Tool for tightening mini toggles with dress nuts?

[Bricksnbeatles]

Anyone know of a tool for tightening mini toggles that use dress nuts? Since the dress nuts don’t thread all the way thru, my normal method is to tighten the dress nut fully onto the switch with the internal nut backed off a bit, and then tighten the internal 8mm nut firmly to secure the switch in the enclosure (and in cases where there’s enough room for two nuts inside, I’ll tighten the second one against the first to keep it extra secure). This is a super secure way of getting everything nice and snug with minimized chances of the switch coming loose ever, but it’s a hassle trying to get inside of there to tighten the internal nut with a pair of long bent-nose pliers. Anyone know of a good tool for the job? Seems like a flat stamped (like those 2mm-thick bicyclist wrenches) 8mm open-ended wrench with a bend 90° from the head, and another opposing bend to form a handle would be ideal, but I can’t find anything like that. If I had access to a CNC plasma cutter I’d be able to whip some up easily, but since I don’t, I’m curious if anyone knows of a suitable tool!

 

[PedalBuilder]

Anyone know of a tool for tightening mini toggles that use dress nuts? Since the dress nuts don’t thread all the way thru, my normal method is to tighten the dress nut fully onto the switch with the internal nut backed off a bit, and then tighten the internal 8mm nut firmly to secure the switch in the enclosure (and in cases where there’s enough room for two nuts inside, I’ll tighten the second one against the first to keep it extra secure). This is a super secure way of getting everything nice and snug with minimized chances of the switch coming loose ever, but it’s a hassle trying to get inside of there to tighten the internal nut with a pair of long bent-nose pliers. Anyone know of a good tool for the job? Seems like a flat stamped (like those 2mm-thick bicyclist wrenches) 8mm open-ended wrench with a bend 90° from the head, and another opposing bend to form a handle would be ideal, but I can’t find anything like that. If I had access to a CNC plasma cutter I’d be able to whip some up easily, but since I don’t, I’m curious if anyone knows of a suitable tool!

I've used wide rubber bands (like the ones that are used for bunches of asparagus) to tighten dress nuts and it's worked really well for me. Instead of tightening the internal nut last, you tighten the external one with your fingers, using the rubber band to keep a firm grip. It takes a couple tries to get the hang of it, but once you've done it a few times it's as easy as tightening a regular hexagonal nut.

 

[finebyfine]

Which dress nuts exactly? I have this tool but its only for the slotted dress nuts and not the notched ones

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mrcwcYa

 

[Aentons]

I use some cheap harbor freight short hemostats with heat shrink on the end. The knurl matches well enough

 

[Aentons]

There are also "Spline Sockets" but I've never tried those

 

[GizzWizzKing]

Tiny tiny crescent wrench with painters tape to prevent scratching. The crescent wrench I have is from a childs toolkit but does the job.

 

[KR Sound]

What about this? I just happened to see a video of a repair where the dude was using it to tighten a nut.

ESP Multi Spanner - StewMac

Versatile pocket-size wrench quickly fixes loose jacks, pots, switches and tuners.

www.stewmac.com

 

[finebyfine]

I was about to finally teach myself openscad to make a rocket socket style 3d print for these and found this model (possibly by forum member @adrpedals ?)

Dress Nut Finger Socket by adrpedals

This is a finger socket I designed for tightening Dailywell Electronics dress nuts for toggle switches, like the ones sold by Tayda here. In the attached photos the outer wall thinckness is 2mm, but in the file I'm uploading it's 1.5mm, in order to fit even hard to reach areas. I don't think...

www.thingiverse.com

 

[astoria]

Anyone know of a tool for tightening mini toggles that use dress nuts? Since the dress nuts don’t thread all the way thru, my normal method is to tighten the dress nut fully onto the switch with the internal nut backed off a bit, and then tighten the internal 8mm nut firmly to secure the switch in the enclosure (and in cases where there’s enough room for two nuts inside, I’ll tighten the second one against the first to keep it extra secure). This is a super secure way of getting everything nice and snug with minimized chances of the switch coming loose ever, but it’s a hassle trying to get inside of there to tighten the internal nut with a pair of long bent-nose pliers. Anyone know of a good tool for the job? Seems like a flat stamped (like those 2mm-thick bicyclist wrenches) 8mm open-ended wrench with a bend 90° from the head, and another opposing bend to form a handle would be ideal, but I can’t find anything like that. If I had access to a CNC plasma cutter I’d be able to whip some up easily, but since I don’t, I’m curious if anyone knows of a suitable tool!

Some of my dress nuts thread through and some don't. I don't have a good solution for the inside ones unfortunately but if you find something that will make tightening the internal ones nicer I would love to know.

 

[vigilante398]

I was about to finally teach myself openscad to make a rocket socket style 3d print for these and found this model (possibly by forum member @adrpedals ?)

Dress Nut Finger Socket by adrpedals

This is a finger socket I designed for tightening Dailywell Electronics dress nuts for toggle switches, like the ones sold by Tayda here. In the attached photos the outer wall thinckness is 2mm, but in the file I'm uploading it's 1.5mm, in order to fit even hard to reach areas. I don't think...

www.thingiverse.com

I've printed that model, it works for the dress nuts I got from tayda. I keep meaning to get in and add wings to it since it's not as convenient as the rocket sockets, but it still gets the job done without.

 

[vigilante398]

Got it sliced up and printing, should be done in 20 minutes or so. If it works I'll throw the .stl file up somewhere in case anyone else with a 3D printer wants to try it out.

 

[vigilante398]

I wasn't in love with how it turned out, I tried something a little different, I like this one better.

Winged Socket for Dress Nut by vigilante397

I liked the socket for the dress nuts like you get at Tayda, but I wanted wings on it for convenient hand-tightening. I like printing my sockets at 100% infill and with ABS or PLA-CF, but PLA and a lower infill will still work, you may just find it stripping out sooner. No supports necessary...

www.thingiverse.com

 

[finebyfine]

I wasn't in love with how it turned out, I tried something a little different, I like this one better.

Winged Socket for Dress Nut by vigilante397

I liked the socket for the dress nuts like you get at Tayda, but I wanted wings on it for convenient hand-tightening. I like printing my sockets at 100% infill and with ABS or PLA-CF, but PLA and a lower infill will still work, you may just find it stripping out sooner. No supports necessary...

www.thingiverse.com

You’re amazing. Thanks for sharing !

 

[Erik S]

I wasn't in love with how it turned out, I tried something a little different, I like this one better.

Winged Socket for Dress Nut by vigilante397

I liked the socket for the dress nuts like you get at Tayda, but I wanted wings on it for convenient hand-tightening. I like printing my sockets at 100% infill and with ABS or PLA-CF, but PLA and a lower infill will still work, you may just find it stripping out sooner. No supports necessary...

www.thingiverse.com

Hot off the presses.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[finebyfine]

Hot off the presses.

Thanks for sharing!

View attachment 56586

Just got mine in the mail from jlcpcb’s 3d printing service for $1 each. Works perfectly!!

 

[Harry Klippton]

jlcpcb’s 3d printing service

Good to know this exists

 

[finebyfine]

Good to know this exists

Its the only thing thats kept me from buying a 3d printer that I don’t have the room for