What are these good for? Certainly not for heavy work.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Touch-N-Hold-Fingertip-Wrench-Set-/130911727300?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e7af26ec4

They'll let you use your weaker hand to hold a nut in place, especially in a tight spot, while you turn the bolt with a real wrench.  Probably occasionally useful.

Quote from: Papaw on May 20, 2013, 07:34:02 AM
What are these good for? Certainly not for heavy work.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Touch-N-Hold-Fingertip-Wrench-Set-/130911727300?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e7af26ec4

Variety of patents & original date of introduction roughly coincide with radio & early TV chasis.   I had a two-page spread on the topic in the MVWC newsletter a while back.
I have an RCA Fingertip Wrench set in original box which hints at one primary use.
At least one of the small sizes would come in handy when "playing" with your Erector set. 
In general useful to hold small nuts in place in hard to access locations while you tighten the "machine screw" with a screwdriver or nut driver.

Are they magnetic? Now, that would be something.

Not magnetic, but the rubber o-ring does the same thing, the nut sticks in it.

Always unplug your RCA before sticking your metal clad fingers into it ;P

I don't see the point, why can't a regular wrench do that.

In radio work and other tight spaces, I can see the need for them to reach in a confined space.

Suppose you have a pedestal pump bolted to a cover plate.
The plate edge is 2' from the pump bolts.  8 of them in a circle.
You gotta lay down and reach the nut over from underneath, while you reach the bolt with the ratchet from the top.

Its called millwright crucifixion. 

  I used to use duct tape, and tape a nut to a wrench. Not so tight you couldn't get it off, but tight enough so you didn't drop the nut into whatever goopy grunge you were pumping.

  Guitar amplifiers are pretty old school and often have long bolts though the chassis and outer case, with loose nuts on the other side. So you have to do a mini version of the crucifixion move. That is what these are for.
Other audio gear does too. I suspect large scale video gear might be the same thing, but I never worked with that.
   yours Scott

Thanks for saying the uses, I never figured there was one. I though it was just some sort of gimick.

As others have said, for holding a difficult-to-access nut in place while you get it started.  Then you put a wrench on it for tightening.  Nuts will fall out of regular wrenches unless you tape them in (I've done it, along with using thick grease to hold the nut in), and this would be way more convenient and less messy than tape or grease.  They're kind of the nut equivalent of those screw starters for slotted and Phillips screw heads, which are darned helpful.

At least one version is still sold, and I may get one next time I place an order: http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=54669&cat=1,43456,43407,54669