When it is possible to make wingnuts that look like this:
Why would you ever make wingnuts that look like this?
The ones at the top are ‘German* Form’ and for a device that is intended to be tightened with finger and thumb, they are clearly better suited - nice, broad, flat surfaces, no sharp corners. Also, aren’t they just lovely?
But the ones at the bottom (‘American* Form’) are what we have; they are just uncomfortable to use for their sole intended purpose - indeed, to the extent that people have invented wrenches so they can be tightened without hurting yourself. Also, aren’t they ugly?
OK, it’s not impossible to find the good ones, but they are rare so you can’t just find them in any hardware store, and their rarity makes them expensive - even though they probably aren’t significantly more expensive or difficult to make.
*This isn’t about which country invented what; it’s just that the wrong format prevailed, and it makes me a little bit sad.
I don’t know if quantity of material is critical, but it certainly looks like the American one would be simpler to make. The wings just look like they could be cut from a long rod with with that cross section with minimal shaping.
The vast majority of wingnuts are purchased by somebody who isn’t the entity using them. Most of what’s wrong with the 21st Century can be laid at the feet of this agency problem.
The thing I like best about the German ones is how nicely the size markings are placed. Easy to see, easy to read, and easy to find. I’d bet the “A4” is stamped on both wings too. Contrast that with the cheap-ass Chinese version of American standard, where there are no size markings at all. What pot-metal crap.
I have to say that when I saw the thread title I totally assumed this was a semi-political rant about how of all the populist craziness in the USA, various European countries including the UK, Argentina, etc. Why, oh why, did we get the utterly know-nothing violent aggressive version of propaganda-susceptible wingnuts rather than something more benign and entertainingly eccentric.
I’ve never had a problem tightening an American wingnut as much as it needs to be tightened; or having it make my hands hurt. They’re generally on things that aren’t supposed to be cranked down harder than your hands can tighten them.
I was just recently watching an Adam Savage/tested video where he mentioned something similar to this. He’s working on the theory that the manufacturer knows how tight something needs to be and used handles/knobs that will allow the average person to tighten it that much. No idea if it’s right, but it makes sense.
Edit, here’s the clip of him mentioning that, in this case, talking about a pressure vessel.
I have - perhaps you have special hands or maybe you’re using larger sizes than me, but I’m obviously not alone in this, because wingnut spanners and wrenches and drivers exist in copious number and diversity, and ‘without hurting your fingers’ is a common phrase in the description.
If you buy a tapestry or embroidery frame, where the joints in the articulated stand are locked in place by wingnuts (not German Form), you often get a little wooden block with a slot in it, so you can tighten them without hurting yourself, or you can buy one separately:
I am prepared to concede that there might be a lot of applications out there where a wingnut has been used in a place that requires it to be tightened more than can reasonably be expected by hand - in my experience, I have most often encountered them on things that need to be tightened sufficiently to constrain an otherwise moving part - for example to pinch closed a socket in a ball-and-socket joint, or to tighten two pieces of wood together that, when the nut is loosened, turn freely on the shaft of the bolt, or to stop movement of a sliding or swivelling metal stay mechanism of some sort. In all of these applications, I’ve encountered cases where it just hurt to tighten it enough to lock it down.
But maybe that sort of supports the case that these should have been German Form wingnuts in those use cases; there would still be an upper limit on the torque, but it would be a bit more, and when that limit is reached, it’s a different phenomenon; it’s ‘oh, that’s obviously tight enough’, not ‘ow, the corners are hurting me’.
IMO a male of typical grip strength and not yet arthritic can totally clamp a wingnut down had enough for any use case where it’s a decent design choice of appropriate size.
Ladies of genteel manners, arthritics, or both? No friggin way. If you find wingnut wrenches included with various gizmos, consider the audience demographic before concluding the wingnut itself is the issue.
At the same time, since a #12 wingnut costs a penny more than a #8 wingnut, never underestimate the impact of the propensity to cost-cut. A #8 installed where a #12 is needed is a set-up for the user to not get adequate clamping. But at least the manufacturer got an extra nickel of margin across all 5 undersized nuts! A**holes.
The problem has never been grip strength. It’s about the pain that happens when metal corners dig into the flesh of the fingers applying the force. The American Form wingnut just has bad ergonomics.
YMMV of course , but that aspect has never bothered me. Clamp your fingers down hard and there’s no pain; you’ve already crushed all the flex out of the meat in your fingers.
I’m no muscle-head, in fact I’m kinda scrawny, but I did wrench on machinery for a lot years in my youth and have a fierce grip compared to the rest of my limited muscles. First take up all the strain in your finger-meat early, then torque seems like second nature to me.
The folks who don’t have that clamping pressure are the ones where the torque produces discomfort.
Overall, though you’re certainly correct that a craptacular crude Chinese version of an American-format wingnut will bite harder under less pressure than will a well-made German-format nut.
Duprekyns contracture (probably MSP?) causes Mr Wrek problems with wingnuts and probably a wrenchy type thing that could help the normal hand.
He survives. Cussing and blustering but alive none the less.
