You inadvertently answered the question immediately. The reason why there are so many unopened ones floating around is because they did not have the cutting disk technology we have now.
The guy that invented this was a co-worker of mine. He won an inventor's award for it, got his patent, and sold it to B&D. I got one of the early ones and I think it was made a little better. Still a useless, gimmicky gadget.
@@dafrandle Poorly executed. As an engineer I have been on development projects where we had the greatest design that had the misfortune of meeting accounting. You ended up with something that was the equivalent of Jello pudding cups filled with cat poo.
Well, I guess I just found a Costco version of Avé. The sausage fingers aren't sausagy, but he does have hairier arms. Plus, the jokes are finally a millennial can understand. And since he's poor, he actually has to put things back together. i might subscribe
If you look closely in Breaking Bad, you can see a Black and Decker auto-wrench sitting on a chair when Gale is setting up the lab for Gus (Not really, but that would be funny)
A long time ago, I redesigned one of these for an electromechanical engineering project. Was fully forged using the jaw and gear from an existing wrench design, had a microcontroller to sense when the amperage went up on the motor to shut off, had a lower gearing, and had a 2 level rocker switch to pulse the jaws open or closed if pressed gently, or fully running when you pressed harder. I think the total cost was like 3x more than this, but the apparent profit margins for this were already really high.
Too bad that never had a chance to make market, I'd pay for a good version of this concept. A good one-handed adjustable wrench that actually tightens down well blind would be pretty darn good.
So much wasted potential in this idea. Give this idea to TTI and we'd have a Ryobi version that could actually handle something, and 5 years later we'd have a Milwaukee version that was brutal.
i was gonna say what was he smoking lol Both BD and Sears sold a ton of these for a few years. all the suburbanite white collar dads got them. Then he shits on the wires like it needed 5-gauge wire to push 1.5 volts lol The whole product was made for the aforementioned people i was talking about above. So reviewing it as a serious tool is odd
his point was as a serious tool it failed hard, he even mentioned this was very much the Christmas/Father's Day purchase that was kept not for what it was but for who bought it.
I had a similar “ZipWrench” version circa 2004. As stated, it was a “gift” (curse) and came in Billy Mays “as seen on TV” packaging. The slop was so bad it couldn’t be reliably used on any fitting. Thanks for the flashback. 👍
I think this wrench won an invention of the year award in the 90’s. It was invented to be used on the space shuttle, the motor driven adjustment was meant to be used with the gloves of an astronaut suit.
I feel like it would be a terrible idea to use adjustable wrenches during a space walk, even if it was automatic. They’ve using expensive torque wrenches and sockets that fit properly
They actually sold these for quite a long time surprisingly, I remember seeing these in a center isle display at Walmart maybe 15 years ago. It never seemed like a good idea to me, but there was a time where I almost bought one of those adjustables with a with a slider that you run with your thumb.
I still have the one that was gifted to me back when these first hit the scene. I have never changed the batteries. They died very early on. I have used it many times over the years as just a regular wrench. And also as a hammer.
I actually used to have one of those except it didn’t use electricity… It had a spring and a latch, and you just push a button and it automatically adjusted to the nut size and then reengages the worm gear when you release… I actually loved that tool and apparently someone else did too because it went missing. It had a few flaws, like occasionally it wouldn’t reengage on its own if the teeth and worm gear weren’t properly aligned but all you had to do was wiggle it a bit and it would lock into place. The biggest flaw was user error, the way I tended to hold it, it would hit the button when tightening and the wrench would unlock, pop open and I’d slam my knuckles into something. That was my own dumb ass though, admittedly. Fool myself fifty times and I’m a moron who will get fooled again. Haha It was perfect, no need for electrical nonsense, it still worked normally even if the spring mechanism wore out or stopped working for some reason and it made working on awkward things out of reach really simple. I’ve looked for another one but don’t remember the brand and I can’t find it on Amazon or anything… if anyone knows, hit me up! I’d like to buy another one.
Replace the AAs with a lithium cell from a discarded vape. Some even come with USB-C for charging. That will give the motor some extra oomph. And not leak.
Turn in your card, former Sir. I've had a word with the Commission, and you have been disbarred. I would say that henceforth you are only allowed to drink Bud Light, but that would be cruel and unusual punishment. And, let's be honest, you probably prefer Whiteclaw, anyway.
