I was told years ago that if you had a full set going up by 32nd sizes, you didn't need metric. Don't know if that's true, I've never checked. In my personal 1/2" Proto set I have 19, 21, 25, 27, 29, and 31/32 sockets, all 12 point. All of these are currently available. A 17/32 is available (no, I'm not going to buy one) but no listing for a 23/32 for some reason. I suspect these have aircraft applications, as 12 point bolts/nuts are common there. I've never seen a 32nd size in a 6 point except in a 1/4" drive, or a 32nd size between 3/8" and 1/2". I have used the 19 and 21/32nd sockets a few times over the years, usually on exhaust flange nuts that were brass.
Whitworth sizes are not 32nds. They are completely irrational, based on some "ideal" calculation of hex size based on the thread size.
19/32" 12-point socket from my 1965 Craftsman socket set. These screws and nuts held the door hinges to a 1952 Bell Telephone System service bed. Note the wire on the bolt used as a locker - never saw anything like that before. I reassembled the hinges with new screws, lock washers and bolts from Ace Hardware. This is the service bed - camera positioned to "un-see" the off topic. The rear doors were left with "patina" (and no clear coat!!!!). I have driven this truck to 37 states, the map is pealing, only recently did we get a garage to park the truck in. A 4 cylinder turbo Cummins puts the "BANG" in banger. Russ
I actually found one place on my 52 Chevrolet Ute, the bolt that holds the pedals in the master cylinder. That bolt is little over 3/4, and I used a 20mm to get it since it was convenient. I didn't have a 25/32 handy. Sent from dumb operator on a smart phone
All of the 32nd and 64th sizes were developed for the high intensity atmospheric derivative of the intensity measuring section of the United States Division of Weights, Measures, and Volumes. The reason they were developed was for the specific wonderment of the world today amidst all of our trials and tribulations and to totally destroy any chance that any of this made any sense.
25/64"? You've got to be kidding! There are tiny 64th sizes in some of those old ignition wrench sets, but they are usually under 1/4".
Nope. Not kidding. They are in my "useless tool drawer", with the 31/32" combination wrench and sockets, and the 9/32" drive stuff. And for that matter, I cannot for the life of me remember how I ended up with a set of bronze sockets.
Bronze tools are pretty neat, they were (are?) made for non-sparking work such as in explosives factories. Commonly they are Beryllium-Copper.
11/32 was my nemesis. I have a "universal" harmonic balancer puller/installer tool that I've used on two engines so far. Both times, none of the eleven different puller bolts fit the damper I was trying to remove. Damnation! The puller holes on this damper were smaller than 3/8" and larger than 5/16" . None of the metric bolts I could find fit either. Why would anybody use a bastard thread like 11/32" fine for this purpose? After a two hour shop search, I went shadetree mechanic on it and drove a 3/8-24 tap thru the puller holes. It was a risk since there were only two but it worked. The damper was off in a matter of minutes after I got the puller set up.
My ex father in law was in charge of the remodeling and repairs at a major hospital. We were sitting down to dinner one Sunday when he got a frantic phone call, "the new guy" had fastened an oxygen line to a gas line, they have different fitting to make this impossible, except he went to their shop and made an adaptor. They had to make brass tools to take it apart, very carefully.
A hundred years ago, there were "standards", but many manufacturers ignored them. Thread size is even worse than the bolt/nut size. If the average mechanic didn't have a wrench to fit, then the customer had to go to the dealer for service. Or the customer had to go to the dealer for a new part, after the original was ruined by use of the wrong wrench. Jon.
IIRC, a 19/32 socket was used on a support block inside the right rail of an Allis Chalmers WD / WD45 . Only place I'd ever seen a need for that socket that came with the Craftsman set. Re the 21/32, a guy posted on local CL just recently looking for one. Don't know if he found it or what he needed it for. I contacted him about using a 17mm socket 6-pt which might have been close enough. As usual on CL, no reply.
Glad this is a traditional site so we don't have to ponder the existence of a 5.5 metric socket. That's just nuts.
I still have some of those wierd lock nuts around. I made a trailer to tow behind my Hot Rod years ago out of one of those boxes exactly like yours, I shortened mine 20". They are all aluminum and were manufactured by the Mercury Aircraft Company on the East Coast, super well built!
11/32" is a common size for nuts on #10 or #12 screws, IIRC. I use my 11/32" nut driver often on non-Chinese appliances and electric motors. I've been pondering the 5.5 sockets a lot lately myself. It works out to 0.217" in real measurements, so a 7/32" socket, at 0.219" will work just fine. Thank goodness for 32nd sockets.
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