31-12-2019, 05:51 PM
And talking of nuts and bolts.....
Immediately before Xmas I was in Mrs Watkins in Hereford stocking up on obscure fastenings when a new range of eye bolts caught my notice. I had been browsing in chandlers for suitable eye bolts to make up head/engine lifters, using the spark plug extensions discussed in the esteemed forum in the past, but without success. These looked perfect, and with just a quick brush from a reamer fitted into the extension, as illustrated. The debate on threads etc might have attracted the attention of experts who might comment on whether one nut at the bottom of the 8mm eyebolt will be strong enough for engine lifting. Would a second nut be necessary for strength, though obviously not needed as a lock nut. The threaded end will be shortened as required. There would of course be two of these lifting aids.
The mention of lock nuts might stir the memories of more senior forumists, when the correspondence pages and articles of Tubal Cain in the Model Engineer were torn by vigorous debate as the whether half lock nuts were desirable, should be inside or outside the main nut, whether lock nuts were necessary, and whether nylock nuts were a modern threat to civilisation.