Precession (mechanical)
Precession is the process of a round part in a round hole, rotating with respect to each other, wherein the inner part begins rolling around the circumference of the outer bore, in a direction opposite of rotation. This is caused by too much clearance between them and a radial force on the part that constantly changes direction. The direction of rotation of the inner part is opposite to the direction of rotation of the radial force.
In a rotating machine, such as motor, engine, gear train, etc., precession can occur when too much clearance exists between a shaft and a bushing, or between the races and rolling elements in roller and ball bearings. Often a result of wear, inadequate lubrication, or lack of precision engineering, such precession is usually accompanied by excess vibration and an audible rubbing or buzzing noise. This tends to accelerate the wear process, possibly leading to spalling, galling, or false brinelling of the contact surfaces.
In stationary parts on a rotating object, such as a bolt threaded into a hole, because the sideways, or radial, load constantly shifts position during use, this lateral force translates into a rolling force that moves opposite to the direction of rotation. This can cause threaded parts to either tighten or loosen under a load, depending on the direction of rotation, typically with a force that can far exceed the typical torque of a wrench. For example, this is a common problem in bicycle pedals, thus on nearly all bikes built after the 1930s, the left-side pedal is equipped with left-hand threads, to prevent it from unscrewing itself while riding.
This precession is a process purely due to contact forces and does not depend on inertia and is not inversely proportional to spin rate. It is completely unrelated to torque-free and torque-induced precession.
Examples
Precession caused by fretting can cause fastenings under large torque loads to unscrew themselves.Automobile lug nuts
Automobiles have also used left-threaded lug nuts on left-side wheels, but now commonly use tapered lug nuts, which do not precess.Bicycle pedals
Bicycle pedals are left-threaded on the left-hand crank so that precession tightens the pedal rather than loosening it. This may seem counter-intuitive since the pedals rotate in the direction that would unscrew them from the cranks, but the torque exerted due to the precession is several orders of magnitude greater than that caused by bearing friction or even a jammed pedal bearing.For a pedal, a rotating load arises from downward pedaling force on a spindle rotating with its crank making the predominantly downward force effectively rotate about the pedal spindle, opposite to the rotation of the pedal. What may be less evident is that even tightly fitting parts have relative clearance due to their elasticity, metals not being rigid materials as is evident from steel springs. Under load, micro deformations, enough to cause motion, occur in such joints. This can be seen from wear marks where pedal spindles seat on crank faces."
Shimano SPD axle units, which can be unscrewed from the pedal body for servicing, have a left-hand thread where the axle unit screws into the right-hand pedal; the opposite case to the pedal-crank interface. Otherwise precession of the pedal body around the axle would tend to unscrew one from the other.