Making Bolts-- youtube video

[rockfla]

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

rockfla: Thanks for sharing your expertise re: bolt manufacturing plus the video. It's amazing to see that something so easily taken for granted (bolts) are manufactured.

I wonder if the quality of foreign made bolts is really up to USA Standards?

Originally Posted by 35fordtn

Robert May disagree, but US made hardware has really slacked in recent years and the cost is through the roof!

Your question, 19Forty, seems to be a very very "common thought" about "USA Quality".....My $.02 worth....FIRST, close to 90% of all the fasteners sold here in the USA are of foreign manufacture (China, Taiwan, India etc etc) so there is merit in "those foreign made bolts" statement. With that said.... IF they are a "graded head ie Grd5/Grd8 or an ASTM marked ie A307 A449 A325 etc etc)" bolt or SS bolt 304SS (18-8 same thing) or 316SS which accounts for about 1/2 of my business, all bolt importers/suppliers MUST have each lot of imported bolts tested and certified by an accredited ASTM/SAE testing lab and certified to the ASTM/SAE specifications and must keep ALL documented paperwork for such lot of bolt on file for traceability purposes in case of any potential failures or "other" specified needs. IF you think about it......IF the quality of "SO MANY" fasteners was an issue OR did not perform as required think about ALL the failures of bridges, buildings, power supply, manufacturing, transportation, heating and A/C, marine construction etc etc etc and ALL the subsequent law suits that would be happening on a daily bases because of it....it would boggle the mind as well as be a "financial" disaster. SO the quality of the "general" fastener I would say is quite good.
NOW, with that said, by most "fastener" publications estimations, approximately 85% of a fastener failure is "mis-application" ie too small of a fastener for the application OR improper installation from under or over torque, or compromised threads from either part of the material being threaded into ie damaged threads, over tapped, heat applications etc etc. SO there is that!!! ALSO, even with ASTM/SAE standards, there is a +/- factor in manufacturing with thread tolerances, lengths, diameters, head sizes SO there could be very slight micrometer measured differences from bolt to bolt, lot to lot BUT that has NO baring on fastener performance. I see this a lot with bolt lengths where say a 4" bolt actually will measure 3-7/8" by a micrometer. SO I am not sure I agree or disagree with Michael's statement???? Its all in the application and environmental factors of the particular instants of failure.


As for actual USA made fasteners, NUCOR is the only "commercial" manufacturer of "domestic" produced fasteners. I am not sure at this time what the corporate structure is BUT as one time they were partnered with and sourcing some of their product from Canada....BUT they are currently the only "true" domestic supplier that I can source product from. There are several "boutique" domestic manufacturers BUT the question of raw material supply is one that needs to be asked IF the "true domestic" application applies.


I do however 100% agree on "Cost".