David Redszus wrote:Considering that the bolt tightening accuracy of a torque wrench is only +- 30%, does it really matter which torque wrench is used?
I "do" motorsports, engines and racing as an avocation only. I tend to quail when folks who do this for a living make such bold, seemingly dismissive, statements. Short printed word statements over distance give me no hint as to intent. I have no way to "read" body language or pick up on visual clues. As I sit in my "places" I tend to identify the things posted as personal. My first reaction was that I had just been confronted by an intellectual "bully" and to run away!
HOWEVER, as I intellectually tried to ponder the statement and all the things, many very technical and obtained at, I suspect, great cost, that Mr Redzsus has been willing to share, I reconsidered motive and intent. I hope that he is trying to be a teacher who asks me to challenge my perceptions or asks a leading, thought provoking queston to engage me instead of just a dry transfer of fact. To try and impart knowledge by guiding the discussion along, and maybe forcing me along a tangent, so that I may be profited thereby. To make me examine where my positions come from. It makes me ask, "do I have any good, logical or factual basis for what I think of as the facts that rule my actions?" or do I just do things on an emotional level? or because that is the way it has always been done-many times with seemingly positive results---and is that good enough?
In regards to "torque wrench-does it really matter which?" I at least have some answers, now, for ME. The tools I select and use are my
interface with the task. They connect my brain to the task via subtle feedback through my hands, eyes and ears. I have many different torque wrenches and kinds of torque wrenchs and use them to accomplish various things. By pulling on a torque wrench I can see, feel and listen to subtle clues about what I am applying force to. I can feel burrs, slight catches, not enough lube. Sometimes I am in positions where I can't accurately read the indicator. Other visual and auditory devices allow me to just do a smooth pull-I don't have to slow down the pull and try to read some dial or scale. The mechanical advantage of length helps me to be smooth. The balance and handle fit are important to the interface I am hoping to accomplish.
Then there is just the pure joy of using a tool. Of owning one that is designed for a specific task. This is my avocation. I can cut wire with and ax against a chunk of 2x4, but I do it better with a set of dikes and enjoy it much more. I can cook a steak with just a bonfire and a stick, but I much prefer using a barbecue. Man is a tool user and a tool maker. I like the connection that the "right" tool enables me to have with what I am doing. Finding the seeming right one is an adventure in itself.
So as far as the minutiae involved with the physics and limitations of the engineering of the parts I know too little about that to even have a clue if it really matters which is used. I can only stand on the feet of giants and hope to catch a glimpse of what they are seeing (because I can not even see their shoulders and their heads are far away seeing and seemingly understanding things far beyond my grasp.) There are just too many things to know. I hope to build on the knowing of others, but sometimes there is just the doing.
But for me, as a tool using being, yes it does matter what my interface with my task is-even if only at an emotional level, it does still matter-even if i do not have a full grasp of what is actually happening. By using the experience and guidance of others, who maybe DO know, I can hope to approximate their results. Those who do know have given me instructions, using the materials and tools they have asked us to have at hand, to accomplish the desired result. I get to pick the particular tool, of a type, that seems to work best for me. At this point in my abilites and limitations that may not be good enough to get the
best results, but it is all I can do until I can make the next step.
Being ask to confront how much I do not know is always daunting and sometimes painful. But the examination can be profitable.
Thanks for the teaching moment.