I own one. It comes in handy when you need to adjust a nut or leveling feet of a machine and can't see the fastener. When the accessible opening is tighter than an open vice grips would allows. I use it to get behind a panel in a privately owned submersible craft.
Oversized Dremel to open a plastic shell and blatant disregard for open terminal wires touching (till they do?). A real life Tim the tool man, Taylor! SUBSCRIBED!
As an aircraft mechanic mechanic for much of my career and minor in various other trades, I know the value of a quality tools made to do a task correctly. I have also learned that many lower end tools can successfully perform a task without a high cost or flashy appearance. I have also found that random cheap tools can be used as is or modified to do something they weren’t designed to and accomplish a variety of things. Sometimes they only work once, others routinely speed up installing a fastener in a confined location while the final torque is with the proper tool. I remember looking at one of these when they came out. I couldn’t think of a single task that I would bother to use this for. The cheapest pair of knockoff vice grips would be more valuable than a truckload of these,
My grandfather has one of these. I used to use it to slightly tighten bolts and nuts before using it to find the right sized box end to finish the job.
i have one it's mounted on a long bolt that holds my other adjustable wrenches, it's the back wrench so i use the two in front first which means i rarely if ever use it .
Maybe if he put the oil on the screw instead of the handle, he wouldn't have dropped it in the toilet, and he would have been able to adjust it with his thumb without the toilet water rusting the thing up.
I have a Sheffield mechanical adjustable wrench that works with a slider. You operate it with your thumb, much faster than this, it doesn't need batteries and the build quality is really good. I wonder why I don't see them more often, they work good.
❤the fact that the wrench was unopened is hilarious and speaks volumes. And you are correct about nickelback. I do not hate them however I do not like their music whatsoever
Actually yeah, adjustable wrenches rarely work as well as a proper one, this is great for figuring out which wrench first try every time. Although, if we wanted that, a laser would be better
No matter how well it works, the most obvious problem with it is that it's big. The best, most expensive wrenches are always lithe and elegant looking, and no larger than needed. Every extra millimeter means more places where the tool just won't fit.
I used to have thos wrench, and it was loved and abused to the point where the metal part cracked and broke off. Still my favorite wrench, because it was so easy to grab when you had to unscrew a lot of differently-sized nuts.
they're new in box because at the time, no one had invented the angle grinder yet -- hence it was impossible to remove them from the steely grip of packaging
Hey…my mom bought me one of those for Christmas one year😂😂😂 stuck it in the BBQ grill to assist with propane bottle swaps. Worked till it didn’t…then she was disassembled and scrapped. A for design concept, F for execution…
I actually had one of those.... I didn't think it was terrible. It'd adjust 90% of the way with the battery, and then you could snug it with your thumb.
I was fortunate to be able to work with best in class mill Wright mechanics, welder, & machnists while an apprentice. Millwrights took my adjustable wrenches from me because they said only halve ass people use those nut rounders. They only used a 6 point socket or box wrench to tighten or loosen hex nuts or hex headed bolts. Mine are collecting dust in one if my top chest.
One of these made it into our family at a white elephant Christmas many many years ago. Ever since then, my brother and my dad have been gifting it back and forth each Christmas as a joke 😂
Have had much better luck with mine got one from my wife when they came out and been using it since for low torque jobs it opens and closes better too. I did see right away it would not be wise to push it too hard.
if it was built more like an older style wrench with the nut further down the handle then you'd have room for a good motor and gearing, but also I definitely think a belt is a wise choice because you don't want it to have a catastrophic failure from overtourquing
Someone bought my Dad that for Christmas or something and I found it to have too much play. The one gimmick tool of that time I really appreciated was the small robogrips. They worked great. The large ones not as much. Even with my hands the grips were pretty far apart.
Found one of these at a garage sale a while ago, figured id try it for the couple bucks it was priced for while not expecting much. Surprisingly mine works well, much better than the one you have. Granted i dont use it on anything that needs a proper gronking but for most things it works well enough.
i got mine from my sadly now passed pop-pop new as well. but it def fore makes light work saving time on the bolt/nut size! and that is it! never even tried to wrench with it lol
i bought those same wire strippers from Harbor Freight, and goddammit, they suck SO HARD. i dont think ive ever successfully stripped a single wire with them; they tear the insulation youre trying to strip while shredding the insulation youre trying to keep. i would honestly rather use a razor blade.
