Ken in Oklahoma wrote:Yes, of course. With my 11mm comment I was alluding to the fact that a 7/16 wrench is virtually the same size as 11mm.
Ah, OK. Other than this British beast I've run into too few 7/16" to notice that. The '86 I had was pretty much all-metric, so at least Lotus changed before then. My understanding is that the UK is still in eternal transition, having never officially adopted the metric system. Somebody correct me if I'm mistaken about that.
Ah yes, Whitworth fasteners. I think in hell only Whitworth fasteners are ever used. The size marked on the wrench refers to the diameter of the bolt, not the head. Even at the height of my Brit bike love affair I had difficulty picking out the correct wrench to use on the nut or bolt head.
But was there a common standard for what diameter equaled what head-size? A good sense of spatial processing should make it easy to visually identify the right one without reading the size. It's how I usually grab spanners, except for tiny ones that are less-easy to distinguish.
And then there's the rounded over threads which are ever so easy to strip.
You think that's bad, how about stripped allen-screws? My employer uses allens for damn-near everything, and often they are over-torqued at the factory. Many of the screws have a shallow domed head, with an accompanying shallow hole that strips really easily if they're too tight. The usual remedy is to find a Torx-driver bit slightly larger than the hex in question, lock it into Vise-Grips, then hammer it into the screw. It's usually not too difficult, but if the screw is into external panels and not near a sturdy point of support, it gets tricky. And I haven't had one in a spot with no room to swing a hammer...*YET*...
Ken[/quote]
