Why does nobody talk about how expensive those digital torque wrenches can get

I dropped $450 on a CDI digital torque wrench about 8 months ago for doing engine work on Cessnas. It seemed like a good idea at the time because I was tired of guessing with the click type. First month it was fine then the display started flickering in cold hangar temps. Sent it back for calibration and it came back reading 12 ft-lbs off on the low end. Has anyone else dealt with these digital ones being finicky or should I just go back to the old beam style?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_anthony28d ago

$450 on a CDI and it drifted 12 ft-lbs after one calibration cycle? That's brutal. I've been running a Proto digital on my personal builds for about two years and it's held up okay, but I don't trust it below 20 ft-lbs no matter what the spec says. Was your flickering issue constant or only when it was really cold? I wonder if the electronics just can't handle the temp swings in a maintenance hangar, which would make them worthless for aviation work. Did CDI give you any explanation for the calibration drift or just send it back with a bill?

rose_hart28d ago

Man that's rough, honestly. I had almost the same thing happen with a Snap-On digital I bought for doing motorcycle engines. Display went nuts below 40 degrees and it started showing random numbers. Tried sending it in and they wanted another $200 just to look at it. I ditched digital completely after that. What worked for me was going with a split beam click type from Precision Instruments. It's way simpler, no batteries, and you can check it against a test bar before every job. Cost me like $250 and it's been dead on for three years now. For aviation work I'd honestly just stick with the beam style or a really good split beam. Digital torque wrenches are cool until they aren't and then you're just throwing money at calibration.

ryanh5621d ago

Read something a while back from an old tool rep who said the LCDs in digital torque wrenches are basically the same cheap ones found in outdoor thermometers. They just aren't built for the kind of temp swings you get in a hangar or out on the ramp. Once the contrast starts ghosting on you, the whole calibration is shot because the sensor readings get scrambled. That 12 ft-lb drift on your CDI makes way more sense now, it's probably the screen dying and taking the logic with it.