[ithacaartist]

David J,

It wouldn't surprise me that the bore was engineered to make the barrel resist loosening up--not so sold on it's actually tightening, except if it were loose to begin with. I worked for almost a decade fabricating audio-kinteic and other sculptures designed by George Rhoads. I was not involved with its creation, but his producer put a wind sculpture together for him, a rotational device that played chimes as it spun in the wind. It was mounted to the top of the test pole by a standard pipe connector. A colleague told me that he and the producer were looking out a window at the sculpture when the last thread holding the counter-clockwise-spinning contraption let loose and the entire structure crashed to the ground! Everyone marveled that they had actually witnessed its demise, but otherwise--needless to say--all spinning devices engineered from then on would spin clock-wise. So, it can matter. Good engineering helps prevent lawsuits! (Right, Eric?)