Having lost my 2BA open-ended spanner, I looked on the Draper Tools website for a replacement ~ £25.45 (!) for a set of 5 ranging from 0BA to 8BA. Must be because whereas they make metric spanners by the million they now only make BA spanners by the handful. I'll have to be more careful with my remaining BA, BSF, BSP, BSW, imperial A/F etc. etc. (And keep an eye open at car boot sales for an open-ended 2BA!)
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L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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This is one of those nasty creeping problems we mostly remain unaware of, like the metrification of things, the Euro, the shape of bananas, Tony B. Liar selling 2000 years of history down the river for a mess of pottage etc. The PC-crats hope you won't notice and of course you don't till you want whatever it is you want, then you can't find a little 6BA spanner when you want it.
I have lately found with great difficulty a new set of SAE (UNC)combination spanners (KYK, made in Japan). My HD and my Mustang need these.
If you have friends in the US or some other means of access I would suggest good old Sears. I bought a really great set of SAE sockets from one of their stores while on holiday in the US last year which are superb quality and which will certainly outlive me and doubtless my grandchildren.
I know BA is a British standard so perhaps this experience may not be relevant. Try a model aircraft engineering works (I can recommend one if you PM me), these are frequently used in that area.
Thankfully the Americans still adhere to proper measurement standards (ducks and runs).
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Try www.baconsdozen.co.uk they see a few sets of BA £7 2P&P Laser make not the best but available. Regards Peter
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I recently needed an 5/32 imperial size Allen key. My local corner harware shop got it next day for me from their catalogue.
Interested to note it was the real thing with a T plastic handle and made in the USA
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Check out your local car boot fairs on a Sunday morning, usually a few stalls selling all sorts of tools. Grab what you can while you can.
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Check out your local car boot fairs on a Sunday morning, usually a few stalls selling all sorts of tools. Grab what you can while you can.
I will do.
I've solved the immediate problem by sacrificing an 8mm A/F ~ I filed it out to fit 2BA.(There's more than one way to de-fur a feline!)
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L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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Most discount stores sell Draper, BlackSpur and similar quality spanners/tools for far less than the tools specialists.
I've got several types of Draper sets (they are admittedly a few years old) that cost me £2.95 each set from a small discount store in Preston.
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In my experience BA and Imperial spanners are still very readily available. My local tool factor stocks a good range and prices are similar to the metric equivalent. I guess as older cars are scrapped they will become harder to obtain though.
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Is there any truth in the story that at one stage, those delightful chappies at British Leyland were assembling cars where half the fastenings were metric and half imperial??
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Along with two doors on one side and one on the other......
Dim distant memory seems to reveal I had to buy some metric tools for my capri Mk1, think that may have been a mix....
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Yes the Austin Marina suffered from this and at one stage had a metric andgine and an imperial gearbox. Regards Peter
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I worked for a Ford dealer in Hove in 1966. When the crossflow Cortina 1600 came out there was a mix of bolts. I remember dealing with a lot of annoyed mechanics who said it was the wrong part their spanners didn't fit.......
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Beats me why electrical fitting e.g. light switches and sockets, are sold with the screws appended to the fittings and the boxes without screws.
Sods law if you buy a light switch the box which has lost its screws is imperial and the screws which come with the fitting are metric.
Once, when they were changing over, I had a box with what was supposed to be a "universal" thread which NEITHER fitted in practice.
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Ford, GM and British Leyland all sold cars with a mix of metric and imperial fastners - I remember working on them at the time. Its amazing how good you can become recognising a fastner just by looking at it - i.e. soon got to tell a 1/2" AF, 12mm and 13mm metric apart just by looking at them from a yard away!.
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Try posting an enquiry to Practical Classics. I'm sure I have seen advertisers of specialist tool firms there in the past.
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Some metric and Imperial measurements are, for all intents and purposes, identical; that's why some metric spanners will fit Imperial bolts and vice-versa.
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Some metric and Imperial measurements are, for all intents and purposes, identical; that's why some metric spanners will fit Imperial bolts and vice-versa.
Agreed that a 13mm A/F spanner a will fit a 1/2" (i.e. 12.7mm) A/F nut, but a 1/2" A/F spanner will not always fit a 13mm A/F nut.
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L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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If God had meant you to waste half the day looking for the right size spanner he wouldn't have invented the Mole Grip.
(Tom Shaw,former apprentice engineer)
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It seems to be more prevalent with ring spanners....
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>>If God had meant you to waste half the day looking for the right size spanner he wouldn't have invented the Mole Grip.
A Mole Grip cannot always be used because of its size, awkward position/accessibility of the bolt you need to undo/tighten or not needing a sledgehammer to crack a nut....:-)
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As an aprentice the Storeman had instructions not to issue such tools to the lads. "you are here to learn to use the right tools"
(he never did issue the "long weight" tho)
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I have a set of "Metrinch" spanners. Cost a fortune, but very good quality and vital when you own a car with metric and imperial fasteners (the brake caliper bolts are even Whitworth!).
A fair number of my actual imperial spanners I was given, as being an obvious local old car enthusiast.
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..but what about the times the apprentice was sent to ask for "an adjustable 7/16" spanner......." LOL
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What is this phrase "fasteners?" I always called 'em "nuts". Perhaps that's sexist and not allowed any more?
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Bit like the nut who told the bolt that she wasn't interested unless he managed to find a washer...;-)
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Bit like the nut who told the bolt that she wasn't interested unless he managed to find a washer...;-)
After that I can't resist the following newspaper headline about when a maniac went into a laundry , raped the employees and then ran away ~ nut screws washers and bolts!
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L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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My personal and mechanical education were neatly combined by my foreman in one of his acerbic discourses over his usual 12 pints of mild and bitter on payday nights.
Graham you young whippersnapper he said, all you need to know about cars and women is the same:
Spanner, Screwer, Lever and Bolt.
(I give the shelf life of this post about 5 minutes.......)
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Yo Snail,
If your interested, i have a 2BA/4BA open ended spanner you can have. Reply if your interested.
All the best,
Pastyman...
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Yo Snail, If your interested, i have a 2BA/4BA open ended spanner you can have. Reply if your interested. All the best, Pastyman...
Thanks Pastyman, but the crisis is over. I solved the imediate problem by filing out an 8mm A/F to fit 2BA, and I've now been given an assortment of BA open-ended by the wife of a late friend. My cup runneth over!
Hang on to any old spanners you've got ~ they're beginning to be like gold dust.
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L'escargot by name, but not by nature.
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