The Useful Reason Why Milwaukee Sockets Are Square

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The Milwaukee Electric Tool Company might be better known for its high-quality power tools, but it also manufactures plenty of hand tools and other non-electric gear and accessories. The brand sells products across a wide range of disciplines, including woodworking and plumbing, as well as automotive, mechanics can find a variety of wrenches, ratchets, and sockets made by Milwaukee.

When you come across Milwaukee-brand sockets, you might notice that, rather than having a cylindrical round shape, they have a square shape. Milwaukee calls its square-socket design Four Flat, which makes sense, considering their four flat sides. However, this is just the sockets' outside shape, as on the inside, they're still round and perfectly compatible with any fasteners or ratchets that traditionally work with round sockets, as long as they're the right size.

Milwaukee doesn't make square sockets solely to stand out from the competition. The reason Milwaukee sockets are square is that it keeps them from rolling away, an annoying habit round sockets tend to have. It can be incredibly frustrating and impede your workflow if a socket rolls behind a heavy workbench, or, if you're working under a car, rolls away from you to who knows where. With a Four Flat design, a knocked over socket isn't likely to go anywhere, and using square sockets is one of the ways to organize the tools in your garage and keep it tidy.

Milwaukee primarily markets its Four Flat sockets for their anti-roll capabilities, but there are other perks to using the square design. An added benefit to square sockets is that, unlike traditional round ones, they can be used with open wrenches if necessary. Ratchets are often preferrable to U-shaped wrenches since they can work in tighter spaces, but, if for whatever reason a wrench is your only option, you'll be glad to have flat-faced sockets on hand. A third benefit of using square sockets is that they're easier to grip by hand than round ones, which can be important if you're using gloves or have greasy fingers.

You can find Milwaukee's Four Flat sockets as part of several different Milwaukee mechanics and socket sets, such as the massive Milwaukee 191-piece Mechanics Tool Set. Despite the perks of using flat-faced sockets, Milwaukee may not be one of the best major socket set brands, but the manufacturer has a strong reputation for its power tools. If you're tired of the manual labor that comes with loosening and tightening fasteners, Milwaukee produces multiple electric cordless ratchets, such as its M12 ⅜-inch Sub-Compact Cordless Ratchet w/ Variable Speed Trigger, which is compatible with ⅜-inch sockets, including, of course, Milwaukee's Four Flat options.

If you're wondering whether or not you should go out and replace your existing standard socket set with a set of square ones, you don't need to rush. Because the interior of square sockets are still the same as round ones, both types are functionally the same and will perform the same, depending on the quality of the manufacturer, of course.

Since the interior of Milwaukee's square sockets are still the standard shape that fits most fasteners and ratchets, they can also conveniently be used with tools made by other brands. Just remember that, like round sockets, square sockets must be paired with the same size drive. A Four Flat Milwaukee ½-inch socket will fit any standard ½-inch ratchet but won't fit a ⅜-inch tool, just as a ⅜-inch round socket wouldn't. Milwaukee's Four Flat sockets come in ¼-inch, ⅜-inch, and ½-inch drive sizes, across a range of socket sizes in both SAE and metric. Standard and deep well sockets are both available.

Square sockets are really only better than round ones when it comes to convenience, since they won't roll away from you and they're easier to grab by hand, or if you only have an open-ended wrench on hand. However, that extra convenience might be worth it to you to replace your existing round socket set with one of Milwaukee's. It also makes you wonder why more tool brands haven't bothered to introduce a square design into their own sockets.