Ergonomic Tool Arms(ETA): Overview

About ETA

If you’re on the front lines of an industrial assembly process your bottom line depends upon wise capital investment in tools and equipment. It also depends upon productive, injury-free workers producing your company’s product efficiently and without defects.

Good assembly tools are expensive. But they are worth it if you use them effectively and take good care of them. This is where the idea of a tool or torque arm came from decades ago. Eliminate torque reaction for the operator, improve fastening processes and increase tool longevity by preventing careless abuse.

If you buy industrial assembly tools it is doubtful that you spend much time looking at or thinking about tool arms to put them on.  You usually pick the best tool for the task and then the need to put that tool on an arm comes up later. We get that. But guess what? We spend most of our time thinking about assembly arms and tap arms. So ETA and it’s authorized distributors can make it very easy for you to get quality assembly arms or smart-arms (smart-arms provide position feedback) at a very reasonable cost.

Knowing the industrial assembly tool market and the application of torque arms, as well as an extensive background in product design & manufacturing gave ETA associates the seed idea for the formation of Ergonomic Tool Arms LLC just a few years ago (2010).

Many of the older sources for tool arms are large tool companies offering hundreds of industrial assembly tools and accessories. Torque arms are not central to their business. Try and find someone at most of those companies who has expertise in using & specifying tool arms. Or ask them to customize 1 torque arm for a unique application. Okay so before you get frustrated doing that just call us or better yet call your ETA distributor and ask him to pay you a visit.

When you need a specific industrial tooling product, like a torque arm or tap arm, wouldn’t it be nice to talk to someone whose whole livelihood depends upon expertise in that one product and it’s correct application and how that will help your operation? And wouldn’t it also great not to have to pay through the nose for that service? Call us and find out how nice the experience really is.  Our number is 855-Tool Arm (855-866-5276).

When we started out our goal was to design a simple, well made arm that could be adapted and accessorized to handle the major needs in bench assembly and tapping arm markets. We also insisted we would make all critical components and assemble everything right here in the USA.

From the beginning we knew we had a good design offered at a very reasonable price, but we honestly expected that it would take some time to get people to try something new from a new company. What surprised us was the response from the industrial marketplace. Sales took off rather quickly and within the first 2 years ETA distributors had received multiple reorders from hundreds of major manufactures in North America and overseas. Through our very capable distributor network we soon had a list of customers who were top aerospace, automakers, auto component suppliers, appliance, small engine, off-road equipment manufacturers, medical and many other consumer product manufacturers.

Ergonomics

1. Eliminates Torque Reaction for air & electric powered screwdrivers, nut runners, tappers and hand drills.
2. Tool and Arm Float Practically Weightless, reducing burden on operator.
3. DF Models Automatically Provide Air Tools with Down Force during Tool Rotation and weightless float when motor is idle. This “power assist” aids operator when driving self-threading fasteners.

Production Benefits

1. Keeps Driver Straight in Alignment with Fastener reducing cross threading, broken bits, screw head burrs and out of square fasteners.
2. Keeps Expensive Tools from being Dropped, Moved or Misplaced.
3. Tool Hovers Right Over Work Area between Rundowns, Reducing Cycle Time.

More About Torque Arms, Ergonomics & Economics;

Any rotating power tool doing work has torque or twist. In order for that spindle to apply that torque to the work, the body of that tool must be kept stationary. On handheld tools, except in the case of impact and pulse style tools, the torque seen on the tool handle is roughly equal to the torque generated at the tool spindle, less the slight leverage advantage gained from the tool diameter and/or handle position. In most production environments the operator is doing the same job many times in the course of their work day. If it is a clutch or electronic fastening tool, drill or tapping motor that operator risks repetitive motion injury or at least fatigue. This can even occur where the torque is relatively low if it is repetitive enough. The easiest way to avoid injury and fatigue risk is to put tools on a torque reaction arm. The low purchase cost of ETA torque arms usually pays for itself quickly in increased productivity and profit due to lack of operator fatigue and lack of insurance claims from repetitive injury. 

Torque arms offer additional benefits as well. When you install a torque arm from ETA you also make the tool practically weightless by reducing the burden on the assembly person to mere ounces, even if the tool weighs several pounds or more. Additionally, a torque arm keeps the tool floating right near where it is being used or enables it to be folded out of the way when not in use. A tool on a torque arm will never get “borrowed” by another employee or dropped on the floor or misplaced. A tool clamped or threaded, in the case of an in-line air tool, onto an ETA torque arm will always be at the work station where you need it and the cord or air hose supplying that tool also lasts longer because, in most cases, it is festooned along the torque arm members or at least fastened near the back of the torque arm as might be the case for less flexible DC tool cables.