My grandma got one of these for my dad back in the day and it was absolutely useless. It had so much backlash that you would strip any fastener you tried to tighten or loosen with it.
If i remember right this won innovation awards and all other kinds of accolades in a tool show several years back. As a tool guy just laughed as i think the guy invented it didnt plan on it being just a fatherday gift on end cap at big bix stores. Prob got paid enough to not even care at that point. Atleast i hope he did...
If someone doesn’t have the physical ability to use a standard tool, they probably don’t have the physical capability of completing the job even with a tool of this sort.
I always had an opinion about these. If you are too lazy to open and close the jaws on your wrench, you probably are too lazy to do any wrenching at all! I do however get it when a proper designed one is meant for astronauts
I talked my dad into getting one when i was a kid. That thing was completly unuseable. Even at that age I knew it was utter garbage. It was the first poor quality tool I've ever held. Good times.
Yeah,I was around the mortgage industry and saw what the crash was caused by.The people that took bad loans knew they were bad.So many signatures required to proved that you been warned if you BS you may loose it
You inadvertently answered the question immediately. The reason why there are so many unopened ones floating around is because they did not have the cutting disk technology we have now.
More is more! Milwaukee!
The guy that invented this was a co-worker of mine. He won an inventor's award for it, got his patent, and sold it to B&D. I got one of the early ones and I think it was made a little better. Still a useless, gimmicky gadget.
Wow, is he still around?
@@thedoubtfultechnician8067 Far as I know. Retired a couple years ago.
Would you call this tool a poor idea, or poorly executed?
@@dafrandle Poorly executed.
As an engineer I have been on development projects where we had the greatest design that had the misfortune of meeting accounting.
You ended up with something that was the equivalent of Jello pudding cups filled with cat poo.
I kinda want one but with grip lever for the tightening
Well, I guess I just found a Costco version of Avé. The sausage fingers aren't sausagy, but he does have hairier arms. Plus, the jokes are finally a millennial can understand. And since he's poor, he actually has to put things back together. i might subscribe
I swear I was gonna say the same thing. 🤣
I believe the similarities are intentional😊
You just wasted twenty bucks to make this video😅
😂😂😂😂😂 I have one it sucks 😊😊
AvE
Channel used to be k own as Arduino vs Evil way back when.
The actor in the tool ad was the guy that played “Gale” in Breaking Bad.
Came here to say this! That blew my mind noticing him
and the editor from The Sun on The Wire
If you look closely in Breaking Bad, you can see a Black and Decker auto-wrench sitting on a chair when Gale is setting up the lab for Gus
(Not really, but that would be funny)
Holy Shit, you're right. The wives ruined that show. Gives all the money to her boss. "Thank you, dear!"
A long time ago, I redesigned one of these for an electromechanical engineering project. Was fully forged using the jaw and gear from an existing wrench design, had a microcontroller to sense when the amperage went up on the motor to shut off, had a lower gearing, and had a 2 level rocker switch to pulse the jaws open or closed if pressed gently, or fully running when you pressed harder. I think the total cost was like 3x more than this, but the apparent profit margins for this were already really high.
? And it never got to the market? 😮😢
@@mmuller2402school projects usually don’t…
Too bad that never had a chance to make market, I'd pay for a good version of this concept. A good one-handed adjustable wrench that actually tightens down well blind would be pretty darn good.
If people will pay $20 for a Gator Grip, they'll pay whatever it takes for this.
So much wasted potential in this idea. Give this idea to TTI and we'd have a Ryobi version that could actually handle something, and 5 years later we'd have a Milwaukee version that was brutal.
When I was a little kid, my friend's dad had one and we would squish spiders and bugs with it. It was awesome at that.
"Now you tell us where the rest of your spider friends are hiding or we'll put the Auto-Wrench to ya!"
...wimpy winding noise
These didn't fail hard. These sold out regularly at Sears stores across the country for several Christmases in a row.
i was gonna say what was he smoking lol Both BD and Sears sold a ton of these for a few years. all the suburbanite white collar dads got them.
