What effect does the "number of teeth" design of a ratchet buckle have on locking performance?

The "number of teeth" design of the ratchet buckle directly affects its locking accuracy, load-bearing capacity and service life

1. The impact of the number of teeth on locking accuracy
High number of teeth (fine teeth):
Advantages: short single locking stroke (such as 1mm spacing between each tooth), allowing fine adjustment, suitable for scenarios that require fine adjustment (such as mountaineering bag shoulder straps, medical fixing belts).
Limitations: shallow tooth grooves, long-term high loads can easily cause tooth tip wear or deformation, reducing locking reliability.
Low number of teeth (coarse teeth):
Advantages: single tooth engagement depth is large, anti-slip ability is strong, suitable for heavy-load scenarios (such as freight straps, industrial equipment fixing).
Limitations: low adjustment accuracy (such as 5mm spacing between each tooth), may not meet the needs of precise fixing.

2. The relationship between the number of teeth and load-bearing capacity
Stress distribution:
High number of teeth disperses pressure through multi-tooth engagement, which can theoretically improve instantaneous tensile strength (such as 10 teeth engaged at the same time vs 3 teeth engaged).
In actual applications, due to the limitation of machining accuracy, the load between teeth may be uneven. If the material hardness is insufficient, a high number of teeth may easily cause chain tooth collapse.
Materials and processes:
A high number of teeth requires a higher precision mold (such as CNC machining) and wear-resistant materials (such as hardened steel), otherwise the tooth tip is easy to wear and cause "slipping".
Low number of teeth has lower process requirements and is suitable for low-cost mass production (such as zinc alloy casting).

3. Matching of durability and usage scenarios
High-frequency adjustment scenarios (such as sports protective gear, photography tripods):
High-tooth ratchet buckles are more popular because of their delicate adjustment, but the tooth grooves need to be cleaned regularly (to prevent dust from getting stuck) and grease should be applied to reduce wear.
High-load static scenarios (such as truck cargo straps):
Low-tooth design is more reliable, coarse teeth have strong anti-deformation ability, and foreign matter (such as mud and sand) intrusion has less impact.

4. Differences in user operation experience
Feel feedback:
High-tooth-count ratchet buckles have dense "click" sounds when operated, and feel light but may lack a sense of confirmation;
Low-tooth-count buckles have strong feedback, and each tooth has obvious resistance when locking, which is suitable for operation with gloves.
Failure signs:
High-tooth-count buckles may fail before they fail, which may be manifested as "tooth skipping" during adjustment (partial tooth breakage is not detected);
Low-tooth-count buckles have high load per tooth, and damage is usually accompanied by obvious deformation or breakage, which is easy to detect.