driving a square nut!

[Tony MartyrParticipant @tonymartyr14488]

I am trying to repair the soft-close toilet seat that has fixings in an incredably difficult position when installed.

I need a driver (screwdriver type) for the 8mm SQUARE nuts (not hex) and have failed to find anything on this side of the Atlantic

Please help.

Tony

[Martin CargillParticipant @martincargill50290]

Would a 3/8″ drive socket, used backwards, catch and provide enough grip to tighten your square nuts?

[Charles LamontParticipant @charleslamont71117]

Replace the nuts with hex ones?

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Would a Universal Socket on a spinner handle do the job or is it to bulky?

[Adrian R2Participant @adrianr2]

If they don’t have to be that tight then find a bit of thickish wall round tube of ~12mm ID and bash one end square to suit?

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Are you sure you really need to be turning the square nut. Several makes use fixings that drop in from the top and you use a thin spanner on the two flats at the bottom of the pillars that poke up to take the hinge. If it looks like this then undo the pillar from above and not the nut. You need to gently pull the pillar up as you turn it to stop the plate rotating, which in turn stop the nut rotating.

You can see the spanner flats in this image

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

10mm square box section, 1mm wall thickness ? or 2mm wall and saw down at each corner and swage out a little.

[Martin ConnellyParticipant @martinconnelly55370]

Periphery of an 8×8 square is 32mm, the circumference of a Ø10.5 bore is 33mm (slightly less) so as Adrian says, get some suitable tube, drill out to Ø10.5 for a short distance and square it off. I would use a small toolmakers clamp and a vice to do the squaring off and clean up with a small file. A Ø8 rod to support the middle of the wall centres would help as well.

Martin C

[DC31kParticipant @dc31k]

I think a 10mm A/F 12 point socket is slightly larger than an 8mm square (8mm square fits into a 9.79mm dodecagon). If the 10mm A/F is too big, try a 3/8″ A/F 12-point socket. Both should be available in 1/4″ drive.

The likely gotcha is that the threads will project too much from the nuts for the socket to fit. I have never seen a 12 point box spanner.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

If it is like the one I have shown images of you are unlikely to get much engagement of a box spanner or socket/driver as two sides of the nut fit into the slotted plate.

I have probably fitted 50-60 bathrooms and of the hinge fixings that had 8mm sq nuts all were top fixing and usually found on back to wall or wall hung pans where there is usually little or no access from below.

Just pop the seat/lid off – most pull off but a few have a button at one side of the hinge and then you can easily access the flats with a thin spanner

[Andy StopfordParticipant @andystopford50521]

I’m not sure offhand whether these will do 8mm square, but I have one and it sometimes saves the day when nothing else will work – very handy for wing nuts for instance:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/toilet-seat-installation-tool/62412

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Just been out in the workshop and both a 10mm and 3/8″  12-point socket will fit on an 8mm or 5/16″ square bit of HSS toolbit. But as others have said, you may have access problems with a  socket. Best to follow the voice of experience. Jason’s 50 to 60 bathroom refits being case in point! Crikey, that’s a lot of bathrooms!

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Obviously, if the job were to be repated many times, it would be worth investing a socket to drive square nuts.

Buyt for a one off this might work!

Take a piece of suitably sized hexagon bar, for which you have a socket and mill i 8 mm wide slot across the end.

Drive the hexagon with a normal socket, and hopefully, you will succeed

Although if the 8 mm square is intended to fit into the slot of the mating piece, the fixing has to driven from the top

Howatd

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Clearly, Jason’s voice of experience needs to be heeded … but on the wider subject of  driving square heads or nuts:

https://blacksmithbolt.com/en-gb/collections/8-point-sockets

MichaelG.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

It is a lot and thinking about it since last night I need to up that to 60-70 as I have remembered a few more. They soon add up, one client I did 7 bath/shower rooms and the downstairs loo so that is 8 in the one house.

They are always good earners as the material cost are usually a large proportion of the cost and reasonable percentage profit added to that soon adds up.

Another problem you are likely to run into with any form of socket is the lack of depth as the length of thread that will be sticking out below the nut is quite long. They need the length so that the plate can be tilted at an angle so that it drops down into the hole and then spreads out once it can fall back to horizontal.

[BaldricParticipant @baldric]

Sounds like you need an 8-point socket, I use one on my milling vice as it didn’t come with a handle.

See https://www.uktools.com/8mm-38drive-8-point-26mm-long-double-square-socket.html

[File HandleParticipant @filehandle]

I have bent ordinary spanners so that the end is at rightangles to deal with tricky situations.

[vintagengineerParticipant @vintagengineer]

A 12 point hexagon socket will drive all square nuts.

[vintagengineer]

On vintagengineer Said:

A 12 point hexagon socket will drive all square nuts.

… but an 8 point does it so much better.

MichaelG.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

But neither will drive it if you can’t get the socket on due to too much thread sticking out, large chamfer on the corners of the nuts and the fact they sit below the surface of the plate.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Obviously, Jason

… which is why I previously wrote:

Clearly, Jason’s voice of experience needs to be heeded … but on the wider subject of  driving square heads or nuts:

MichaelG.

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