I used to post tips based upon recent repairs that had come across the bench. As I am temporarily doing the repairs that come in, I thought I might resurrect this for a bit. Today's topic
SCREWING
Based upon several of the repairs that have come in lately it occurs to me that we have emphasized soldering skills so much that builders have abandoned any knowledge acquired of how a nut and screw work. A screw and nut are called fasteners. That is because they are intended to fasten things together. This is done by putting the nut on the screw thread and then tightening the nut snugly. Now, while most folks seem to comprehend the first part, there seems to be a general lack of knowledge of how to do the second part. The trick is in actually tightening the nut. Grab the nut with pliers or the proper size socket and tighten the screw into it. It's a pretty miraculous thing that happens when you do. Instead of the screw and nut simply being a wobbly hanger which falls apart in shipping, when the nut is tightened the screw and nut actually FASTEN the part to the chassis and stay that way.
In the best cases all that will happen if you don't tighten down your hardware is you will see me posting this kind of rant after I have tightened 15 or 20 loose screws on your amp. In the worst case you will be getting an email with a photo from me because your plate choke and output transformer fell off in shipping and broke your base, made a big gouge in the process, scraped your meticulous paint job and ripped out the connecting wires.
So please take a little extra time and pride in your work and tighten those nuts down as you go. You don't have to Herc them until they snap the screw, but make sure they are snug enough against the lock washer that the amp can't shake apart on a UPS truck ride across the country.
