To torque or not to torque …

Howdy BPers — See attached image. My 10x15OS was delivered with this nut loose. I have been hand-tightening it but was wondering about whether or not it needs a good wrench tightening or a torque applied to it. Thoughts?

image: CnP_NutLoose_5430.JPG

CnP_NutLoose_5430.JPG

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On my C&P Craftsman, that nut tightens the retaining plate against a shoulder, so there’s no way to over-tighten it. I can’t tell from the photo if yours is the same, but it looks like it. As long as the bits and pieces still have a little wiggle room with the nut tight, no harm in tightening it.

With that said, there’s no need to torque the crap out of it, snug will be just fine.

And now, a fitting excerpt from the book ‘Linecasting Operator-Machinist’:

——-

TO JOHN WAGOUN,

dean of those jewel-like individuals, the conscientious free-lance linecasting machinists. John’s ending was sad and a little inglorious, but his life must have been rich and full with the satisfaction derived from intelligent and uncom- promising work on his beloved mah’ -sheen.

For the many who still inquire, John was born in Bohemia, served an apprenticeship as a boilermaker in that country, came to the United States a little before World War I, worked in the Mergenthaler factory, and eventually established a repair route, principally in South Dakota and southern Minnesota. He died in 1939 in Gettysburg, S. D., where he is buried.

This word of appreciation comes from one who has grunted many a time loosening a bolt that John had tightened — for he had that rare and priceless quality, a feeling for metal, the faculty of knowing exactly how far he could go without twisting off a bolt-head, and the stern control that kept him from going further. It still is possible to find machines in South Dakota that can, by the tightness of the bolts, be promptly identified as having been once in John Wagoun’s care.

The Simplest, Cheapest, Safest, and most durable would be a minute tube of *Threadlock* (akin to Superglue) but specifically for (funnily enough) THREADS.??? . . Does the job perfectly but will “break” if/when required.

Trying to be a little technically specific, with the original request in mind, I.E. to torque or not to torque, generally a bolt that size, doing that job, would need no more than 25 Foot Lbs.,/ 33 Nm. Newton Meters, Approx. of torque.

The C. & P. aint exactly in the same class as *The Big End bolts* on an “Indy Car” with several hundred H.P. pushing many thousand Revs.???

clean any oil from threads of both stud and nut. tighten wrench tight.
check for free play in arm/linkage.

Thanks gentlemen, scholars and pressmen. I am thankful to be a newbie with the army of BPers to call on.

Tony