Sometimes the addition of a torque arm into an operation makes the assembled products look more professional by virtue of the fact that screw heads aren’t damaged or burred by operators driving screws with tools held on an angle and slipping off the screw head.

Another ergonomic advantage of our torque arms is the availability of our power assist models (look for model number suffix of DF). Some fasteners require reasonable down force to either start the fastener or stay engaged with the driver bit or to cut threads as they go into the assembly. If the torque arm supplies some or all of that required down force, then the fatigue on the operator’s shoulder muscles is greatly reduced. Our PA806-DF and PA815-DF are designed to work with lever-permit operated, in-line, air tools from any manufacturer, without any tool modification. All the air logic is self-contained on the back end of the ETA torque arm.  We can also provide the same type of assistance for electric tools provided your electric tool controller can furnish the feedback needed to signal our air valve to switch from tool balance mode to fastener drive mode and back again.

But our torque arms can have other uses as well. Manufacturers use ETA arms to hold rivet guns and other types of tools, ridged and straight with the work even though torque is not an issue. Others use our torque arms to hold air or electric router motors straight and true as they mill or shape plastic, wood or metal products. We have customers that use our torque arms for floating test fixtures weighing up to 25 lbs into place to perform a test on a product and then fold the ETA arm carrying their fixture neatly out of the way until the next test. The uses are almost limitless.

ETA torque arms are also built to be very adaptable for changing industrial applications. You can swap arm components and tool holders as your tasks change over the years. Ask your ETA distributor to help you determine which parts have to be purchased to change your torque arm model for a new application. We promise not to overcharge you for those new parts, so that you will save money over buying a whole new torque arm.

ACCEPT NO COMPROMISES – Get the Best Torque Arm Value Available ! ….Low Cost…Ridged & Smooth….Quick Delivery…Innovative….5 Year Limited Wear-Out Warranty….with Adaptable Accessories & Tool Holders.

ETA customers include;
ABB Robotics, AL Automotive Lighting, American Airlines, American Axle, Ames -True Temper, Anvil International, Baldor Electric Motors (now ABB), Bijur Delimon Intl.,, BAE Systems, Boeing Aerospace, Borg Warner  , Bosch Tool Corp, Bose Corporation, Bradford White Corp, Briggs & Stratton, Bucher Hydraulics, Caterpillar, Chrysler Corp., Clopay garage doors, Columbia Helicopter, Continental Teves, Inc, Cooper Electric, Corning Glass, Crown Forklifts, Dana Driveshaft Mfg., Danaher Controls, DRS Power & Control Technologies, Dupont Performance Materials, Eaton Corp., Emerson Tool Co., Ford Motor Company, F & P America (Honda Parts), Freightliner Corporation, Geiger International Office Furniture, Gem Sensors, General Dynamics, General Electric, GKN Driveline Newton, LLC, Haas Automation, Inc, Halliburton, Hayward Pool & Spa Equipment, Henry Repeating Arms, Herman Miller, Inc, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi Cable America, Honda, Horton Fan Drives, HON Furniture, Hubbell Electrical Products, Hunter Douglas, Husqvarna /Poulan, Igloo Coolers, ITW – Diagraph MSP, JR Automation, John Deere, Johnson Controls, Johnson & Johnson, Johnson Outdoors, Kitchenaid, Knape & Vogt, Knoll Furniture, Kollmorgan Motion Tech, Lennox Industries, Lockheed Martin, Magna International, Magneti Marelli, Martin Guitars, Marshalltown Tools, Masco Cabinets, Moen, MOOG Inc., Mueller Fire Hydrants, Parker Hannifin Corp., Polaris Industries, Port-O-Cool, Purolator Products, Qualcom, Raytheon, Renewal by Andersen, Rheem, Rubbermaid (Newell Rubbermaid), Schneider Electric, Sioux Chief Manufacturing, SL Tennessee Co, Steel Case, Streamlight, Sturm Ruger & Co, Tesla, The Toro Co., Toyota, Transtar, Trimble Navigation, United Technologies (UTC), UTC Aerospace Systems, Vermont Castings and Harman, Wayne Fuel Dispensers – Div of GE Energy, Weil-Mclain, Whirlpool Appliance, Woodward, Vektek……and hundreds more

We hope you will be as pleased with the value and performance of our tool arms as the rest of our customers. Contact us and let us know. If you purchase an ETA product and are dissatisfied with it in any way, you are free to send it right back  for a refund.

And Thank you in advance for choosing ETA Tool Arms!