Then he shits on the wires like it needed 5-gauge wire to push 1.5 volts lol
The whole product was made for the aforementioned people i was talking about above. So reviewing it as a serious tool is odd
his point was as a serious tool it failed hard, he even mentioned this was very much the Christmas/Father's Day purchase that was kept not for what it was but for who bought it.
I had a similar “ZipWrench” version circa 2004. As stated, it was a “gift” (curse) and came in Billy Mays “as seen on TV” packaging. The slop was so bad it couldn’t be reliably used on any fitting. Thanks for the flashback. 👍
I think this wrench won an invention of the year award in the 90’s. It was invented to be used on the space shuttle, the motor driven adjustment was meant to be used with the gloves of an astronaut suit.
I feel like it would be a terrible idea to use adjustable wrenches during a space walk, even if it was automatic. They’ve using expensive torque wrenches and sockets that fit properly
And if it was made like it would be used on the shuttle it would have been useful but this quality level wouldn't make it on a Chinese Space shuttle.
It might be designed to open and close without taking gravity into consideration. That would explain... the closure failure
@@andiralosh2173 not really, the force of gravity on a mechanism so small is negligible compared to forces of actually using it
They actually sold these for quite a long time surprisingly, I remember seeing these in a center isle display at Walmart maybe 15 years ago.
It never seemed like a good idea to me, but there was a time where I almost bought one of those adjustables with a with a slider that you run with your thumb.
Petition to make it a federal crime to refer to anything manually actuated as “meat powered”.
Come to think of it. It’s amazing he was able to fling a wrench into a toilet and not crack the porcelain.
I still have the one that was gifted to me back when these first hit the scene. I have never changed the batteries. They died very early on. I have used it many times over the years as just a regular wrench. And also as a hammer.
This tool would be decent if you gear drove it and threw in alittle over engineering but then it would cost $250
Wonder how many patents were wasted on this.
I actually used to have one of those except it didn’t use electricity…
It had a spring and a latch, and you just push a button and it automatically adjusted to the nut size and then reengages the worm gear when you release… I actually loved that tool and apparently someone else did too because it went missing. It had a few flaws, like occasionally it wouldn’t reengage on its own if the teeth and worm gear weren’t properly aligned but all you had to do was wiggle it a bit and it would lock into place. The biggest flaw was user error, the way I tended to hold it, it would hit the button when tightening and the wrench would unlock, pop open and I’d slam my knuckles into something. That was my own dumb ass though, admittedly. Fool myself fifty times and I’m a moron who will get fooled again. Haha
It was perfect, no need for electrical nonsense, it still worked normally even if the spring mechanism wore out or stopped working for some reason and it made working on awkward things out of reach really simple.
I’ve looked for another one but don’t remember the brand and I can’t find it on Amazon or anything… if anyone knows, hit me up! I’d like to buy another one.
Replace the AAs with a lithium cell from a discarded vape. Some even come with USB-C for charging. That will give the motor some extra oomph. And not leak.
Needs two 14500 cells😎
I’m a man and I bought one for myself.
Turn in your card, former Sir. I've had a word with the Commission, and you have been disbarred.
I would say that henceforth you are only allowed to drink Bud Light, but that would be cruel and unusual punishment. And, let's be honest, you probably prefer Whiteclaw, anyway.
I own one. It comes in handy when you need to adjust a nut or leveling feet of a machine and can't see the fastener. When the accessible opening is tighter than an open vice grips would allows. I use it to get behind a panel in a privately owned submersible craft.
Oversized Dremel to open a plastic shell and blatant disregard for open terminal wires touching (till they do?). A real life Tim the tool man, Taylor!
SUBSCRIBED!
As an aircraft mechanic mechanic for much of my career and minor in various other trades, I know the value of a quality tools made to do a task correctly.
I have also learned that many lower end tools can successfully perform a task without a high cost or flashy appearance.
I have also found that random cheap tools can be used as is or modified to do something they weren’t designed to and accomplish a variety of things.
Sometimes they only work once, others routinely speed up installing a fastener in a confined location while the final torque is with the proper tool.
I remember looking at one of these when they came out.
I couldn’t think of a single task that I would bother to use this for.
The cheapest pair of knockoff vice grips would be more valuable than a truckload of these,
I got one for Christmas or father's day. I did actually attempt to use it. It was about as useful as this video suggested.
My grandfather has one of these. I used to use it to slightly tighten bolts and nuts before using it to find the right sized box end to finish the job.
