33mm Spanner

I purchased a R8 Stub Milling Arbor 1" from Arc and discovered that the flats on the Left Hand nut were 33mm apart.

I then found that 33mm spanners cost around the same as the arbor.

However a plumbers Compression Fitting spanner from Toolstation (code 62263 costing less than £3.00) has 24mm and 32mm ends

It only took me a couple of hours or so to file the 32mm jaws to 33mm. Well worth it to save £20 to £30.

I had already filed the 24mm end on a couple of these to fit the ER16 Collect chuck on my Taig/Peatol Lathe so easy although NOT quick!

I would suggest that it's actually 3/4" Whitworth or 7/8" BSF.

Perhaps the arbor was made in India, where that's quite common on machine accessories imported to the UK.

Bill

Even so, a cheap spanner is a money saver - although there are often good quality, suitable used spanners sold at various locations, often for as little as 50p a throw. I can often buy a whole toolbox of spanners for £3, just for a couple of specific secondhand items.

However, filing for a couple of hours seems over-energetic, when 0.5mm could be accurately milled away quite easily and quickly (that is what a mill has helped me do, for years).🙂

That's a good spot for a large mouthed, slim spanner that is not too long. I'll be getting one to keep by my mill.

Edited By john halfpenny on 26/07/2020 08:44:29

The highly-regarded Campagnolo brand cycle spanners appear to have been finished by filing.

I asked Arc and was told that it was 33mm.

I will check my late father's toolbox and see if he had an open-ended spanner in either of those sizes.

But I suspect that 3/4 Whitworth would have been a bit small for the company's work (Architectural Ironwork) before WWII !

I have only owned my Mill for a couple of weeks and NOT yet developed sufficient skills to do what you suggest.

I'm sure the filing would have been quicker for a young chap (or lady) but I have bicipital and supraspinatus tendinitis which limits what I can do with my right arm.

33mm = 1.299inches

A. 3/4 whit spanner is 33.02 mm across flats.

I like DIN 894 single ended spanners for specific uses like this. They are cheaper than double ended or combination spanners and easier on the hands when using them. I have a 36mm one for use with my ER32 collet holder and they are available in 32mm and 34mm a/f as well. I don't think I have seen a 33mm one.

Martin C

Propane cylinder spanners are 30mm AF, cheap and fairly easily modifiable

My ER32 Collet holder has little recesses rather than a hexagonal nut.

My ER16 Collect holder on my lathe has hexagonal nuts.

I'm getting used to the new wrench having filed the end spigots to fit.

Seems logical for MCB to file the spanner he needs to tighten the mill's collet chuck to size, because milling with a cutter loose in the chuck is no fun.

How long it takes to file a spanner is individual too. A spanner might be hardened, whilst best choice of file and ability to use it accurately at speed can't be taken for granted. I was terrible with a file at first, better now, but I still have to take it slow to get reasonable results, not always successfully. I'm not one of those blokes who file perfect 1" cubes in 20 minutes!

Dave

PS May I ask MCB to stop capitalising the word 'not' in posts? Nothing wrong with appropriate emphasis, but unnecessary capitals on the Internet cause posts to come across as ENRAGED, losing sympathy and maybe altering the meaning. I'm not really enraged, but it's irritating to read NOT and have to decide if it's a Declaration of War, or innocent!

My computer automatically capitalises "not" for the avoidance of doubt.

It emphasises the meaning where without "not" the negativity of the statement might missed or ignored.

But I will try to help Dave and others by changing the relevant word back to lower case when I remember.

Apologies in advance to any reader who is upset or enraged.

MC

+1 for DIN spanner’s and keeping it where it’s needed.

Mike

MC Black 2, the 36mm spanner is for the collet body flats.

Martin C

Edited By Martin Connelly on 26/07/2020 12:50:11

Try 1 5/16" af, I used to use 3/4" Whitworth for the tow ball nut, which is actually 1 5/16" af in Australia.

I am confused by this poster’s response to capitalised ‘not’.

He previously posted this as a response to me: “Thank you "Not done it yet" for taking the time to respond.”. Perhaps the computer only changes lower case only ‘not’?

Replying with ‘don’t’ or ‘haven’t’ would easily avoid the unnecessary shouting.

It capitalises "spacenotspace"

If there's another character immediately adjacent, then there's no capitalisation.

I have already undertaken to try to remember to reverse capitalisation and apologised if fail to remember

Both my GP and a Consultant orthopaedic surgeon have strongly advised me to minimise computer use as a response to a physiological problem about which I have consulted them. I can just about cope (by using specialist software) with brief communications such as this.

MC

Arc told me that the flats on the Arbor were 33mm and I have modified an inexpensive spanner to fit.

If I had wrecked the spanner, the other end would still be useful for the ER16 Collet holder on my lathe.

I posted the original message in case other subscribers could benefit from what I deem to be a quick solution to a problem.

It's interesting to know that certain size Whitworth or BSF spanner will fit but little help if one doesn't own one that size.

Surely the computer could be "told" not to autocapitalise?

At a guess, it was "told" to do so in the first place.

Correcting other people's English is a minefield.

Edited By ega on 26/07/2020 14:33:49