T-handle for Allen wrenches

[mklotz]

T-handle Allen wrenches are comfortable to use and can exert a lot of torque. On the other hand, a full set takes up a lot of room in the tool box.

But trying to exert a lot of torque with a conventional L-handle wrench is difficult and uncomfortable. In my mind the solution was to make a single removable handle to convert an L-handle wrench into a T-type.

The first photo...

shows the handle. It's nothing more than a three inch length of 3/8" steel with a hole drilled through the center and a channel milled from one end to the central hole. I mostly use the smaller size wrenches so my handle is sized to fit wrenches 5/32 and smaller. (Larger wrenches would require a larger handle.) The hole is 3/16 and so is the width of the channel. Also shown is a piece of heavy gauge plastic tubing with a nominal 3/8 ID. This is used to secure the wrench in the handle and make the channel edges less irritating to the hand.

This photo...

shows how the wrench passes through the handle hole and the short arm of the L drops into the channel. The plastic retainer has been slipped partway onto the handle.

This photo...

shows the underside of the handle with the protruding wrench. The plastic sleeve has been slipped all the way on, retaining the short wrench arm in the channel. A notch in the plastic aligns the wrench and pins it against the side of the hole to keep the wrench orthogonal to the handle.

A side-by-side comparison...