Kim Booth (X) Nov 14, 2011:

Funny usage This puzzled me too, until I saw some pictures of Absteckbolzen which are obviously meant to be frequently inserted and removed for calibration purposes. The insertion idea gets you "steck" and the removal idea the "ab". I had to correct an old translation which entertainingly used "stake out" for abstecken. You learn something new every day!

David Williams Jun 15, 2010:

I'm puzzled How do you arrive at the conclusion that 'locking bolt' makes complete sense, given that 'abstecken' has nothing to do with locking (or even connecting)?