Over at Reddit, 2rideascooter showed off a Delrin-core socket that they made today, presumably a custom drive tool as part of a special contract.
Have you ever used a plastic-cored socket before?
My first thought was about non-marring sockets, also called anti-mutilation tools, but those types of tools are often used when there is risk of damage to surrounding parts. Non-marring accessories often protect other things from the tool, and not the part that’s being worked on.
What might these be used on?
Maybe it’s used to install plastic or other delicate fasteners? Maybe something like a specialty cable cap that threads on, something like an acorn nut?
They say the socket fits 9/16″ hex fasteners, and so it’s a fairly small size.
I find it interesting, and also frustrating that I’m drawing a blank here.
Maybe it’s for installing plastic pipe fittings? Such as Loc-Line or similar? 9/16″ seems in the ballpark of 1/4″ NPT hex nut sizes.
Looking at McMaster Carr, they have plastic pipe fittings for oil, as well as food and beverage applications, with the 1/4″ NPT pipe size parts with external hex drives requiring a 9/16″ drive size.
That’s what I’d bet on – plastic pipe fittings. If that’s the case, I guess a Delrin hex socket would be be used to help prevent damage to fasteners, or maybe to avoid leaving any contamination behind.
Is this definitely Delrin, or maybe it could urethane?
Have you used something like this before? Or, do you have any guesses as to what it might be used for or on?
