Whether you have a brand-new digital unit, a cheap clicker, or a trusty old beam wrench, no torque wrench is able to do its job properly unless you know (and follow!) some of the immutable laws of torque application, such as:
- Thou shalt not store thy clicker wrench without resetting its adjustment knob
- Thou shalt not use a flex adapter with thy torque wrench
- Thou shalt not lubricate threads on a fastener before tightening with thy torque wrench unless specifically instructed
- Thou shalt not drop or abuse thy torque wrench, lest it no longer tell the truth
I find it easier to follow a rule if I understand why it exists in the first place. For those of you still learning the ropes, I think this video from Torque Test Channel on YouTube does a solid job of demonstrating “the why behind the how” of torque wrench use. And for the more experienced techs out there, there are some good refreshers and examples in the video to affirm the habits you’ve built over the years. (And let’s be real here, there are some tests you’d never try with your nice personal wrenches no matter how curious you might be.)