Re: Tightwad makes light do double duty
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:39 pm
by Old Growth
Cost savings of using an LED light for years to come,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, $5
Cost of heavy welding amperage draw while welding LED light mount,,,,,,,,,,,, $7.50
Actual savings,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, -$2.50 in the hole!
The satisfaction of being a cheap bastard,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,$Priceless!
Re: Tightwad makes light do double duty
Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 8:19 am
by PMB
I received an email question about why the lag bolt broke if I pre-drilled the holes for all 4.
I drill a hole for a lag bolt that is always smaller than the shank.
Lag bolts are famous for their lack of consistent sizing and for the inherent weakness in their thread design. They're not meant to be structural in nature despite their constant use for things like that. They are wood screws, not a grade 2 bolt.
Wood screws rely on 2 things for their holding strength- the geometry of the thread and the gription of the wood fibers squeezing down on it.
The geometry of the thread factor is just like a machine nut and bolt... The nut doesn't "grip" the shank of the bolt, but rather blocks the path for the bolt to slip out.
The gription of the wood is what holds a nail in place. In soft woods we don't pre-drill a hole for a nail (not in construction usually, anyway.) You do have to predrill for a nail when the wood is hard, but the hole is -always- smaller than the shank of the nail if it is expected to hold at all.
So lag screws are a chimera of sorts. It's important to me that the hole be at the Goldilocks spot, and I probably erred towards the little bear in this case.
Too small.

Too big.

I want to see the shank of the lag screw behind the shank of the drill bit, but not too much of it.

Just about right.
