Warning: I was torquing every single coax connector to spec and it was a huge waste of time

For years, I followed the book to the letter on a CRJ-200 line. Every D-sub, every TNC, every BNC got the full torque wrench treatment. I figured tighter was always better for signal integrity. Then, about six months ago, a senior tech from our Miami base watched me spend 20 minutes on a simple radio tray swap and just shook his head. He said, 'You know half of those are just mechanical, right? The torque spec is for the ones that actually seal. You're burning hours for no reason.' It blew my mind. I looked it up in the component manual and he was totally right. I'd been adding at least an hour to every big job. Now I only torque the critical ones. Has anyone else had a moment like this where a 'best practice' was actually just a big time sink?

2 comments

2 Comments

grantthomas25d ago

Oh man, that's a classic. The manual is your friend, but you gotta know which pages to read twice.

christopherwilliams25d ago

It's like how the best cooking recipes always hide the important step in the middle of a paragraph.