Originally Posted by
HillRider
Which is why aluminum or Ti shafts, particularly in external cam skewers, have less compressive effect that steel shaft skewers.
The claim that: "The force required to compress a steel axle -- albeit follow(sic) -- would be much much greater than a QR could apply with human hands closing it." is also wrong. The cam effect of a good internal cam skewer hugely multiplies the force required to close the lever.
If you are going to take me to task, tell us how much force is applied. "Hugely" does not qualify. Then tell us how much compression on the tube that is the axle that will result. Please.
I still say Park has it over all the experts in this forum. They employ people who know their stuff to design tools, and undoubtedly have the knowledge to state that the axles bow rather than compress.
A little test for those who doubt this. Take a plastic tube -- a piece of electrical conduit will do -- and press on the ends of it with your hands. Unless the force is applied exactly to the outer rim, I can (almost) guarantee the tube will bow and bend to collapse. Compression will be zip.
When a QR is applied, it's also not applied directly to the axle, but through the dropouts, and those dropouts are not usually parallel as the force is applied. The result is a bowing of the axle.