Last week, CEO, Charles Popenoe, III and Chief Engineer, Chris Bunai visited Agrico Sales in New Orleans to oversee the installation of our heavy-duty SmartBolts. Agrico ordered hundreds of two inch diameter bolts between 14 and 16 ¼ inches long which will be on the job holding the massive slewing bearings together — the most […]
Our very own Chief Engineer, Christopher Bunai, wrote An Introduction to Lean Bolting that has been published in Machine Design. In the article, Chris explains the Seven Bolting Wastes which are an adaptation of the Seven Manufacturing Wastes within lean manufacturing. The following is an abstract of the article: Lean manufacturing is an outgrowth of the Toyota […]
Imagine going to work one morning and having to crawl into a 2-foot wide gap under a 37 ton machine to tighten 50 bolts whether they needed tightening or not! That’s not the way anyone wants to start off their day, but unfortunately for the underground team at the Ojibway salt mine, this was the ugly […]
Double-headed bolts function by “twisting off” an auxiliary hex head once a designated torque has been reached. It is a method that indirectly attempts to indicate bolt tension. However, due to its reliance on torque, this system has several disadvantages when compared with the SmartBolts® Visual Indication System™. Are you using double-headed bolts in an […]
The traditional method for tightening fasteners is to turn the bolt head or nut using a torque wrench. While the tool may be very accurate, measuring torque only measures how difficult it is to turn the bolt. Measuring rotational force provides little information about what is actually holding your critical joints together – these are […]
Inspecting your bolts is an important job. Secure bolted joints have a direct impact on the reliability, performance and safety of your operations. However, physical bolt inspection can also be a labor-intensive and time-consuming activity. Our customers have reported that visual bolt inspections offer cost-savings and performance benefits compared to traditional maintenance methods which require […]
Most bolts are lazy. A machined piece of steel can’t do much on its own. A bolt doesn’t tighten itself, and it won’t tell you if it becomes loose. What else is your bolt not telling you? Bolts have complex and shifting relationships with their surroundings. Every day, in thousands of applications, clamp forces […]
Should you be using torque or tension to tighten your bolts? Our graphic shows you the answer!
SmartBolts.com has been redesigned, and now you can Find Your SmartBolt using our interactive forms. These forms are faster and easier to use than ever. Two forms are available: Pre-Engineered and Custom. The Pre-Engineered form allows you to select from a catalog of DTI SmartBolts designed according to industry bolting standards. Pre-Engineered SmartBolts are hex head cap […]
Stress Indicators has responded to increasing customer demand by significantly increasing its production capacity. The addition of a new CNC Turning Center is the centerpiece of the expansion, not only because it increases factory throughput for machining bolts, but also because it can accommodate fasteners as large as 2.5” (M64) in diameter. With the new […]