Wrench for White Eccentric Hub?

RE/
I've never needed to use a wrench on the axle of mine. I just turn it
by hand, and tighten the left axle nut first, since that is the one
where friction on the threads tends to rotate the axle in the direction
that tightens the chain.

I tried doing it a few times by hand, but couldn't make it happen... maybe more
practice...

Meanwhile, a piece of flat steel, a hand-held grinder.... it's not pretty, but
it does the job.

Tangental issue: seems like brake pad alignment can get really wacked depending
on whether the chain slack is taken up the same way to the same degree. I think
there's a sidewall blowout lurking here for Yours Truly...
--
PeteCresswell

jim beam wrote:

that's a beautiful machine!

any issues using the biopace with fixed chain tension?


I used the same idea with my fixie. No problems at all, but I was
careful to get an accurate chainline.

--
Ted Bennett
Portland OR

Rick Onanian wrote:


It sounds like you have quite a delicate wrist, however; the screw
that holds a card in (or any other screw in a computer) isn't strong
enough to require much force before it breaks.


I was exaggerating a bit there, but believe me, I had to get a screwdriver
with a full-size handle on it as my usual repair kit screwdriver didn't
allow me to get enough torque on it. It was TIGHT.

Greg

Rick Onanian wrote in message . ..
On 5 Mar 2004 00:50:42 -0800, (Carl Fogel)
wrote:
Some nominal 5mm nuts on computers, for example,
actually had several variants over the years,
and some wouldn't fit inexpensive 5mm nutdrivers,
which weren't big enough.

Are the nuts in question those that are actually bolts with threaded
holes in the head, as used for motherboard risers and serial port
securers? When I worked in retail PC service, I found that they
existed in two sizes, one metric (5mm) and one standard (3/16").

I always used cheap nut drivers -- in fact, a 1/4" square drive
socket on a 1/4" hex drive - square adapter (which then usually
went into my craftsman 3.6v cordless driver, perfect for computers,
and of course my boss liked it so much he outfitted the store with a
few of them). Most of nuts worked fine in both sockets, but I don't
remember ever seeing a nut too big for either of the sockets in
question. Maybe my inexpensive sockets were very tolerant.

Hey, I just realized one thing we could have done to help prevent
the users from screwing out the serial/parallel/vga/etc ports, which
they often did by over-tightening the cables attached to them
(regardless of verbal or written instructions)...Loctite! Doh!

Dear Rick,

Also known as turret screws. Along with case
screws, they show surprising variety in nominal
size, as well as interior and exterior threading.
You'll meet more sizes as you get into specialty
parts. People who make the only machine of its kind
tend to cobble it together with odd screws.

Unbelievably, electronics parts can include most
of the sizes the table below. Some of the range
is due to imbecile design ("Don't you carry a
13/64ths?"), and the rest of it is due to badly
machined parts ("The sides slope inward? The head
is a little irregular? Is that a problem?").

thousandths nominal size
of an inch size increase
(rounded) (more accurate)
0.156 5/32" 0
0.157 4.0mm 0.0012
0.172 11/64" 0.0144
0.177 4.5mm 0.0053
0.188 3/16" 0.0103 "small"
0.197 5.0mm 0.0094
0.203 13/64" 0.0063
0.217 5.5mm 0.0134
0.219 7/32" 0.0022
0.234 15/64" 0.0156
0.236 6.0mm 0.0018
0.250 1/4" 0.0138 "large"
0.256 6.5mm 0.0059
0.266 17/64" 0.0097
0.276 7.0mm 0.0100
0.281 9/32" 0.0057
0.295 7.5mm 0.0140
0.297 19/64" 0.0016

Notice that the mix of U.S. sizes (look for ignition
wrenches) and small metric sizes has no gaps of even
a fiftieth of an inch.

Supposedly, only 1/4 and 3/16 are common, but over
the years oddball manufacturers must have gotten
deals on either weird sizes or else badly machined
stuff.

Usually, a 4.5mm, a 3/16, a good 5mm (cheap ones
are often too tight), a 7/32, and a 1/4 will disassemble
what I run across, but I've met strange stuff in the
way of medical computer equipment that had me reaching
for other sizes until one fit well enough to work.

Larger sizes like the 5/16 are rarely much trouble.

Remember, the computer industry is so idiotic that
it offers us two common case and drive mounting screw
types, usually called fine and coarse.

On a bad day, the fine-thread screws are just small
enough to go by mistake into the holes machined for
coarse threads--and then refuse to come out. The force
of your screwdriver turning them is enough to push
them right back in.

Carve a slot in the end of an old L-shaped i/o slot
cover plate, wiggle it under the hard-to-get-at
fine-thread screw that someone mistakenly pushed
into a coarse-thread hole, and pull up gently
while turning the screw with a screwdriver.

As for preventing the turret screw from backing out
when unscrewing the screw that goes into it, my two
solutions a

a) When tightening originally, run the screw in
gently back and forth a few times and then finally
back it out half a turn. It's only holding a cable
housing in place, so doesn't need to be torqued down.

b) Keep a pair of miniature curved needlenose pliers
handy to grab the turret screw if it starts to come
out.

