Whether you want to assemble your furniture or you want to repair your motorcycle engines and bicycles, an Allen wrench is a must-have gadget for you. In fact, these hex key wrenches are pretty common tools for almost all mechanical devices and equipment.
Hence, if you are a cyclist or a DIY enthusiast, it is obvious for you to know how to use an Allen wrench. These wrenches are quite simple to use and come with L and T shapes having six sides.
Well, to help you out, in this article, I have discussed step by step guidelines of using an Allen wrench. So, let’s dive in!
Step by Step Guideline of How to Use an Allen Wrench
You can use the Allen wrench for several different tasks. This little tool is perfect for loosening and tightening bolts. However, if you are running out of ideas on how to use it, then go through the following steps to learn the art!
Step 1: Settle the Size of the Wrench
Before using the wrench, you need to make sure that the size of your wrench fits well with the bolts.
An Allen wrench comes with a hexagonal shape. If you force to tighten or loosen the bolts with your wrench without matching the shape, it can hurt the hexagonal form of your wrench and bolts.
So, settling the size of the wrench that perfectly fits with your bolts is fairly important.
Step 2: Loosening and Tightening
After finding the appropriate fit, you can tighten or loosen bolts. To do so, you should cautiously set the tip of the small arm of the wrench with the bolts.
Then, you can tighten the bolts by turning the long arm of the wrench clockwise. Similarly, you can loosen the bolts by turning the wrench anticlockwise.
Most importantly, you need to keep turning the wrench as long as the bolt gets tightened or loosened properly.
What Is an Allen Wrench Used for?
The prime function of an Allen wrench is to fix the bolts and nuts. You can use this small tool to tighten or loosen the nuts and bolts of your furniture. Besides, you can repair your bicycle or motorcycle with the help of this tool.
So, take a quick look at the usages of an Allen wrench!
1. Repairing Furniture
The Allen wrench is most popularly used for screwing bolts and nuts of the furniture. If you want to assemble furniture at home, you will not find any better options than this one.
These tools are pretty inexpensive. So, if you purchase any furniture, on most occasions, the manufacturer will provide you an Allen wrench.
This would help you to assemble the furniture properly. Besides, you can easily repair the furniture using these wrenches.
2. Fixing Bicycles
If you have a bicycle, then you must keep a set of Allen wrenches with you. This is because this tool is absolutely suitable for fixing a bicycle.
As you have already known that, this wrench is mainly used for repairing or building furniture. However, this is a handy option for fixing your bicycle as well.
The bikers can easily repair the bicycle during an emergency. Also, the screws of most of the bicycles suit perfectly with the Allen wrench.
To your advantage, this tool is pretty lightweight. Hence, you can conveniently carry this with you while biking.
3. Lock Picking
Last but not least, with an Allen wrench, you can open up a lock. This can come in handy if you accidentally lock the door without taking the keys with you.
An Allen wrench can help you in such situations. But, make sure that the Allen wrench is tiny and small so that you can easily move through the lock. This would help you to unlock it successfully.
However, don’t open a lock that doesn’t belong to you!
How to Make an Emergency Hex Key?
Making a Hex Key: It’s a simple enough task, but a lot of people get it wrong. Here is a guideline where you can make an emergency hex key by yourself. You will learn the basics of making an Allen key and how to troubleshoot problems when they arise.
What Does an Allen Wrench Look Like?
An Allen wrench is also called a hexagonal key, comes with both L-shaped and T-shaped appearances. It has six sides that make the wrench look like a hexagon socket.
This L-shaped wrench utilizes the small arm as its head and the long arm as its handgrip. However, in recent times, many manufacturers have come out with the new Allen wrench that uses the long arm as the handgrip.
On the other hand, the T-shaped wrench utilizes its small arm as the handgrip and the long arm as its head.
Final Words
Hope you have amassed a concise idea on how to use an Allen wrench from this article. Allen wrench is absolutely easy to use and carry, which is the most widely used wrench among DIY enthusiasts and professionals.
If you follow the process properly, using an Allen wrench would become familiar to you. So, what are you waiting for? Just bring a set of wrenches and start using them!
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