this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2024
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The world has a lot of different standards for a lot of things, but I have never heard of a place with the default screw thread direction being opposite.

So does each language have a fun mnemonic?

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[โ€“] masterbaexunn@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Don't think about it in 3d space.

[โ€“] BCsven@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

They mean is the wrench handle moving left from the 12 o'clock position or left from the 6 o'clock position. You would not believe how many people struggle with lefty righty because of start location.

I defer to clockwise and counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise in UK). Except for new gen that never learned analog clock stuggles with this concept also.

Then they encounter a Left Hand thread and the universe implodes

[โ€“] MrShankles@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Shit, a standard thread feels natural to me, but a left hand thread still fucks my life up sometimes โ€” trying to notice what's going on before I strip it.

My grill can connect to those camping propane tanks, but it's threaded opposite... gets me every time

[โ€“] Bertuccio@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago

I have left-hand threaded fittings on a few things and always say to myself aloud "This is reverse-threaded" before I attempt to turn them then still fuck up first turn. It doesn't stop me from fucking it up the first time - it just helps me remember why.

When I train new people on this equipment I tell them to say it aloud, show them, still fuck up the first turn, then they laugh.

Then I have them do it in front of me including saying it aloud - and they fuck up the first turn...

When you've been doing something unconsciously for decades it's really hard to break.

[โ€“] BCsven@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 month ago

I think it was old Chryslers had opposite lugnuts, I can only imagine how many stripped threads happened

[โ€“] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

I love how half the people in this thread are under-thinking it and don't seem to understand they're doing so. I wonder whether it's a bit.

I assure you Iโ€™m only thinking of it in two dimensions.

[โ€“] gerdesj@lemmy.ml -3 points 1 month ago

So where do you put the rest of your helices on a cylinder or cone, in 2D? In Flatland a screw or bolt becomes a circle with a short hair. The whole point of "leftie loosy" is to try to help with reality as we perceive it.

Try it the next time you are underneath a car wielding a socket spanner with a taped on extension thingie that you jury rigged whilst trying to shift a hex nut at 45 degrees to reality that you cannot see, with oil dripping in your eye. Obviously the oil is a mix of the 30 year old native stuff loosened up with the WD40 that might break the rust lock.

I suggest you do think abut things in 3D and don't forget the other dimension (time). That WD40 needs time to break the rust lock.

"Leftie loosy" isn't for keyboard worriers - its for engineers and technicians, plumbers, and the rest and obviously for DiYers.

When you are knackered and pissed off and you need to shift a fucking nut or bolt or whatever, you need incantations to get you back on track.