I got one years ago as a Christmas present. It sits in the bottom of an old toolbox in my pickup. It's the last tool I would ever grab to use.
i have one it's mounted on a long bolt that holds my other adjustable wrenches, it's the back wrench so i use the two in front first which means i rarely if ever use it .
Hmm, I actually have one and used it in anger.
I intentionally bought one just because it was so over the top ridiculous.
Maybe if he put the oil on the screw instead of the handle, he wouldn't have dropped it in the toilet, and he would have been able to adjust it with his thumb without the toilet water rusting the thing up.
I have a Sheffield mechanical adjustable wrench that works with a slider. You operate it with your thumb, much faster than this, it doesn't need batteries and the build quality is really good. I wonder why I don't see them more often, they work good.
❤the fact that the wrench was unopened is hilarious and speaks volumes. And you are correct about nickelback. I do not hate them however I do not like their music whatsoever
Actually yeah, adjustable wrenches rarely work as well as a proper one, this is great for figuring out which wrench first try every time.
Although, if we wanted that, a laser would be better
No matter how well it works, the most obvious problem with it is that it's big. The best, most expensive wrenches are always lithe and elegant looking, and no larger than needed. Every extra millimeter means more places where the tool just won't fit.
I still have mine, it gets used regularly and works well (as long as you keep replacing batteries). My mother bought it for me as a present.
NASA use a similar wrench in space. It’s for use while gloved in a spacesuit
On more than one occasion the ad for the auto wrench came to mind. Always wondered what happened to it. Thanks for making a video about it
I used to have thos wrench, and it was loved and abused to the point where the metal part cracked and broke off. Still my favorite wrench, because it was so easy to grab when you had to unscrew a lot of differently-sized nuts.
they're new in box because at the time, no one had invented the angle grinder yet -- hence it was impossible to remove them from the steely grip of packaging
Hey…my mom bought me one of those for Christmas one year😂😂😂 stuck it in the BBQ grill to assist with propane bottle swaps. Worked till it didn’t…then she was disassembled and scrapped. A for design concept, F for execution…
I actually had one of those.... I didn't think it was terrible. It'd adjust 90% of the way with the battery, and then you could snug it with your thumb.
I was fortunate to be able to work with best in class mill Wright mechanics, welder, & machnists while an apprentice. Millwrights took my adjustable wrenches from me because they said only halve ass people use those nut rounders. They only used a 6 point socket or box wrench to tighten or loosen hex nuts or hex headed bolts. Mine are collecting dust in one if my top chest.
One of these made it into our family at a white elephant Christmas many many years ago. Ever since then, my brother and my dad have been gifting it back and forth each Christmas as a joke 😂
Have had much better luck with mine got one from my wife when they came out and been using it since for low torque jobs it opens and closes better too. I did see right away it would not be wise to push it too hard.
1:22 the only correct way to open that packaging lol
if it was built more like an older style wrench with the nut further down the handle then you'd have room for a good motor and gearing, but also I definitely think a belt is a wise choice because you don't want it to have a catastrophic failure from overtourquing
Someone bought my Dad that for Christmas or something and I found it to have too much play. The one gimmick tool of that time I really appreciated was the small robogrips. They worked great. The large ones not as much. Even with my hands the grips were pretty far apart.
I would actually love to see Milwaukee put out an improved version of this.
I'd buy it.
Crescent wrenches are useless enough, no need for a battery powered one.
I've been struggling all this time to open stuff and now I see I need my angle grinder 🤔 thank you for the videos ❤
Found one of these at a garage sale a while ago, figured id try it for the couple bucks it was priced for while not expecting much.
Surprisingly mine works well, much better than the one you have. Granted i dont use it on anything that needs a proper gronking but for most things it works well enough.
I have one of these wrenches and yes it is lacking in power but I do use it to tighten and remove the hose from an LPG tank.
I worked at Sears back in the early 00 when these came out. Couldn't give them away. They all went clearance and still couldn't given them away
I think the last time I saw something come out the box with name brand batteries was 2006. Unless PKcell counts as name brand hahaha
*PKCELL*
Looking at this video right after I lost the dang spring from the plunger needle on the carb of my chainsaw...
I remember my dad having this in his tool drawer and him not caring when I took it
Have you figured out what to do with your shop floor yet?
