Dead Nuts 90 Degrees?

crustkid · Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:42 pm

I'm almost out of school and have yet to hear this term Dead Nuts? What is a dead nuts 90 degrees angle?

Qwert66 · Mon Mar 28, 2011 1:57 pm

Means 90 degrees +/- 0.00 (in theory)
Means as close to 90 as you can possibly get it (in practice)
Remember the 3,4,5, rule in a triangle will produce an exact 90 where the 3 & 4 leg meet.
I have never heard of someone loosing their nuts over it but who knows.

crustkid · Mon Mar 28, 2011 2:13 pm

Thank You. I love the knowledge base of this forum

-Jake

Mon Mar 28, 2011 4:41 pm

Yeah, now I'm going to have to find the origin of "dead nuts".

I use it all the time to describe anything that comes out "perfect" within my ability to measure it.

BTW, the best definition I ever heard for "perfect" is: Anything you don't have to do twice.

Steve

wildbilljp · Sat Jul 21, 2012 12:46 am

Mash on the link below and watch.... Then you will know where the saying "dead nuts" comes from.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyNb-mYfaRk

Your welcome,
Wildbilljp
BTW.....cool forum.....

Sat Jul 21, 2012 12:56 pm

Okay, that's just wrong! LMAO!

The best I've come up with is this:

When something (bolted) is set in it's permanent location and the bolts are at final torque, the nuts are often "killed", or welded to the bolt to prevent any further movement. These "no longer adjustable" fasteners are now "Dead Nuts".

I've not found any solid etymological history for the phrase, so this is my best speculation.

If someone has a better answer, I'd love to hear it. If not, maybe my conclusion will stick, so that my grave won't be the only lasting impression I leave on this world.

Steve

delraydella · Sat Jul 21, 2012 7:15 pm

Don't mess with turtles!

I use the expression " dead nuts on" on an almost daily basis, but I never once thought about where it came from. Steves explanation makes a lot of sense. This is a different version i found on a website called "blurtit"

"A bit of a combination of origins. "dead" as in "dead naught" or "dead plumb" has roots in nautical measurement and carpentry to mean "precisely". In this case "nuts" refers to the double zero "00" common on measurement and surveying equipment (non-electronic). If a measurement is precisely at the double zero, such as when closing out a surveying loop, this is the most precision possible with the given piece of equipment. You may also hear surveyors refer to this as "balls on" measurement for the same reason."

I use it mostly for measurement, like, that hole has to be bored out to 3.1232" and it has to be dead nuts on for a precise fit........

wildbilljp · Sun Jul 22, 2012 12:49 am

Yea delray d's answer is my choice but the dog was "dead nuts" too.......
Just sayin'.......
Hey, been watchin the videos and intend to use a few with my people...... good stuff I must say.......
Thanks to the Jody guy for the time & effort.....

Sun Jul 22, 2012 3:23 pm

delraydella,

Your explanation makes a great deal of sense. The double-zero would likely have been pronounced as the plural, "naughts", so I can easily see "dead on the naughts" bastardized to "dead nuts".

I enjoy topics like this, because we use phrases like this every day without thinking of their origins.

Steve

WerkSpace · Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:11 pm

That sounds 'hunky dory' to me...

Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:50 pm

WerkSpace wrote:That sounds 'hunky dory' to me...

Aw, crap! Here we go again.

I've used that not too long ago. Now I gotta know.

I got hooked on this stuff when I found out where "Balls to the Wall" comes from.

Fri Jul 27, 2012 12:01 am

Hi,

I know that "to go the whole nine yards" originated from old fighter pilots referring to shooting till the gun ran dry because the belts of bullets they used were 9 yards long. Now refers to giving it everything you've got.

Mick

Fri Jul 27, 2012 6:15 pm

"Balls to the wall" has about the same origin. WWII era fighters had three controls on the pilot's left; Throttle, mixture, and manifold pressure (propeller pitch). These three levers were topped with spheres, or "balls", and when you wanted to go as fast as possible, you pushed all three as far forward (toward the firewall) as they would go. In other words, you put the "balls" to the "wall".

Steve

Billbong · Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:11 am

Hi, it may be "dead nuts", but in my day it had to be "bang on", "dead blind".....+/- nothing, not even a smidgeon.
ian.

Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:50 pm

Here's a great resource...

The link is at "hunky-dory", but has a menu at the top to find whatever you want.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/hunky-dory.html

Steve S.

mcostello · Sun Oct 07, 2012 10:52 am

Kepesch?

Sun Oct 07, 2012 5:56 pm

"capiche" is from the Italian word, capisci, literally "do you understand?"

Steve S

Billbong · Sun Oct 07, 2012 7:31 pm

Hi, I love the coloquial use of technological terms to get your point across.

There was a guy who used to write articles for the British magazine, The Model Engineer, for steam punks everywhere.....went under the pen name of LBSC, and one of the characters he wrote about was a Chinese guy called Chu Chin Chow.

The magazine was for DIY steam and engineering enthusiasts, mostly kitchen table mechanics etc, and the rule of thumb for press fits, as LBSC wrote, was .001" for every 1"of diam, and he stated that this was a good method to obtain the correct press fit for securing shafts to bores without splitting the boss, or as his oriental friend Chu Chin Chow would have said, "muchee plenty squeezy and no plenty bustee"....

.....LOL......in actual fact this is the rule of thumb I have used for 50 years.
Ian.

Sun Oct 07, 2012 8:30 pm

Begs the question, where did "rule of thumb" originate? I think I know, but I don't want to "open a can of worms"!

Steve S.

taylorkh · Sun Oct 21, 2012 4:37 pm

Isn't "dead nuts 90 degrees" equal to +/- 1 RCH?

delraydella · Sun Oct 21, 2012 5:58 pm

No. Dead Nuts On is exactly that.

+/- 1 RCH would not be dead nuts on because it would be off by one either way.

Mon Oct 22, 2012 6:23 pm

Depends on what RCH means in this context....

I've gotten it "dead nuts" by TLAR, and occasionally by WAG.

...go ahead, ask.

Steve S

delraydella · Mon Oct 22, 2012 7:26 pm

The machine I'm placing has to be precisely level, dead nuts on level, but I take a WAG,set it down and think TLAR........ but is it? I put the level on it but it's not level. It's not off by much, maybe just a RCH, but it's still off.

Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:03 pm

HAHAHAHAHA!

Figures it'd be a "Steve" that would make the most of that!

Steve S

Tue Oct 23, 2012 1:37 am

Hey

Better to be out by a bees' dick or a gnats cock rather than "out to the shit house" or out by a country mile.

Mick.