[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] [New Search]
On 13 May 2004 at 18:18, Toby Erkson wrote: > Black anodized, 4mm hex button heads with stainless steel washers > underneath...looks good against my bright orange engine tin ;-) I assume you mean 6mm. ;-) Button heads look very nice, but they are the absolute pits as far as torquing goes. They have a smaller hex than a regular socket head, AND the hex is shallower. The smaller the hex, the greater the pressure on the flanks of the hex (for a given torque) so that the pressure on a normal socket head is already twice that on a standard hex head. Move to a button head, with the even smaller, shallower socket, and you get about 3 times the pressure on the steel to generate the same torque. And now you understand why the sockets tend to round out so easily. They're really nice in places where they're really needed, but elsewhere they will just cause you headaches. OTOH, switching to ordinary hex heads is an approach with no down side that I can see, other than the minimal cost of the hardware. -- ******************************* Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org Madison, Wisconsin, USA ******************************* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org