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A is for Allen wrench


Allen wrenches (also known as hex wrenches or hex keys) are hexagonally shaped tools that fit into screws and bolts with hexagonally shaped holes. The advantage of a hex hole vs. a slot or Phillips head is that the six sides give more surface area for the tool to grip, while the hole prevents the tool from falling out. This makes hex-head screws and bolts ideal for applications where you really need to tighten it down hard, with fine threads that give lots of gripping surface area. The Torx wrench is a further refinement of this concept, with a hex-star shaped tool. I have some of those, too.

Sets of Allen wrenches can be loose, individual keys or they can be fold-out as part of a set. They can have long handles, L-shaped or T-shaped handles. They can be metric or imperial, since the size of the hex hole can be set in fractions of an inch or in millimeters, depending on the source. Using the wrong size Allen wrench won't move the screw - it'll either strip the hex hole into a round hole or it will strip your Allen wrench smooth, depending on which has the harder steel.

A machinist needs Allen wrenches a lot more than woodworkers do, since hex bolts are rarely used to hold together wooden furniture.1 So why would a woodworker have Allen wrenches? Many power tools use hex bolts for blade adjustment, blade replacement, adapter and fitting connections, etc.

More information on types of holes, with advantages and disadvantages, can be found here.

1. IKEA furniture is held together almost exclusively with hex bolts, but IKEA furniture isn't made of wood - it's made of sawdust, glue and lies.
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20 comments:

  1. 'it's made of sawdust, glue and lies' - LOL!

    Happy Day 1 of A to Z.

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  2. Not just Ikea, but any of the "put it together yourself" stuff you find at big-box stores and the like. Hex bolts and the rest (which is hilariously true).

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  3. "Sawdust, glue and lies"- just priceless!

    And Happy A Day to you!

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  4. This feels almost like a Home Depot Wiki now!

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  5. I'm glad you did decide to do this - any more gems like this much appreciated! Take that IKEA!

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  6. 'sawdust, glue and lies'... how true! Although, at least it's cheaper than paying for wood, joinery and truth :)

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  7. I'm glad to see so many like-minded readers when it comes to evaluating IKEA's "disposable furniture"!

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  8. I love the theme you've chosen; this should be fun.

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  9. LOL... Love it. I am going to have to keep following so my husband won't get frustrated when he says "honey can you get me that vise over there?" I'm like what? A vise? Happy a to z :D

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  10. And it's built on the exploitation of the GDR, but that's a post for another day!

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  11. Oddly enough, I've never set foot in an Ikea, though I've certainly set my butt on enough of their sawdust, glue and lies to know what you're talking about.

    Anyway, nice to meet you. I found your blog via the Twitter feed for #atozchallenge. I'll be back to see what you dish up for the rest of the alphabet.

    Happy A to Z-ing!

    ~Tui @mentalmosaic

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  12. MML - sawdust, screws and lies ... I've never been to an Ikea and I intend to never set foot in one.

    Popped in from the AtoZ Challenge.

    thriftshopcommando.blogspot.com

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  13. Good post and good blog!

    Visiting from the A-Z Challenge.

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  14. I use one often in my studio to replace bits I use to grind glass

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  15. Almost all the furniture I own is IKEA. The cheaper-end stuff is, well, cheap, but believe it or not their higher-end furniture is solid wood and quite nice. I have a solid beech sideboard from there, and some other pieces as well. IKEA has been using more and more Philips-head screws of late. I prefer the Allen-key assemblies -- you can take apart the furniture when you move house and have a better chance of reassembling it without the heads stripping.

    Scarier than IKEA is the furniture from other shops that claims to be solid but is merely stapled and glued together.

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    1. Some people swear by their IKEA furniture. As you note, the ability to take the furniture apart again would be an advantage in lifestyles that involve a lot of moving. More objectionable is the idea of "disposable" furniture - items which aren't designed to last more than a few years, and which facilitate (or encourage) redecorating. Far too much of IKEA's stuff goes into this category.

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  16. BTW, every year Lee Valley Tools posts an April Fool's tool. Here's this years -- a "spider vise" http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=70655&cat=1,41637

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    1. Ha! That looks fantastic! It was completely plausible... until it showed someone using it to sharpen a pencil!

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  17. Great post. I have a set of Allen wrenches, but I can't even remember what for LOL

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  18. I have an allen key.. but allen still doesn't know I have it.. and one day I'm going to creep into his house in the middle of the night and scare the living crap out of him

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