Darn, am I an arteeest or what? I will improve my next sketch so the dirty minds have to work a bit harder.

My point is that it probably will break at the point where it is tangent to the crank. Why? because its no longer supported by the crank and all of the force is concentrated in the strap, but with a small side force, just enough to cause it break there instead of anywhere else.

Its like this. If you place the piece of paper on the floor, you can stand on it and not break it, why, because the floor supports it, just like the crank supports the strap, ie rod. The strap cannot deform because it conforms to the perfact circle of the crank pin, which supports the strap, but with a thin film of oil in between. So long as the strap dosen't stretch or the crank pin doese't deform, the strap will hold its shape, no matter how thin.

So far a lot of talk, about a strap that dosen't seem to have strong connections to a connecting rod. But it does. What happens if you add thickness to differen't portions of the strap? Does it make the strap stronger? Does it prevent the strap from deforming? My next sketches will show several possibilities, not counting the ones with dirty minds. After looking at these one will hopefully start to see the connection to a rod. Thats connecting rods for the dirty minded of youall. Not any other rod.

Okey dokey, here is a new and imporved drawing of a strap around a rod, showing the point where I think they usually break.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1163987374.jpg