Safety
Wire
I didn't know anything about
safety wiring before I played with the CYB. It takes some time searching to
find some references
Safety
wire site
Blurb
on safety wire technics
Another
Blurb on safety wire technics - sportsbike rider article
This
image helped the most. It shows how the wire is wrapped such that attempting
to loosen one bolt would result in trying to tighten the other bolt. The only
way the bolt on the left could loosen would be to turn counterclockwise, but
to do that, the bolt on the right would have to turn clockwise. I.e. you'd have
to tighten the right bolt to loosen the left. And vice-versa, to loosen the
right hand bolt you'd have to turn the left bolt clockwise.
From an army manual on safety-wiring,
snarfed from the first link above: (my comments in italics)
- Using standard .032 nickel
coated safety wire, the twists should be 6 per inch I have seen anywhere
from 6 to 12 twists per inch. YMMV.
- Safety wire (also known
as lock wire) is used to prevent a fastening device from coming loose. IT
IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR A FASTENER.
- Safety wire must always
tend to tighten. If a bolt or screw that is tightened by turning it in a clockwise
direction, the safety installed on such a device must tend to pull in a clockwise
direction.
- Safety wire must be tight
when installed.
- Safety wire must be the
proper size. The wire must not scrape the sides of the hole as it is pulled
through, as this may remove the protective coating and allow corrosion.
- SAFETY WIRE MUST NEVER
BE OVERSTRESSED. Care must be taken when twisting safety wire together or
pulling it tighter not to tighten it so much that it will break under even
a light load. Making sharp bends or kinks in the wire must be avoided because
they produce stress points in the wire and could cause it to break.
- Safety Wire Pliers must
be used ONLY ON THAT PORTION OF THE WIRE THAT IS TO BE CUT OFF. Pliers on
wire make tiny nicks and cuts that appear insignificant. However, they are
quite large in proportion to the diameter of a .020 to .046 inch wire. If
pliers nick or cut wire, stress points are set up that will break under vibration.
Pliers also scrape the protective coating from the wire.
- Safety wire ends must
be secured. When the safety is completed, the remaining ends are twisted to
form a pigtail. It is standard procedure to wrap the pigtail around the part
being safe tied and tucked down out of the way.
- Torque value must never
be changed to obtain an ideal safety!
- NEVER REUSE SAFETY WIRE.
Just throw away your mistakes and try again. Safety wire is cheap.