Mountz, Inc – the torque tool specialists adds two new engineer resources to its website, www.mountztorque.com. These new web applications, the “Torque Tool Selector” and the “Torque Converter Calculator” provide users with valuable information to help improve job performance and productivity.

Easy to navigate, the “Torque Tool Selector” helps engineers narrow a selection of torque tools to fit his or her application. It customizes the search based on user interaction and input. By answering a small set of questions about how the torque tool will be used, the user is presented a customized list that meets their criteria. Then the Selector offers further filtering options, like the range of torque for the application, how the torque will be applied and other unique tool options, helping users save time to reach the best choices that fit their criteria. The user can define how narrow they wish the search to be within the Selector, and the end result is a self-defined list with easy access to torque tool descriptions, specs and resources.

Torque Control is more than simply taking a hand or power tool and tightening a fastener or bolt. The “Torque Tool Selector” will educate engineers and assist them in selecting the proper tool for the application. Controlling torque is essential for companies to ensure that their product’s quality, safety and reliability isn’t compromised.

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The correct choice of anti-static production-bench tools can help control the “invisible menace” that haunts the manufacturing process.

Do you believe in ghosts? If you are a manufacturing engineer, or find yourself involved anywhere within the production environment for microelectronics products, you should at least believe in the invisible reality of Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). For nothing can harm a product more than the specter of catastrophic or latent failure caused by an ESD mishap on the manufacturing floor.

Despite recent electronic engineering triumphs in creating faster, smaller, more intelligent and less power-consuming electronic devices, simple ESD still lurks as a constant danger. Given today’s operating voltages of as little as 1.5 Volts and chip-set traces measuring only 400 angstroms in width, the risk of ESD damage is greater than ever. Any lapses in preventing its occurrence can affect production yields, manufacturing costs, product quality, product reliability, reputation and profitability. Industry experts have estimated average product losses due to ESD to range from 8-33%.

Many manufacturing and quality-management engineers already take some preventative measures – such as the use of wrist straps and heel straps – to exorcise ESD from their work-in-progress. But what about those gremlins that hide within the production tool themselves? If your tools lack proper grounding, then you still put your product at risk.
A quick review of the fundamentals of static electricity, as they apply to the manufacturing environment, can therefore help elucidate the significance of ensuring that all production tools are built with ESD attenuation in mind.

Electrostatic principals
The most common way to create an electrostatic charge is through triboelectric charging, which involves the mechanical contact and separation of two dissimilar materials. As an example, the process of sliding a plastic-encased electronic screwdriver across a metallic work surface can generate a significant electrostatic charge.

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For life-threatening high voltage and low voltage electrical assembly applications where over-torque conditions are not tolerated and operator safety is mandatory, Mountz Inc. offers Insulated torque wrenches. Designed with non-conductive plastic insulation, the torque wrenches provide operators with the proper safety for fastening applications. The Insulated torque wrenches ensure proper torque control and eliminate the possibility of product failure due to shorting, arcing or other electrical damage.

Mountz features two styles of Insulated Torque wrenches. The 1000V Insulated torque wrenches are built to protect against voltages up to 1,000 volts making these torque tools ideal for use in electrically live situations for a wide range of industries. The 50V Insulated torque wrenches are crafted for low voltage applications. Designed for use in uninterrupted power supply and other battery applications where protection up to 50 volts is required.

The 1000V Insulated torque wrenches are available in cam-over wrench models as well as click wrench models. The design action of the cam-over torque wrench is such that when the tool reaches its pre-set torque value the mechanism disengages from the drive thus limiting the torque applied. The click wrench models are externally adjustable tools available with 1/4” and 3/8” square drive configurations.

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To many manufactures, the concept of torque is a mystery. Ask them to describe the physics of torque and you’ll likely meet a blank stare. Cracking open a dictionary won’t help much either. To the layman the definition reads like a foreign language that owes more to mysticism than science. Despite the confusion, proper control of this mysterious force remains a critical component for quality manufacturing and has a direct impact on the bottom line issues like product quality, reliability and safety.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TORQUE CONTROL?
The reliability of machine parts subjected to fluctuating loads and stress depends on the fatigue strength of the materials. A threaded fastener, however, relies upon an elastic interaction between the mating components. Its objective is to clamp parts together with a tension greater than any external force trying to separate them. The bolt then remains under almost constant stress and is immune to fatigue. If the initial bolt tension is too low, the fluctuating load in the shank in much greater and it will quickly fail. Reliability, therefore, depends on correct initial tension and is ensured by specifying and controlling the tightening torque.

To read more – download whitepaper PDF