Here's a selection of various spanners, friction rings and other tools I've bought over the years.
The dividers came from local market stalls for under $10 each and are old enough to be made of really good steel. The ones on the right have quite fine tips and are quickly and easily set via the threaded adjuster. The curved spring keeps them firmly apart but doesn't prevent them being pressed together. I find when using them I tend to curl my hand around them firmly for leverage and slide middle and ring fingers between the arms to ensure the tips don't move towards each other during use. Works well.
The other set on the left (with the curved adjustment clamp) are thicker and altogether stronger but because of their shape the tips (which still come to a fine enough point) might be more limited as to where you can apply them. On the plus side they can be adjusted very quickly and once the wing nut is torqued, they won't budge. Not bad for AUD $8 from New Norfolk Saturday market.
The friction rings were purchased ex-China via eBay. Their advantage is the ring-shaped or dished profile. The white one visible is gum rubber from Micro-tools. Super grippy, better than the grey set. Often useful and tapered for two different external diameters. But one significant drawback—it has a habit of contacting any convex lens surface adjacent the ring you want to loosen. A problem the somewhat slicker and less grippy grey set don't usually have.
There are a few garden-variety rubber plugs for kitchen or bathroom sinks, too. Not all have been used yet, so, I'd definitely advocate removing the wire handles visible on a couple, before applying them to a lens! The black one in particular, found at a hardware store, is made of a slightly rough, coarser mix of rubber, excellent for obtaining really good purchase on a super tight name ring. No, it won't fit every lens, but it fits many, and was so cheap as to be almost free.
The conventional lens spanners visible all rely on four individual lock screws to hold the tips at the desired distance. The fit of bars through the drivers isn't especially tight, and it can be tedious to get them adjusted with absolute precision. I have to stress however that there are times when a really valuable lens that's very old needs to be stripped for cleaning. One that has never been disassembled in sixty-plus years can be obstinate—consider Eg steel mounting rings or cups threaded into alloy bodied lenses. Very high torque may need to be applied to rings with small slots or, if you're unlucky even, pinholes. You can't do this safely, with the slightest degree of play in the tips. The benefit of the serrated locking screwheads is that they may, if necessary, be nipped up really firmly with some pliers for total rigidity. No, you will not need to do this every time you want to strip a lens, but from time to time it may be essential to avoid tool slippage likely to at best, deface the finish of the fastener being loosened and at worst gouge a trench into the surface of yours lens.
Cheers,
Brett
The dividers came from local market stalls for under $10 each and are old enough to be made of really good steel. The ones on the right have quite fine tips and are quickly and easily set via the threaded adjuster. The curved spring keeps them firmly apart but doesn't prevent them being pressed together. I find when using them I tend to curl my hand around them firmly for leverage and slide middle and ring fingers between the arms to ensure the tips don't move towards each other during use. Works well.
The other set on the left (with the curved adjustment clamp) are thicker and altogether stronger but because of their shape the tips (which still come to a fine enough point) might be more limited as to where you can apply them. On the plus side they can be adjusted very quickly and once the wing nut is torqued, they won't budge. Not bad for AUD $8 from New Norfolk Saturday market.
The friction rings were purchased ex-China via eBay. Their advantage is the ring-shaped or dished profile. The white one visible is gum rubber from Micro-tools. Super grippy, better than the grey set. Often useful and tapered for two different external diameters. But one significant drawback—it has a habit of contacting any convex lens surface adjacent the ring you want to loosen. A problem the somewhat slicker and less grippy grey set don't usually have.
There are a few garden-variety rubber plugs for kitchen or bathroom sinks, too. Not all have been used yet, so, I'd definitely advocate removing the wire handles visible on a couple, before applying them to a lens! The black one in particular, found at a hardware store, is made of a slightly rough, coarser mix of rubber, excellent for obtaining really good purchase on a super tight name ring. No, it won't fit every lens, but it fits many, and was so cheap as to be almost free.
The conventional lens spanners visible all rely on four individual lock screws to hold the tips at the desired distance. The fit of bars through the drivers isn't especially tight, and it can be tedious to get them adjusted with absolute precision. I have to stress however that there are times when a really valuable lens that's very old needs to be stripped for cleaning. One that has never been disassembled in sixty-plus years can be obstinate—consider Eg steel mounting rings or cups threaded into alloy bodied lenses. Very high torque may need to be applied to rings with small slots or, if you're unlucky even, pinholes. You can't do this safely, with the slightest degree of play in the tips. The benefit of the serrated locking screwheads is that they may, if necessary, be nipped up really firmly with some pliers for total rigidity. No, you will not need to do this every time you want to strip a lens, but from time to time it may be essential to avoid tool slippage likely to at best, deface the finish of the fastener being loosened and at worst gouge a trench into the surface of yours lens.
Cheers,
Brett