[TowerTalk] bolts and nuts

[Al Williams]

Boy, (or is it Man or Person?) am I confused about how to tighten nuts on a
bolt.  I thought that the purpose of a torque wrench is to somehow measure
compression being applied to the members being tightened by the bolt and
nut.  Now if I read these postings correctly, the torque wrench measures the
torque resistance of the bolt threads to the nut threads and the nut face to
the washer (or member) face!  This would seem to indicate that the size and
shape of the threads, washer and nut faces determine the torque reading
rather than the compression being applied?  What is meant by preload?  BTW,
is it tensile preload or a compression preload--it has been many years since
my physics courses!

k7puc


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