Sonic screw driver

wolram

Ok it is a doctor who tool, but vibration is notorious for loosening nuts bolts
screws, otherwise there would be no need for locking wire, spring washers
etc, so would it be possible to have a vibration producing tool that could undo stuborn fasteners, such a tool would be an invaluable tool for removing nuts/bolts/screws with damaged heads.

FredGarvin

Yup. It's called a hammer drill or impact wrench.

DaveC426913

A sonic screwdriver - that's a great idea Woolie. No, not like Fred is thinking, more like those supersonic Gillette razors. Let me know when you need seed money, I'll invest.

Danger

It's certainly plausible. There are a couple of potential problems that I can see, along with one extra benefit.
1) the physiological effect upon the operator; depending upon the frequency and intensity, it can cause severe discomfort or tissue damage; white-noise headphones or such might be needed
2) the effect of transmitted vibrations upon other components of the target machine; chips could be jarred loose, calibration screws moved, etc.
3) the side-benefit that I can see is that ultrasonics will heat the material as well as just shake it; there might be enough dimensional distortion to assist in the loosening, as when you apply a torch to a bolt

Too bad that there's no way to make it also tighten screws.

DaveC426913

I've never seen those marketed along with the Gilette razors...
(i.e. you can have ultrasound without pain/damage, though I don't know what freqs would loosen fasteners)

Theoretically, keeping it vibrating could stave off static friction long enough to get the fastener on tighter.

However, why would you want to? Fasteners, and the tools that fasten them, are designed (or correctly operated) to avoid over-tightening. You should not have to (or want to) tighten a fastener tighter than you can um tighten it.

Over-tightening is bad, but there's no such danger from over-loosening.

wolram

Here is some thing i did not know.

http://www.boltscience.com/pages/vibloose.htm

Danger

Keeping in mind that I design weapons... While I realize that some ultrasonic frequencies are unnoticeable to humans, there are definitely some that are unpleasant and even dangerous. It's even worse when harmonics get weird. When a friend of mine was testing out a preliminary circuit for an ultrasonic weapon that I designed, his wife had to leave the house and he was wearing white-noise headphones at about 60dB to keep it back. That was at less than half power from a 15VDC source.

It's not a matter of over-tightening anything; it's simply that it requires no physical effort on the part of the operator. Even with an electric screwdriver, you have to hold the thing in tight contact with the screw. That's more excercise than I care for.

Quit taking my name in vain.

Nice link, Woolie. I'm surprised that Nylocks rated so low. I've always used them or the spring washers instead of Loctite.

Averagesupernova

I have a really hard time believing that a spring type lockwasher actually AIDS in self loosening unless the parts involved (bolt, nut, washer, parts to be fastened, etc.) are the wrong fit to begin with.

FredGarvin

Most designers I know adimately swear that they are the work of the devil. I don't use them because that is the way I was taught. The number one reliability aspect of any bolted joint is to have the proper preload for that joint. I can't say I have ever heard that they help the loosening. I am going to do some looking around.

Bolt science is a good site. They have some nice information. They even have a section on errors found in text books and Machinery's Handbook.

Gokul43201

I wonder if something like a Tap Zapper would work for bolts.

Danger

And just what the hell, might I ask, is that? I've never heard of it. Almost sounds like a weird variation of a pick-gun.

Gokul43201

It's what I use if I break off a tap inside a piece of something.

Looks like it has many different names :

http://www.electroarc.com/index.cfm

Edit: I guess that site essentially answers my previous question.

Danger

And here I've been wasting my time with EZ-Outs.

triden

Why not just buy an 800ft-lb impact wrench :D

Kirill?tardis

Buy a sonic screwdriver toy,then replace the insides with your fantasy.

thomasxc

would not a sonic nut/bolt loosener require massive amounts of energy/intensity?

Kirill?tardis

Well. My previous post was kinda cheeky.
Technically a sonic screwdriver should contain an adjustable sonic waves emiter that would push the bolt/nut or whatever the other thing is...
To work like in DW it should also emit eloctromagnetic waves to affect the work of computers. Also it should possibly contain a tiny ( I mean really tiny-winy) magnetron to make light bulbs work (for example it is possible to light up a bulb in a micro oven without even being connected to it/even if the light bulb is NOT conected to a power source).
By the way I'm currently trying to work it out myself using paperwork/Lightwave 3D and tearing old marker pens apart(and replacing their insides with self made LEDs an other stuff).
P.S. Nice post by the way. =)