Torque Tools

Torquing tools are used across a broad range of industrial applications and industry sectors, in particular Oil & Gas, Petrochemical, Power Generation, Renewables and Heavy Engineering. When one considers the myriad of noxious, poisonous, and potentially environmentally damaging liquids and gases contained in process plant and pipelines, it isn’t difficult to appreciate just how important avoiding leaking joints is.

Torque is the measured amount of turning force applied to a nut and bolt which will result in residual bolt load, and ultimately a leak free tight joint. Torque can be applied using hand wrenches, as well as tools powered electrically, pneumatically, or hydraulically.

We can provide an extensive range of makes and models of manual and powered torquing tools to suit every application. Be it Hytorc tools, SPX or Norbar, we have the equipment you need. Not sure which tool is best for your requirements? Our experienced application engineers can ensure you get the right tools for the job, every time.

Hydraulic Torque Tools

Until a few decades ago, the only way to tighten an industrial sized nut and bolts was to use a flogging spanner and a large hammer. The flogging spanner had a spanner head at one end and a flat face suitable for hitting with a hammer at the other end. Bolting technicians would “flog” the end of the spanner until they believed the nut and bolt was tight. As you can imagine, this was a highly inaccurate method, despite some technicians claiming they could tell how tight the nut and bolt were by the ring when they hit the spanner, not likely.

As well as accuracy, power was an issue too. A nut that was six inches across, had been tight for years and exposed to the weather and a range of temperatures, was invariably too tight to be removed and had to be burnt off. The advent of the hydraulic torque wrench and associated torque equipment began a revolution in industrial bolting.

Early hydraulic torque tools consisted of a simple hydraulic cylinder, replacing the big hammer and technician’s muscles. This immediately improved accuracy thanks to simple physics. The internal diameter of the cylinder was a known factor, as was the length of the spanner and the amount of hydraulic pressure applied by the regulated power pack. A simple calculation could work out the force applied by the cylinder, which in turn would allow the torque applied to the nut to be calculated too.

By simply increasing the size of the cylinder and the length of the spanner, incredibly powerful tools could be made that would remove the largest and tightest of nuts. During the following decades, the industry refined hydraulic torque tools to make them lighter, more reliable, and more accurate, although the basic design principle has never changed.

Pneumatic Torque Tools

Pneumatic torque tools were developed to offer a faster, albeit not as powerful and accurate alternative to Hydraulic torque tools. Hydraulic torque equipment offers a lot of power and accuracy to + or – 3% but the equipment is larger, more cumbersome, and complex.

If high accuracy is not a requirement for your application, and you just need tour nuts and bolts to be reasonably accurately tightened quickly, then the pneumatic torque tool is the more cost-effective solution for you.

Electric Torque Tools

Electric torque wrenches are a more recent development in the industrial bolting industry. The improvement of battery technology has enabled the industry to embrace this power source. Again, they will not provide the level or torque that hydraulic torque tools can, they are however, a useful addition for the right applications.