Does This Impress You?

[Alan Worland 1Participant @alanworland1]

I am always amazed at the amount people who are impressed with the alignment of screw heads in various items – the most obvious of which would be hinges/handles fittedto doors by a 'carpenter.

This indicates to me that either the screws have been over tightened or under tightened to achieve alignment!

Doesn't impress me, in fact it does the opposite!

I feel better for that

What do you all think?

Alan

[Alan Worland 1Participant @alanworland1]

[MACParticipant @mac53652]

Not impressed, I just think it looks better – and will continue to do it (on door fittings that is).

I'm sure there are better things to worry about .

[SpringbokParticipant @springbok]

Try and get a "carpenter" who would go to that sort of detail these days they are like hens teeth whilst fitting a door, you will be lucky if he beds the hinges in properly. Though must say when I open a door do not inspect the hinges am I missing out on one of life’s experiences.

Have a fun nice day in the workshop

Bob

[_Paul_Participant @_paul_]

I must be the obsessive type as I do make them all line up, always slightly tighter never loose.

How does one know when a screw is overtightened when tightening by hand? unless of course you use a torque wrench on them….but that would make you more obsessive than I

Regards

Paul

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

Is this a freeking wind up ?

John S.

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Don't get the wind up John S, but here's another story.

A couple of years before he retired back in the late 60's, my father changed jobs leaving a fairly large factory to continue being an electrician in the maintenance shop of a smaller establishment. The only other maintenance man was a (mechanical) fitter.

Not long after he started this new job, my father began to notice and to admire the very precise way in which the fitter went about any job he did, especially new installations. One task the fitter undertook was replacing existing factory wiring with fire-resistant pyrotenax cables. Every radius had to be perfect, every straight run had to be perfectly straight, and all the screw heads had to be at the same angle.

While making absolutely no difference to the performance of the factory, the fitter was obviously one of a dying breed, taking pride in the work he did.

Sam

[Ed DuffnerParticipant @edduffner79357]

When you work in a factory you tend to have more time to complete jobs. Cable radii are, or rather were determined by the IEEE reg's when I used to work to the 15th Edition and although I'd take my time getting cables straight and set a correct radius where required, I doubt I'd aline screw heads for pyro clips. I think that practice might border on an excessive compulsive behavior. Time is money as the say, when you're a tradseman.

[Donhe7Participant @donhe7]

Posted by John Stevenson on 03/03/2012 23:38:14:

Is this a freeking wind up ?

John S.

No, just Screwing with your mind ……….

donhe7

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

You will be hard pushed to find chippies these days aligning slots in hinges because We now use pozi headed screws, very rare to have slotted screws in hinges.

I will line up screws in door furniture/ironmongery if they are slotted and if brass & there is a risk of overtightening then try another screw until you get one that lines up without risk of snapping.

What anoys me more is the poor quality of a lot of screws supplied with even quite expensive fittings.

J

[Terry LaneParticipant @terrylane]

To take a leaf out of the olde gunsmiths' book – to do it properly the screws should be regulated so the slots fall to the right position at the right tension.

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Just goes to show how the passage of time interprets the message differently!

When I read Alan's first post I had no idea what he was talking about

It was only when I got to Sam and finally Jason's posts that I understood we were on about aligning slotted screw heads

Mind you I am a young 'un of only 47 years old !

John

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Oh I've also just had to look up the definition of "tyro" having bumped into it frequently in early editions of MEW I am reading at the moment

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

You are still older than me John

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

Is this not called, 'Finesse' doing a job to, the highest degree of excellence and finish?

Clive

[Stewart HartParticipant @stewarthart90345]

But how did they do it

I've pondered this one for some time having seen it on Mill Engines,

My only conclusion is that they first made the slotted screws with over thick head, tightened them upon the engine, marked the heads somehow, then thined the heads down with new slots that would line up.

Any advances on this.

Stew

[blowlampParticipant @blowlamp]

Seeing the screwdriver slot thing would bug me because I'd know that he'd have had to over tighten the screws to get them to align.

Like to have seen him do it with tapped holes into metal

Martin.

[Clive HartlandParticipant @clivehartland94829]

All old hat now as we use Skt/drive screws but years back I would have a job rejected if my slots were not all inline on an instrument side plates.

It did slowly die out but the habit lingers on still to this day.

I did it by screw selection as the slots were not all oriented the same to the thread. The screws were also sealed with wax to stop water entry.

Now with various types of finish on the screws we have a lot of trouble removing them due to corrosion, interaction between the plating and the castings being the problem.

Another problem with Cupro nickel screws was the heads popping off under tension.

Clive

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

“How does one know when a screw is overtightened when tightening by hand? unless of course you use a torque wrench on them?”

Easy – tighten ’til it shears then back off half a turn…

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by JasonB on 04/03/2012 07:50:18:

You will be hard pushed to find chippies these days aligning slots in hinges because We now use pozi headed screws, very rare to have slotted screws in hinges.

I will line up screws in door furniture/ironmongery if they are slotted and if brass & there is a risk of overtightening then try another screw until you get one that lines up without risk of snapping.

What anoys me more is the poor quality of a lot of screws supplied with even quite expensive fittings.

J

When my new Workshop door was fitted, by a "Professional", I noticed that most of the nice Brass screws in the Hinges were badly damaged. … The screws are Phillips cross-point, but he had managed to drive them with a Pozidriv bit in a powerful electric Drill/Screwdriver.

… You can imagine the mess that makes.

It took me twenty minutes to explain that there is a difference !!

MichaelG.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Lining the screws up was always done on high quality small boats. It was also done on guns, the purpose being safety – you could see at a glance if a screw was working loose.

Russell.

Edited By russell eberhardt on 04/03/2012 10:09:39

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Yes Michael I hate that too. Its strange that the usual head for wood screws is Pozi but the brass ones tend to use Phillips which do look very nice when not chewed up.

Easy remedy for those with screw alignment issued is to switch to Torx

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Posidrive/Phillips doubt if even 10% of the population know. There are some other variants too – we had a problem with some aircraft quality ones at £6 each

Adjusting head length is normal on clock screws – see many an article in ME.

Didn't Whitworth specify the handles on spanners (short) when he defined his thread system to make them monkey proof?

[Stewart HartParticipant @stewarthart90345]

Posted by russell eberhardt on 04/03/2012 10:09:02:

Lining the screws up was always done on high quality small boats. It was also done on guns, the purpose being safety – you could see at a glance if a screw was working loose.

Russell.

Edited By russell eberhardt on 04/03/2012 10:09:39

You see something similar on lorry wheels with the yellow plastic tags,

Stew

[Ian S CParticipant @iansc]

To fit a brass screw without marking it, first put in a steel screw, remove it, then put in the brass screw with a good fitting screwdriver. A lot of screws used here in NZ these days have Robertson heads, square hole, they seem to be easier to drive under power. Ian S C

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