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What does loosening the screw mean on retainers?

What does turning a screw "to the right" or " to the left" mean?

  • When turning a jar top or screw to tighten or loosen it, I am usually told to turn it to the right or to the left. But this seems ambiguous. The screw or lid rotates; it does not move right or left. What direction do the hands of a clock move? When it is on the 3, the tip of it moves down. When it is on the 9, it moves up. When it is on the 12, it moves right. When it is on the 6, it moves left. But its other end does not move at all; it just rotates about the center of the clock face. In opening or closing a jar, the lid should be turned clockwise or counter-clockwise. Can you tell me exactly what saying turn it "to the right" or "to the left" means?

  • Answer:

    Take your right hand and form it with the thumb out as if you were going to hitch hike. If you turn the screw in the direction that your fingers curl, the screw will travel in the direction the your thumb points, it is a RIGHT HAND screw. Do the same with your left hand for a left hand screw. The vast majority of screws are right hand. "Turning to the right" is commonly referred to turning a right handed screw so that it inserts. Some applications of left handed screws. -turnbuckles; a right haneded thread at one end and a left handed on the other will draw together, or push apart depending in which way the nut (turnbuckle) is turned. These are used to tighten cables. -rotating machinery; a lefthanded screw may be necesarry if the motion of the turning part will cause a right handed screw to loosen.

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Yes, it is ambiguous. Many people use left and right when it shouldn't be used. Usually they are describing the movement left or right of the top of the screw or wheel as you look at it, as in a car's steering wheel. .

Donut Tim

that refers to the top. stop overanalyzing and overcomplicating things. yes, right and left may not technically be fitting but that's something that is common knowledge in english speaking countries so there's no need to fight it. Righty-tighty, lefty-loosy...pretty simple Clocks move right.

P

right=clockwise left=anticlockwise when looking down at the lid or the screw or whatever its the direction it is moving at the top of the circle, 12 o'clock

Lex

hi, read this with patience. In general threads may be in both forms. that is, left hand threaded, and right hand threaded. The same way clockwise,and anti-clockwise. clockwise means,(This stage forget anticlockwise and left hand thread) 1.Stand facing to the clock,its needle moves down at our right side,this direction is called clockwise. Assume the clock is laid horizontally on ground. Assume the jar top is laid its side. Try to turn the top as the clock needle moves. This is clockwise direction,when moved in this way the top get tightened on the jar. The threads getting tightened in the clockwise direction is called right handed thread. Anti -clockwise and left -handed threads exactly opposite to the above mentioned functions. hope u understood both. for normal use left hand threads are not used.

Hari K

Looking at the top of the screw turn it to the right means clockwise, turn it to the left means counterclockwise. You are right it is kind of ambiguous, but you could not use the saying righty-tighty, lefty-loosey if you didn't. LOL

protoham

I don't think it is ambiguous at all. You grab hold of the lid, and you either twist your hand right (clockwise) or left (anticlockwise). What can be clearer than that? I have never seen a jar lid that does not turn left to undo. They tend to follow the convention that screw threads are right handed (you turn it right to TIGHTEN), unless there is a special reason to use a left handed thread. In normal everyday usage, I can only think of a few left- hand threaded items offhand. 1. The screw securing a right- hand threaded chuck onto a drilling machine which is reversible, to prevent the chuck unscrewing when in reverse; 2. Some (especially older) cars/trucks that had left- hand threaded wheel nuts on the left hand side; 3. One end of a turnbuckle, so it can shorten or lengthen when turned.

Technobuff

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