Workshop Practices
Cleanliness, control and repeatability
Good workshop practice is the discipline that turns a manual instruction into a repeatable job. Understand tool control and shadow boards with a count at the end of every task (a missing spanner is a FOD report); cleanliness and segregation of parts; correct use of the vice, files (never used without a handle), hacksaws, drills and taps; drilling speeds and lubrication; thread repair by insert or oversize; and correct selection of fasteners, washers and locking devices.
Locking devices are examined heavily. Know safety wire (lockwire): correct gauge, tensioned in the direction that tightens the fastener, 6-8 twists per inch, a neat pigtail of roughly 6-8 mm, no nicks, no loose ends, never re-used. Know split pins: correct diameter, head seated in the hole, legs bent neatly with one leg over the bolt end and one along the flat. Know self-locking nuts, tab washers and stiffnuts, and their re-use limits.
Torque is the other favourite: use a calibrated wrench, tighten only (never loosen), apply load smoothly at the specified point, allow for extensions and adaptors, apply any specified running torque or torque-turn, and record the value. Traps: assuming an extension bar leaves the setting unchanged, torquing a nut bottomed on the thread runout, re-using a locking device, and mixing imperial and metric hardware.
Rule of thumb: the job is finished not when the last bolt is tight, but when the tools are counted back, the area is clean and the paperwork records what was done.