing weather-- Moving water doesn't freeze. Drying the cases may be a problem though.

I am still in the dry tumbling camp with lizard bedding. My cases don't need to be shiny, just clean. Although if I shot more BP cartridges, I can see how wet tumbling would be very beneficial.

Robert

[BLAHUT]

I can see the usefulness of a home modified socket for this, not sure I would spend money on one though.

As to wet tumbling in freezing weather-- Moving water doesn't freeze. Drying the cases may be a problem though.

I am still in the dry tumbling camp with lizard bedding. My cases don't need to be shiny, just clean. Although if I shot more BP cartridges, I can see how wet tumbling would be very beneficial.

Robert

Your cartage's will freeze dry. May take a while depends on how dry the air is, When I was a kid, all the washed clothes were hung on the line outside to freeze dry, one had to be careful, when brining the clothes in off the line, so you did not brake them..

[DocSavage]

I got a giant wing nut from my wife's broken cup holder on her wheel chair. It's solid plastic and 3 inches wide so it's easily found,was thinking of painting it some obnoxious color just in case. Have to find some fender washers to put under the wing nut.

[poppy42]

I hate wingnuts! Some years ago I acquired a composter. I don’t quite remember the name now but if purchased knew it was about $250! I certainly would not pay that kind of money to ride compost when you can make your own, but I got it for nothing! Basically it’s a large plastic round bowl with a lid holes for ventilation any ideas as stuff is composting you can roll it around and mix things up. ( The rolling around idea isn’t quite practical is there anyone who has come posted anything will tell you it can get quite heavy). Anyway this is made into pieces. The pieces are held together with quarter 20 bolt with wingnuts. If you want to take it apart or move it all you have to do (theoretically) is unscrew the wingnuts take it apart and there you go. Well he is where the problem lies I should’ve replaced the wingnuts with regular notes years ago but I just put it together with the wingnuts. As anyone who has used cheap wingnuts knows when you leave them outside and they start to corrode the wings have a tendency to break off which leaves you with a little teeny spot to grab on with a small pair of vise grips and hope they hold when you unscrew the bolts! The only other option is to very carefully use a angle grinders down cot off The remainder of the wingnut. Like I said I hate wingnuts! There is a reason why idiots are sometimes referred to as wingnuts.
Anyway sorry for the hijack But when I read OP it brought up some unfond memories! And I had to vent!

[georgerkahn]

No "hijack worries", poppy42! I have long been un-fond of wingnuts, too, and was excited a few years back when I read about the new kid on the block: A super-easy one-turn wingnut replacement. EXCEPT -- I do not recall the ante to buy these -- but it seemed waaaay too costly a solution. I thought of using a large socket which grip w-nuts outer edges, but this -- while working -- was problematic. To wit, it seems that different wingnuts have different sizes . Hence, as I noted in my OP I took my grinder and cut/ground a slot in a socket. Granted, doing this freehand with socket in a bench vise the slot is not in dead centre. And, vis plating (?) coming off it is not very pleasing to the eye. BUT -- chucked in my 2.4volt Milwaukee screwdriver -- it has worked like a charm.
Seeing the Povono ones -- not only did I "have to" order one for me -- but reckoned I'd share "my discovery."
geo