Lefty loosey righty tighty

[Mr Celine]

There's nothing inherently "righty" about clockwise, which is "tighty". If you have a spanner in the 12 o'clock position, sure, if you push the free end right it turns clockwise. But if it's at 3 you push it down, at 6 you push it left, at 9 you push it up. So it could be right, left, up or down.

Use a ratchet then. Just make sure you start at 12 o'clock and don't go past 3 before winding the ratchet back.

 

[sungod]

most people are right-handed, and the 'natural' way to turn a screwdriver held in the right hand is clockwise, it works better anatomically when driving a screw in

hence the association of right with clockwise

my guess would be that the mnemonic arose as a simple way to help people without appropriate education/experience remember which way to turn a screw - removal of a tight screw relies on knowing which way to go, relying on trial and error is risky, "oh, it snapped"

 

[Paulus]

You mean right bearing cup?

That's the one, not the adjustable cup on the non drive side.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

The way t oundo it is ingrained in a lot of people

I used to live nextdoor to an engineer that worked for the local road department in North Wales

They had a problem with the emergency equipment bins along the A55
Teh idea was that emergency equipment - including road salt - was stored in bins along the road

but it kept getting stolen so when they needed it it wasn;t there

they wanted to lock it
but people needed to be able to open it if called out direct from home
the solution they came up with was a nut the same size as most wheel nuts - so any wheel brace from a car would open it

but they gave it a left hand thread

the theft stopped - a lot of them were VERY tight but the stuff was still inside

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Are you getting cranky about pedals?

 

[Yellow Saddle]

That's the one, not the adjustable cup on the non drive side.

Y0u mean the right bearing cup?

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Are you getting cranky about pedals?

Well, at least you didn't "crank arm" us.

 

[Profpointy]

It's like reaching under a car to undo the sump plug. It takes me about thirty seconds to figure out which way to turn the thing.

Turning off SCUBAA diving cylinder valves behind your head is something you need to get right in a lot less than 30 seconds!

You need to do this if you get a "free flow" (or leak) so you can turn off the offending part of your gear before all your gas disappears in a cloud of bubbles. You can the save (at worst) half your gas (usually a lot more) and ascend safely without further drama.

Anyhow righty-tighty/lefty-loosey matters a lot in this scenario

 

[Ian H]

Y0u mean the right bearing cup?

Commonly known as the fixed cup, from the days of cup & cone bearings.

 

[FrankCrank]

To be frank, this all sounds a bit cranky

 

[Dogtrousers]

Use a ratchet then. Just make sure you start at 12 o'clock and don't go past 3 before winding the ratchet back.

I think about 10 to 2 o'clock is probably the optimum range in which clockwise is "right". Outside that it's variously downy-tighty, lefty-tighty and uppy-tighty. There may be some towardsy-tighty and away-y tighty in there too.

 

[gbb]

It's like reaching under a car to undo the sump plug. It takes me about thirty seconds to figure out which way to turn the thing.

Yep me too. Working on my back under machinery, I always had to think before I did the deed, errr, is that clockwise or anti....

 

[Fastpedaller]

The Lefty....... etc irritates me so much I can't even type it. The digital clock reference could explain why youngsters may have trouble with 'clockwise', but hopefully youngsters will still 'learn the clock'. I've found it's often mature people who just don't get 'clockwise'.
The worst example I had was when a customer 'phoned me and said "my taps leaking and I want to turn off the stopcock to avoid wasting the water". Ok, thought I... "I seem to remember your stopcock is in the corner of the pantry, just turn the stopcock handle clockwise and it'll turn the water off"
Her reply "Is that towards the window?". My response "Just turn it clockwise". He reply "which way is that?". Exasperated, I just said "Turn it as much as you can one way, If water isn't coming out of that tap or any other you've done it"

 

[Fastpedaller]

To be frank, this all sounds a bit cranky

Many years ago a clubmate ruined a brand-new handbuilt frame. He planned to install the BB and turned the bike upside-down. You can guess what happened.

 

[Dogtrousers]

just turn the stopcock handle clockwise and it'll turn the water off"
Her reply "Is that towards the window?".

This is exactly the problem. Saying that clockwise is "right" makes as much sense as saying that it's "towards the window".

Other than maybe the "steering a car" example. Maybe you could have said "Imagine that the stopcock is a steering wheel ... Now turn right".

She would probably have drowned.