Yup! I’ll be posting an update video.
Braun shavers used those motors
Before he Broke Bad, Gale was turning wrenches at home.
Great vid man, keen for more.
Mine works fine. Maybe because I didn't try taking it apart and wrecking it.
Contrary to what many of our parents told us, taking something apart doesn't automatically break it!
honestly a modern one would probably be pretty good now days especially if proper made
i got mine from my sadly now passed pop-pop new as well. but it def fore makes light work saving time on the bolt/nut size! and that is it! never even tried to wrench with it lol
That wire stripper sucks just as bad.
i bought those same wire strippers from Harbor Freight, and goddammit, they suck SO HARD. i dont think ive ever successfully stripped a single wire with them; they tear the insulation youre trying to strip while shredding the insulation youre trying to keep. i would honestly rather use a razor blade.
Happy meal toys are now made in vietnam
All the 2006 jokes were top notch.
I use crescents at work all the time, this would be useful if it had tighter tolerances.
My grandma got one of these for my dad back in the day and it was absolutely useless. It had so much backlash that you would strip any fastener you tried to tighten or loosen with it.
"You remember nickelback?"
Like they ever left
If i remember right this won innovation awards and all other kinds of accolades in a tool show several years back. As a tool guy just laughed as i think the guy invented it didnt plan on it being just a fatherday gift on end cap at big bix stores. Prob got paid enough to not even care at that point. Atleast i hope he did...
Wish the knob on those wrenches where easier to grip.
just got into tinkering with thinks in my shop. subscribed.
Measuring fasteners? That's what 4-in-1 wrenches or a roll pouch of stubby combination wrenches are for.
Did they not bother putting a plastic tab between the batteries and contacts?
😂 "It's the wrench you use to find the wrench you want."
Thanks for the belly laugh.
Somehow, a bad tool is worse. I don't trust adjustable wrenches that much , but I absolutely would not outside of novelty purposes
If anyone’s looking for a similar boat way better executed concept, Look at the knipex auto adjusting water pump pliers.
some tape around the adjuster screws drive pulley may increase the torque ratio a bit for you
If someone doesn’t have the physical ability to use a standard tool, they probably don’t have the physical capability of completing the job even with a tool of this sort.
I always had an opinion about these. If you are too lazy to open and close the jaws on your wrench, you probably are too lazy to do any wrenching at all! I do however get it when a proper designed one is meant for astronauts
Aww man, I thought I had something rare and expensive buried in my tool drawer. :\
GOAT content every time
The Knipex Pliers Wrench is the better version of the adjustable wrench.
When you tested it on the torque tester you used it backwards...
I talked my dad into getting one when i was a kid. That thing was completly unuseable. Even at that age I knew it was utter garbage. It was the first poor quality tool I've ever held. Good times.
I was like damn thats ballsy stripping 12v leads with litho battery attached good on him. 3 seconds later screaming angry pixies jumping everywhere
Not a lover of B and D, market leaders back in the day, but Bosch and Makita way better today. Still using chuck keys ffs
Yeah,I was around the mortgage industry and saw what the crash was caused by.The people that took bad loans knew they were bad.So many signatures required to proved that you been warned if you BS you may loose it
It's like hearing my dad's opinions from my son's voice.
Just slap lipo 18650 looks like it was made for this battery. It will go from 3v to 4.7 do bigger speed and more power avalible to motor
I had no idea Gale was in a wrench commercial
I collect bolt rounders. I gotta get one of these!
Hey, I actually bought one of those just so I could say that I had an electric shifter!
The problem is it's replacing a hammer, and a electric hammer will never be as durable.
Thank God I have sponsor skip installed because I only had to watch a third of this video to get the same amount of content
inch and metric.woooooo too cool. next look for the old craftsman NiCad electric ratchet. that was a low torque winner too.
I have to crap on tools with discretion. People get mad sometimes!
@@thedoubtfultechnician8067 just tell them “lighten up Francis “
what you do it replace the AAA's with some 10440 li-ion batteries
I had one of these. Sold it on eBay years ago for £10.
I bought one of these. Thought it could be useful for bending metal. Wasn't
I suppose this would work if you didn't need any real torque, otherwise it is very much a wrench you use to first try for the real wrench.
admittingly i got my dad one of these for fathers day i dont think he ever used it