• BCsven@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      They mean is the wrench handle moving left from the 12 o’clock position or left from the 6 o’clock position. You would not believe how many people struggle with lefty righty because of start location.

      I defer to clockwise and counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise in UK). Except for new gen that never learned analog clock stuggles with this concept also.

      Then they encounter a Left Hand thread and the universe implodes

      • MrShankles@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Shit, a standard thread feels natural to me, but a left hand thread still fucks my life up sometimes — trying to notice what’s going on before I strip it.

        My grill can connect to those camping propane tanks, but it’s threaded opposite… gets me every time

        • Bertuccio@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          I have left-hand threaded fittings on a few things and always say to myself aloud “This is reverse-threaded” before I attempt to turn them then still fuck up first turn. It doesn’t stop me from fucking it up the first time - it just helps me remember why.

          When I train new people on this equipment I tell them to say it aloud, show them, still fuck up the first turn, then they laugh.

          Then I have them do it in front of me including saying it aloud - and they fuck up the first turn…

          When you’ve been doing something unconsciously for decades it’s really hard to break.

        • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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          1 month ago

          I think it was old Chryslers had opposite lugnuts, I can only imagine how many stripped threads happened

    • corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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      1 month ago

      I love how half the people in this thread are under-thinking it and don’t seem to understand they’re doing so. I wonder whether it’s a bit.

    • gerdesj@lemmy.ml
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      1 month ago

      So where do you put the rest of your helices on a cylinder or cone, in 2D? In Flatland a screw or bolt becomes a circle with a short hair. The whole point of “leftie loosy” is to try to help with reality as we perceive it.

      Try it the next time you are underneath a car wielding a socket spanner with a taped on extension thingie that you jury rigged whilst trying to shift a hex nut at 45 degrees to reality that you cannot see, with oil dripping in your eye. Obviously the oil is a mix of the 30 year old native stuff loosened up with the WD40 that might break the rust lock.

      I suggest you do think abut things in 3D and don’t forget the other dimension (time). That WD40 needs time to break the rust lock.

      “Leftie loosy” isn’t for keyboard worriers - its for engineers and technicians, plumbers, and the rest and obviously for DiYers.

      When you are knackered and pissed off and you need to shift a fucking nut or bolt or whatever, you need incantations to get you back on track.