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Just realized I threw away $200 on a cheap torque wrench that couldn't hold calibration
I was working on a Cessna 172's landing gear bolts last month and grabbed a new torque wrench I got online for like 60 bucks. It felt okay in the shop, but when I was doing the final checks, my gauge was reading all over the place. I ended up having to re-torque every single bolt with a proper Snap-on wrench from the hangar box, which wasted about three hours of my afternoon. The real kicker was sending the cheap one out for calibration, and the shop told me it was so far out of spec it wasn't worth fixing. So I'm out the initial cost plus the calibration fee, which totaled around $200. Learned the hard way that saving a few bucks on a critical tool just isn't worth it on aircraft. Has anyone else had a specific tool fail them at the worst possible time?
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sethm5815d ago
Tell me about it. I once tried to save money on a pipe wrench that rounded off a fitting. Spent more time fixing my mistake than the tool was ever worth.
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rivera.shane15d ago
My $150 socket wrench snapped on a water heater job, and @ray_burns60 is right about lost time being the real cost.
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