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nocarbud
nocarbud New Reader
8/21/09 6:09 p.m.

Ok, so how many inch pounds are in a foot pound? Please don't tell me its as easy as 12 inch pounds equals a foot pound.
I got a torque wrench at an auction for 5 bucks and it is in inch pounds... Its pretty big. It reads up to 3600 inch pounds I think. Was wondering what it was in foot pounds. Thanks!

Tighe
Tighe New Reader
8/21/09 6:11 p.m.

12 inch pounds do in fact equal one foot pound.

NYG95GA
NYG95GA SuperDork
8/21/09 6:12 p.m.

Divide foot pounds by 12 to establish inch pounds, multiply inch pounds by 12 to determine foot pounds.

wlkelley3
wlkelley3 HalfDork
8/21/09 6:16 p.m.

Yep, it's that easy. 12 inch-pounds equals 1 foot-pounds. So your 3600 inch-pound torque wrench will go to 300 foot-pounds. 3600/12=300

ignorant
ignorant SuperDork
8/21/09 6:17 p.m.

hint. http://joshmadison.com/software/convert-for-windows/ <-- all the engineers I know, me included use that..

cause we're lazy.

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess SuperDork
8/21/09 6:57 p.m.

Lessee: 3600 inch lbs / (23832/1986) = 300 ft lbs

(23832/1986) is the Secret Conversion Factor (SCF)

mel_horn
mel_horn Dork
8/21/09 7:00 p.m.

Depends how big your feet are.

I remember a BKliban cartoon showing "Converting Feet to Meters" with a scientist with a table full of severed feet replacing them with, well, meters.

And thank you ignorant for the conversion table, BTW.

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess SuperDork
8/21/09 7:57 p.m.

Go to www.drhess.net, then clip-n-saves, then converting spring rates. Once you understand dimensional analysis, no problem like this will ever give you trouble again.

I've been using that Convert program for ten years at least. It's great. I think I even have mine converting Smoots.

nocarbud
nocarbud New Reader
8/22/09 6:27 p.m.

Thanks! I had a feeling it was that easy, but I was just guessing, and that usually gets me in trouble.

porksboy
porksboy Dork
8/22/09 6:49 p.m.

I suggest you have that wrench calibrated. While consistancy is a big part for using a tourqe wrench when you are tourqing a valve body 24 inch-pounds its noce to be able to trust the wrench to be at least close.

I could realy use that converter on my shop computer, too bad I cant access the net on it.

wlkelley3
wlkelley3 HalfDork
8/22/09 8:47 p.m.
porksboy wrote: I could realy use that converter on my shop computer, too bad I cant access the net on it.

I've also had that convert program for several years and have it on all my computers. It's a great program. It's only one file and back when I got it fit on 1 floppy disc so you can download it and put it on a disc, cd or thumb drive to copy to your shop computer.

I had an older version, just downloaded the latest and it includes more tabs. New version is still less than a meg.

914Driver
914Driver SuperDork
8/23/09 8:12 a.m.

http://www.onlineconversion.com/

RedS13Coupe
RedS13Coupe Reader
8/23/09 8:51 a.m.
ignorant wrote: hint. http://joshmadison.com/software/convert-for-windows/ <-- all the engineers I know, me included use that.. cause we're lazy.

Actually, you can just type it into google and it will convert almost anything.

You can even type in like 5 table spoons to cups, or 65 watts to horsepower. The answer will come up at the top of the page in bold with out you having to actually look through any search links. Its pretty nice on the go too, because if you have free text messaging you just text the same thing to "GOOGLE" (466453), and it will text you back the answer for no extra charge...

But like you feared, it is really that simple. A foot pound is just the torque created by applying one pound of force at a 90 degree angle one foot from the axis of rotation. An inch pound is 1lb 1in away... so a foot pound is same force with 12 times more leverage... 12 times more.

Jensenman
Jensenman SuperDork
8/23/09 9:51 a.m.

Torque wrenches are most accurate in the middle third of their range.So I'd be hesitant to use that 3600 inch pound wrench to torque 24 inch pounds.

porksboy
porksboy Dork
8/23/09 2:32 p.m.

24 inch pouns was just an example off the top of my head. I have 4 different tourqe wrenches in my tool box and use them regularly

thatsnowinnebago
thatsnowinnebago GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
8/23/09 2:34 p.m.
wlkelley3 wrote:
porksboy wrote: I could realy use that converter on my shop computer, too bad I cant access the net on it.
I've also had that convert program for several years and have it on all my computers. It's a great program. It's only one file and back when I got it fit on 1 floppy disc so you can download it and put it on a disc, cd or thumb drive to copy to your shop computer. I had an older version, just downloaded the latest and it includes more tabs. New version is still less than a meg.

Floppy disk, hahaha. I don't know the last time I saw a computer with a floppy drive.

porksboy
porksboy Dork
8/23/09 2:37 p.m.

not only cant I get the puter online it even has a floppydrive and a crt monitor.

wlkelley3
wlkelley3 HalfDork
8/23/09 4:09 p.m.

Yeah, I know. None of my `puters have a floppy drive anymore. I just mentioned it because (1) that's how long I've had the program. (2) As a reference to how big the program is. Less than a meg and really only one file. Which again might be an outdated reference since nowadays we seem to deal with gigs (or at least several hundred megs at a time). I believe it is written in Visual Basic and saved as an exe.

Tim Baxter
Tim Baxter Online Editor
8/24/09 7:39 a.m.

Yup, Google can handle most any math (even from the itty-bitty google input in Safari and Firefox).

You can also do computations in the URL bar as a javascript line:

javascript: alert(3600/12)

Autolex
Autolex Reader
8/24/09 7:55 a.m.

wolframalpha can do some of the math that google can't.... (like complex calculus, trig, diffrential equations and the like)

wolframalpha.com

Keith
Keith GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
8/24/09 10:14 a.m.

Another solution is to simply use Newton-meters

mistanfo
mistanfo Dork
8/24/09 2:27 p.m.

Keith- someone will come up with Newton-centimeters soon enough. For the REALLY fine stuff, Newton-millimeters.

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess SuperDork
8/24/09 3:07 p.m.

So, how many Newton-Centimeters are in a Newton-Meter? I got a torque wrench, but it's in Newton-Meters and I need to know how many Newton-Centimeters that is. Then, Newton-Decimeters and Newton-Kilometers.

RedS13Coupe
RedS13Coupe Reader
8/24/09 3:49 p.m.
Dr. Hess wrote: So, how many Newton-Centimeters are in a Newton-Meter? I got a torque wrench, but it's in Newton-Meters and I need to know how many Newton-Centimeters that is. Then, Newton-Decimeters and Newton-Kilometers.

100.

orphancars
orphancars New Reader
8/24/09 3:50 p.m.
Dr. Hess wrote: Go to www.drhess.net, then clip-n-saves, then converting spring rates. Once you understand dimensional analysis, no problem like this will ever give you trouble again.
  • eleventy billion!!! I don't think I learned this is physics -- mean old chem prof in high school taught me about it. Need to convert MPH to ft/sec? No problem! MPH to km/h..........no worries. I remember fewer conversion factors and just do more math. Keeps the old melon sharp.........

Dimensional analysis = unit cancellation.......... It is what I was thought it was called.

And BTW, thankx for the Convert program! Nicer to have that on the desktop than running it through Google.........trying hard not to let Google do EVARthing!

-jeff d

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