Carl Fogel

Rick Onanian wrote in message . ..
On Fri, 05 Mar 2004 23:23:04 GMT, "G.T."
wrote:
Rick Onanian wrote:
Are the nuts in question those that are actually bolts with threaded
holes in the head, as used for motherboard risers and serial port
securers? When I worked in retail PC service, I found that they

So you're one of those overkill guys? I just got done spraining my wrist
trying to get a screw off so I could remove a SCSI card from someone's
computer today.

No, the screws that hold cards in need not be particularly tight.

It's the nut/screws in the back of serial/parallel/vga ports, to
which a cable is secured to prevent it from falling off the port,
which need extra tightness; users tend to screw those cables in
excessively, and when they unscrew the cable, it pulls the
nut/screws right out of the port rather than unscrewing the cable
from those nut/screws. Then, if the port is on a cable (rather than
soldered directly to a board), it proceeds to fall into the depths
of the computer; this is because that nut/screw also holds the port
to the plate on which it is mounted.

It sounds like you have quite a delicate wrist, however; the screw
that holds a card in (or any other screw in a computer) isn't strong
enough to require much force before it breaks.

Dear Rick,

Remember Paul Mace's law for working on computers:
back off if the heels of your shoes start to come
off the ground.

Of course, this rule of moderation doesn't apply to
encouraging badly designed sheet-metal and plastic
cases to come apart.

After you've reassured yourself that you really have
removed all the screws and that the case really should
come apart in a particular direction, it may be both
necessary and enjoyable to give the goddamn thing a
few slaps in the chops.

Carl Fogel

On 5 Mar 2004 21:59:58 -0800, (Carl Fogel)
wrote:
Also known as turret screws. Along with case

Hah! All these years and I never knew they had a name.

You'll meet more sizes as you get into specialty
parts. People who make the only machine of its kind
tend to cobble it together with odd screws.

Good point -- I rarely saw anything other than average consumer
computers.

0.156 5/32" 0

Come to think of it, I do recall using a 5/32" a few times.

0.250 1/4" 0.0138 "large"

....and the 1/4" was occasionally found as motherboard standoffs.

what I run across, but I've met strange stuff in the
way of medical computer equipment that had me reaching
for other sizes until one fit well enough to work.

I had universal tools (variety of pliers, locking pliers, screw
extractors, etc) for the occasion when I found odd fasteners. I'd
then replace the fastener with a standard one.

Remember, the computer industry is so idiotic that
it offers us two common case and drive mounting screw
types, usually called fine and coarse.

This is a good thing. The coarse thread screws often came in a
"self-tapping" variety, which was sufficiently self-tapping to make
a stripped fine-screw-hole into a proper coarse-screw-hole. We tried
to buy cases that used more fine thread than coarse; then, when a
customer strips it, we could simply replace it with a coarse screw.

On a bad day, the fine-thread screws are just small
enough to go by mistake into the holes machined for
coarse threads--and then refuse to come out. The force
of your screwdriver turning them is enough to push
them right back in.

They come out easily enough with an electric screwdriver with a
magnetized head; the magnetized tip provides sufficient pulling, and
the powered screwdriver does the turning smoothly, allowing you to
finely modulate the speed at which you pull the screwdriver away. It
sounds tough, but is pretty easy after some practice.

Alternatively, needlenose pliers never fail.

Carve a slot in the end of an old L-shaped i/o slot
cover plate, wiggle it under the hard-to-get-at
fine-thread screw that someone mistakenly pushed
into a coarse-thread hole, and pull up gently
while turning the screw with a screwdriver.

That's a cute one. Similar to pushing on the other end of the screw
while turning it, but easier.

As for preventing the turret screw from backing out
when unscrewing the screw that goes into it, my two
solutions a

a) When tightening originally, run the screw in
gently back and forth a few times and then finally
back it out half a turn. It's only holding a cable
housing in place, so doesn't need to be torqued down.

b) Keep a pair of miniature curved needlenose pliers
handy to grab the turret screw if it starts to come
out.

Hah! Tell it to the user. I never tighten the cable housing screw
snug; I thread it very loosely until it stops, if I thread it at
all. It's the users coming in with their parallel port dangling
dangerously close to their video card's circuitry...and sometimes
the nut that went on the other end of the turret screw has fallen
out of the port's backside, and I have to dig for it -- if I'm
lucky, under the motherboard, and if unlucky, in the power supply.

Of course, then, if they didn't even notice the missing turret
screw, they get the computer back with it replaced and call us
because they can't get their cable attached (because, in fact, the
missing turret screw is attached to the cable).
--
Rick Onanian

Rick Onanian wrote:
On 5 Mar 2004 21:59:58 -0800, (Carl Fogel)
wrote:

Also known as turret screws.

Hah! All these years and I never knew they had a name.

Every nut, bolt and screw I touch could be called turrets -- because when I
strip 'em I let out an uninterrupted string of curses and cusses!

Bill "syndrome" S.

"S o r n i" wrote in message
...
Rick Onanian wrote:
On 5 Mar 2004 21:59:58 -0800, (Carl Fogel)
wrote:

Also known as turret screws.

Hah! All these years and I never knew they had a name.

Every nut, bolt and screw I touch could be called turrets -- because when
I
strip 'em I let out an uninterrupted string of curses and cusses!

Bill "syndrome" S.


Duuuuuuuude.

Greg

RE/
http://sheldonbrown.org/rambouillet

*Very* aesthetic.
--
PeteCresswell