Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Hudgins
Folks,
There is one piece of equipment that is absolutely critical in any build. And it is a paint marker.
See Sharpie paint marker for an example.
As you build and do final assembly and a fastener is torqued to spec the last time mark it as such with the paint marker... |
Richard is right on as usual. In the aerospace biz we call that torque-striping. Anything that gets torqued gets a torque-stripe, and it is applied right across the mating surface boundary. We then shake, rattle and roll the hardware to simulate the ride up - early shuttle vids show those guys being bounced around like they're on a circus ride. We then inspect those fasteners afterwards and see if we have a broken torque-stripe (rotational slip). If we do then we know it wasn't torqued properly or the torque spec was too low. You can do the same thing after your 1st cobra indoctrination on pavement. Just because it didn't break on that 1st trip doesn't mean something hasn't loosened up.