Free 186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook:  
Get tool plans

User Tag List

Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Tension control gun - GIF

  1. #1
    Supporting Member Altair's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    12,020
    Thanks
    1,365
    Thanked 30,299 Times in 9,998 Posts

    Tension control gun - GIF

    Tension control gun used to tighten bolts to proper torque then snaps off the spline.




    Previously:

    Extra large torque wrench - photo
    Tiny inch-grams torque wrench - photo
    Hand-cranked torque multiplier lug nut wrench - GIF
    Pneumatic torque wrench - photo
    Hydraulic torque wrench - GIF

    186 More Best Homemade Tools eBook

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to Altair For This Useful Post:

    nova_robotics (May 7, 2022)

  3. #2
    piper184's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2016
    Posts
    213
    Thanks
    955
    Thanked 76 Times in 49 Posts

    piper184's Tools
    Not sure I understand this one.
    The nut is being turned clockwise to tighten, but is the splined end of the bolt being turned counter clockwise at the same time or just held in place?
    What is causing the splines to break off?

    2,000+ Tool Plans

  4. #3
    Supporting Member Frank S's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Peacock TX
    Posts
    11,622
    Thanks
    2,178
    Thanked 9,118 Times in 4,364 Posts

    Frank S's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by piper184 View Post
    Not sure I understand this one.
    The nut is being turned clockwise to tighten, but is the splined end of the bolt being turned counter clockwise at the same time or just held in place?
    What is causing the splines to break off?
    When the nut reaches the proper torque the splines will twist off. the same principal as using a 4ft long torque wrench to tighten the nut only the torque is applied against the splines of the bolt instead of requiring a long torque wrench handle with some form of torque indicator
    Never try to tell me it can't be done
    When I have to paint I use KBS products

  5. #4
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    11,132
    Thanked 1,219 Times in 664 Posts

    nova_robotics's Tools
    It's a neat idea, but they've been either removed or banned on most sites I've been on. What you can't see is the head of the bolt on the other side of that steel is completely round and smooth. They're actually designed so you can't put a wrench on them.

    1. You can't torque them after the fact.
    2. You can't get them off without a torch.
    3. You can't do a normal cross-bolting procedure to torque them up like normal, so the first bolts you tighten will become loose as you torque the rest of the bolts. See point #1 why this is a problem.

    Anyway it's a good idea to reduce the need for QA/QC on structural steel but the execution is really bad. It would make 100x more sense if they just trusted the guys and put a standard hex head on the bolt.

  6. #5
    Supporting Member Frank S's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Peacock TX
    Posts
    11,622
    Thanks
    2,178
    Thanked 9,118 Times in 4,364 Posts

    Frank S's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by nova_robotics View Post
    It's a neat idea, but they've been either removed or banned on most sites I've been on. What you can't see is the head of the bolt on the other side of that steel is completely round and smooth. They're actually designed so you can't put a wrench on them.

    1. You can't torque them after the fact.
    2. You can't get them off without a torch.
    3. You can't do a normal cross-bolting procedure to torque them up like normal, so the first bolts you tighten will become loose as you torque the rest of the bolts. See point #1 why this is a problem.

    Anyway it's a good idea to reduce the need for QA/QC on structural steel but the execution is really bad. It would make 100x more sense if they just trusted the guys and put a standard hex head on the bolt.
    That was why on the few sites i've been on where they were used the procedure was to run up every bolt at a much lower torque setting then an intermediate setting and only brought to full twist off torque on the 3rd go round, actually much more time consuming than using conventional A325 fasteners or tattle tail pop-up fasteners. One site specified those Nord-LockŪ washers, a 2 piece washer with cam ramps for anti vibration and resistant to loosening, once tightened the only way to remove them was to apply enough torque to snap the bolt or weld the 2 halves of the washer so they couldn't separate
    https://www.boltdepot.com/Product-De...ontent=Washers
    Never try to tell me it can't be done
    When I have to paint I use KBS products

  7. #6
    Supporting Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    2,346
    Thanks
    11,132
    Thanked 1,219 Times in 664 Posts

    nova_robotics's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by Frank S View Post
    That was why on the few sites i've been on where they were used the procedure was to run up every bolt at a much lower torque setting then an intermediate setting and only brought to full twist off torque on the 3rd go round[/url]
    Can you do that though? I thought they bound up and grabbed the splines once you started to torque them. I guess you could run the gun in reverse to get them off. Sounds like a giant pain either way.

  8. #7
    Supporting Member Ralphxyz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Posts
    1,728
    Thanks
    3,178
    Thanked 292 Times in 239 Posts

    Ralphxyz's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by nova_robotics View Post
    Can you do that though? I thought they bound up and grabbed the splines once you started to torque them. I guess you could run the gun in reverse to get them off. Sounds like a giant pain either way.
    I "think" the spline is used to hold the round headed bolt while the nut is tightened in place of a wrench on the other side.

    Reversing the gun would/might just spin the bolt with out the spline to hold it.

    Ralph

  9. #8
    Supporting Member Frank S's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Location
    Peacock TX
    Posts
    11,622
    Thanks
    2,178
    Thanked 9,118 Times in 4,364 Posts

    Frank S's Tools
    Quote Originally Posted by nova_robotics View Post
    Can you do that though? I thought they bound up and grabbed the splines once you started to torque them. I guess you could run the gun in reverse to get them off. Sounds like a giant pain either way.
    You use a pass through ratchet that also holds the spline. cumbersome to have to use the powered torque tool to run up the bolts or to have a dozen of those on a jobsite, and as you said the first bolt torqued if the rest are not already tight that one is impossible to retorque. Even a simple spud wrench and a box spline wrench is preferable to torquing a bolt next to a gang of loose bolts



    2,000+ Tool Plans
    Never try to tell me it can't be done
    When I have to paint I use KBS products

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •