Ball driver versus Hex head

[Dee]

Hi folks
I am a newer user coming over from the now defunct board.
The time has come to replace and upgrade my hex wrench's Do you guy's Gals, like the new Bondhus Balldriver T handled wrenches over the old standby Hex Heads?
I like the speed of the T handled wrenches
esp for tool removal in the Aloris clone
holders, after replacing the soft screws!
Any and all replies appreciated.
Dee

[Forrest Addy]

I love the ball drive allen wrenches but I use both. The ball ends are necked down a bit and so can be broken off under heavy torque.

I break the screws loose with a plain allen wrench and spin them out with a ball drive.

These are cheap in English Metric sets. Some sale catalogs offer the pair for $11.95. I bought a set and chopped the short angles off so I could use them in a battery drill. Saves time when you got a million allen bolts to run.

[chip's]

Dee,
Forrest is right. If I have a tough screw to get out I use a standard wrench. I then use the ball allens to run the screw in or out as the case my be. Do not get these confused with right and left handed allen wrenches.

[gvasale]

Where can I find the right handed ones???

[Uncle Dunc]

At Bucket O' Steam, near the left handed monkey wrenches.

[Randy]

I don't often use T-handle ball drivers because I usually use T's for a lot of torque, and I'm just a bit scared about breaking wrenches. But I have full sets of long "L" ball drivers, Harbor Freight often has them on sale for $5 and they seem perfectly good. And for lighter duty work I love ball drivers with screwdriver handles.

[Randy]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Uncle Dunc:
At Bucket O' Steam, near the left handed monkey wrenches.</font>

Another tool for you southpaws:

http://www.kalecoauto.com/

[wierdscience]

As a man who has a collection of allen wrenches better than most wine cellars have wine.I can tell you that the three things I have in my pocket when I leave the house in the morning are #1my car keys#2my wallet and # 3my bondus folding keyset!Things are nearly indestructable and have broke lose bolts I used to have to drill.The ball ends work just as good with the exception that the screws give up before the wrenches.

[Oso]

My most favoritist thing about the balll-end ones is that you don't have to be perfectly alined to get it done.

But, I have broken off the ball head before, and it was hard to pull out of the screw! Wasn't my wrench.

The sets have the ball on the long arm, and plain on the short, so you can't get so much torque on them

[Thrud]

I use the Bondhus and Whia ball/nut/screw/torx drivers. I really like the Folding Gorilla Grip T6-T25 key set for changing inserts. I have only seen one buggered Bondhus in 20 years and that was from use by an idiot. After I cut the remains of the ball off, it made a lovely hex driver. Recovered from scrap bin and given new life. Still working. They use damn good steel in those tools.

[CompositeEngr]

There's no substitute for either one.
If all your hexes are out in the open, you only need the straight shank drivers.

If there's one that you can't get straight at, its worth the price of the whole set of ball drivers. Even if the ball driver doesn't break, it will slip out if a lot of torque is required.

I have both styles, and use each frequently.

[halfnut]

Those Bondus ball allen wrenches are wonderful things, they can accomodate quite a bit of angle. I used to work on German Baker forklifts, always said they invented these to remove the drive hose bolts, about the only way possible.

Another great thing about these is they won't cam out as easy as a regualar allen wrench. But I have busted a few. I've cut them off to use in sockets, a few wraps of electrical tape and you have an allen socket.

Wouldn't be without them.

[Spin Doctor]

I really like( love is too strong a word for a tool ) the tee handle hex keys I've got. While we all call them Allen wrenches Allen is a trade name. Most Socket Head Cap Screws or Headless Set Screws are really only rated for so much torque anyway. I've found that 90% of the time they are quite up to cracking loose fasteners that have been properly torqued. Of course the 10% of the fasteners that are over torqued are always the ones behind something else and you have to have a left hand obverse mirror to see it. Glad I keep the mirror next to my metric cresent( G*****N IT thats adjustable )wrenches and my left angle grinder.

[Sprocket]

I like the "T" handles for most things, but I've even broken the "T" part trying to unstick a stuck fastener. It was my favorite,too.5/32", and I'd had it for 20 years or so. I like the ball drivers with a screw driver handle for assembly work, usually torque them up with a torque wrench, because the ball ends won't take much torque.