Engineering is fun! To make sure that our products will stand up to contractors’ use and abuse, I’ve got to go out and break our gear on a regular basis. Do I mind? No!
The challenge most times is finding a means of racking the part into my partner in crime, the 10,000lb Dillon-Weigh Tronix UTM tensile tester. Some days I wish I had a bigger machine in-house, but I can break stuff at the local material labs (up to 100,000lb and beyond) on special occasions.
 

In this case, we’re working in the lower registers, below 500lb. I had to find some small connections to test the strength of the threaded rod end on our new 3/16″ detectable rodder. I’ve got plenty of big shackles and eyes, but really had to scavenge to find the little stuff!
The 3/16″ threaded end is permanently bonded to the fiberglass rod with a typical cyanoacrylate adhesive (read “Crazy Glue”). It’s a close tolerance fit normally, but the detectable rod has an additional strand of conductor that has to maintain continuity with the rod end.
It took a few tries to measure the bond strength. First the rod jacket slipped out of the clamps. Then the #12 thread sheared and split off the end. Finally I clamped the collar of the rod end and cranked the screws deep into the fiberglass core. I still couldn’t break the glue bond!
A good day: valid test results, some photos for documentation and a swath of wreckage. Time for another cup of coffee.