In article ,
G.W. Walker wrote:
I'd not appreciated that it was possible to over-tighten
them -- looks like that might be where I've gone wrong
with some of them. Time to dis-assemble and try being
less enthusiastic with the spanner this time!

IMHO it's near impossible to overtighten them with normal spanners -
although you obviously could with large Stilsons etc.

With a properly made compression joint it isn't possible to remove the
olive without splitting it - it should be sort of cold welded on, without
noticeably distorting the pipe diameter.

If you can pull off the olive or turn it it wasn't tight enough.

--
*Cover me. I'm changing lanes.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.