DIY inch pound torquing scope mount

[timtiminy]

So I don't have a inch pound torque wrench but I remember from physics that torque is force x distance which in this case was 20in x 1lb for 20inch pounds. So I mounted my scope base using the torx wrench inserted into a wooden dowel with its length measured to 20in and a water bottle weighing a pound. Kept the scope base perpendicular to the floor and let the weight do the work. Here's a pic of the end result with the tools used :)
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e273/timtiminy/50D9E8DE-93F9-492D-89AF-894CFD2A23A0-3594-000001C97A421901_zps3294d205.jpg

[thomae]

So the end result is that everything ended up on the floor?

:rolleyes:

Since there is some flex in the wood, I would give each mounting screw a slight tweak to guarantee the 20 inch/pounds.

That is very similar to the way I measure trigger pull weight without a trigger scale.

Three cheers for ingenuity, MacGyverishness, Jury-rigging, Redneck Engineering, or whatever you wish to call it.

[timtiminy]

Lol, it did all end up on the floor... I thought about the flex but at one pound out 20" and the dowel being oak and not flexing much I didn't think it made a difference, even if it was flexing a bit more the weight is still 20" out pulling down at 1lb.

[DanSavage]

Nifty Tim, thanks for sharing!

[timtiminy]

: No problemo!

[stangfish]

That reminds me of when I was a kid and worked for a international production oilwell component manufacturer. We had to torque some tubing string stuff to around 5000 ft/lb's. So we had the 60 inch pipe wrenches with 10 more feet of pipe slide over the handle, the inspector would grab two of us younger fellas and get our weight. Calculate and mark the distance on the pipe. We would have the parts strapped into the elaborate pipe vice and we would hang off the pipe wrench extension until the inspector said we were good. One day this guy slipped and fell off so that bought this million dollar torquing machine that would twist 3 inch 1035 cold roll like a candy cane.