My old boss said to never use a torque wrench on small bolts. He was wrong.

He told me to just go by feel on anything under a quarter inch. Said wrenches were for big stuff only. Last month I had a stripped bolt on a Cessna 172 flap hinge. Cost me two hours to fix. Now I torque everything by the book. Anyone else get burned by bad advice like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

rodriguez.mia3d agoMost Upvoted

That's wild. What was his reasoning for the quarter inch rule, just old school habit?

simon_carr2d ago

Oh, I used to think it was just a silly old habit too. But he said it actually keeps the paper from jamming in the printer when you have that many sheets. The quarter inch gives the stack room to bend and feed through smoothly. Changed my whole view on it, honestly. Now I even do it at home.

wells.christopher2d ago

Wait, have you actually tested that with modern printers? I tried the fanning thing for a while and it made zero difference on my office printer. The real issue is usually paper weight or humidity. If your paper is too thin or damp, it's gonna jam no matter how you fan it.