Thread: shifters (adjustable spanners to the young folk)

Why are they re-inventing the wheel..errr I mean the thumb screw/wheel?

sometime ago I bought a Teng Tool 6 inch and ended up giving it away....cos the thumb screw/wheel rotated in the opposite direction ...pulling your thumb backwards closes the jaws ...compared to my Bahco's, Rothenberger's and Sidchrome's which opens the jaws.

it was pain in the but as I had become accustomed to going one way to open or close the jaws as required...the teng wanted to do it all the other way...
My lad has lost my two Rothenbegers so i thought I drop in to All tools and pick up a couple of Bahco's or any thing else good that went the RIGHT (even it is wrong) way...by alas the Bacho's they now have went the wrong way????? ..why, why why , just to be sure I went out to the van and check my 12 and 15 inch Bahco's etc...they went the right way...

bugga ...so off to another couple of joints...same thing with the Bahco's.

ended up going to Reece and picked up a couple 10in Rothenbergers...both going the right way!!...

are the manufacturers changing the way the thumb screw must rotate for any engineering reason?

or maybe they only had left handed shifters.....

ummmm turn it over?

They used to make one type for the northern hemisphere and the opposite type for the southern hemisphere...

As it is the market is too small to make separate shifters for the southern hemisphere the manufacturers have decided to only make the one style so they only make northern hemisphere types now and we have to try to adapt to using them... It is just economic rationalism at work...

North and South, Great

Shifters........ hate them. Do have a couple somewhere, but where I don't know. That's how often I use them.

Nev

Originally Posted by Stustoys

ummmm turn it over?

but then its upside down

Originally Posted by .RC.

They used to make one type for the northern hemisphere and the opposite type for the southern hemisphere...

As it is the market is too small to make separate shifters for the southern hemisphere the manufacturers have decided to only make the one style so they only make northern hemisphere types now and we have to try to adapt to using them... It is just economic rationalism at work...

I dont think thats right....

Originally Posted by eskimo

I dont think thats right....

It's not. The earth has actually started spinning the opposite way. That's why they changed the design.

Nev

LOL! I picked up a small universal rounding tool out of the bosses toolbox just the other day, and it took me about 30 seconds to work out why the hell it was opening instead of closing. At which point I abused him for buying a left handed shifter.

I thought it was just because it was a very cheap shifter with a 'made in India' sticker on it, but apparently not...

My shifters always go the wrong way. If I want to open the jaws,I think "close". If I want to close the jaws,I think "open". It works for me.
Russell

Originally Posted by eskimo

I dont think thats right....

The chaps who met me at the scraping class will vouch for my total and unbreakable honesty...

so there is no engineering reason..i knew we would all agree

I've got 8 Bahcos. 6 have left hand threads. The other 2 with their right hand threads feel arseabout. So RC, are they from the north or south?

They all come from the same Chinese factory. And it is a known fact, that they can't pronounce a "r", So the "RH thread" became a "LH" thread (transmitted over telephone).

Nick

Originally Posted by MuellerNick

They all come from the same Chinese factory. And it is a known fact, that they can't pronounce a "r", So the "RH thread" became a "LH" thread (transmitted over telephone).

Nick

good one Nick.