Why do power drills have R and L?

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

The clocks being everywhere, doesn't mean people can read them (and know what 'clockwise' means. It could mean you care what time it is.).

[NY]

Most analogue gauges also use clockwise to indicate an increase in a quantity. I think every car I've owned has had the minor gauges (eg temp, fuel) with the high temp / full tank to the clockwise or right of the low temp / empty tank, and certainly the speedo and rev counter have been that way round. However I do recall seeing a car that had some gauges calibrated backwards.

Even after analogue clocks have gone out of fashion, analogue gauges in cars are still far more common than digital, even if in some cases the needle is replaced by a ring of LEDs which light up in sequence to indicate the "needle" position.

I wonder if we will ever get to a stage where *all* analogue displays (clocks, car gauges etc) are things of the past, and few people know what "clockwise" means.

I've just remembered: I've got a clock that is calibrated and runs anti-clockwise. It's for Old Peculier [sic] beer, so it's inevitable that it is designed to run in a peculiar direction, as a gimmick.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

Better than R and L, but I find the arrows better than either. Quicker to understand than translating letters/words.

BTW, my drills have straight arrows (for forward and reverse).

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

One of the more useful mental abilities is image manipulation. With that, it shouldn't make any difference.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

That's what I usually do. I hadn't noticed any markings until just now, after reading this thread when I noticed the arrows.

[Mark Lloyd]

The older ones. The newer (OPD) ones are forward threaded (although they have the old-style threads inside).

Another thing that is reverse-threaded is the wheel nuts on one side of a vehicle (apparently so the forward movement of the vehicle tightens them).

[Clare Snyder]

Just try to rudder steer something from the front some time and the answer will become VERY apparent!!!

[Commander Kinsey]

I'm not the idiot that needs to use R and L to describe rotation.

[Commander Kinsey]

There is no way to disprove this.

[Commander Kinsey]

Yes, a synonym for moron.

[Commander Kinsey]

One side of the soap for your arse and one for your face? Way too close together.

[Clare Snyder]

71 or 72 IIRC. Just about everone except Ford used left hand wheel studs or bolts at one time or another. My Hudson had LH threads. I know a friend's '57 Oldsmobile did. An old Caffy Hearse did. So did a '51? Pontiac I almost boight as a kid

[Clare Snyder]

Ever see a fish try to swim backwards? They CAN but it's not efficient

[Commander Kinsey]

Except sometimes running it the wrong way damages what you're working on.

[Commander Kinsey]

What on earth made you want to say "dry bum f*ck"? Is your apprentice gay or something?

[Commander Kinsey]

I usually assume you push the right button to go right, but my current drill has a lever, which you push left to go right. It would be like the indicator stalk in your car operating the other light to what you'd expect.

[Commander Kinsey]

Why do they do that? I've observed this on a gas bottle fitting, there were two consecutive things to screw into it. One was right hand screwed, the other left, which meant as you tightened one you loosened the other, rather daft.

[Clare Snyder]

Gauges that have the needle on the bottom generally tuen anti-clockwize.ome smiths tachs read backwards, as do some "Speedhut" GPR speedometers. Many vacuum guages also read backwards. The tach on a lot of industrial and Ag equipment is also backwards (Ford - New Holland for example)

Yes, I've seen bar clocks that run backwards, as well as clocks that are generally viewed in a mirror

[canaduh]

Ever see a VariEze?

[Clare Snyder]

yes. And a Long EZE .and a varriviggen The rudders are NOT on the front - only the elevators - on the Canard. The rudders are ALL behind the aerodynamic center and the center of drag. Even Rutan's Defiant with the "rhino Rudder" required HUGE stabilizer fins behind the C of G and it was basically a FAILURE. (He only built ONE, AFAIK. The Poagio Avanti and Hammerhead also have rear rudders

A rudder is a source of friction with the water or air. When on the front, besides providing a method of steering, it also makes the front end of the ship or airplane have a tendency to move slower than the rear, which would tend to make the craft's rear portion try to come around and lead the front end.