Is There a Trick to Tightening the Screws on Handy Helpers? Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

[elkpass]

I am new to electronics, and purchased a helping hands, exactly like the one sold here at Adafruit, at Fry's. I find that I can't tighten the screws tight enough to keep it from flopping under it's own weight. I've tried using pliers to hold both the screw and the wingnut with no luck. Is this normal? Is there a trick to using these that I'm just unaware of? Everybody else says they work pretty well, so I'm sure it's just operator error but I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong. Thank you.

[adafruit_support_mike]

Check to see if the bolts are full-thread or half-thread.

As the name suggests, half-threaded bolts are only threaded partway down the shaft. The rest is just a rod. They're slightly stronger, but you often reach the end of the thread just when you need another turn or two.

Try replacing the bolts and wingnuts with full-threaded ones of the same size.

[elkpass]

Thank you Mike. They are indeed half thread. Thank you for the tip about replacing the bolts and wingnuts, that's a great idea. Thank you!