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Up Topic Welding Industry / Processes / Inspection of previously installed hex bolts
- - By jwright650 (*****) Date 10-30-2013 16:56
Say a general contractor asks for a bolt inspection, you show up and find that all the bolts have been stuffed and there are tick marks beside every nut possibly indicating that someone has tensioned the assembly and appeared to be methodical so not to miss any. Nothing was witnessed. No bolting procedures onsite. Bolting crew is long gone.

How do you go about verifying anything about that bolted assembly other than the stickout, diameter and grade?
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 10-30-2013 20:20
Hoping some of you who serve as TPIs will chime in here.
Here in my shop, I'm around and see what's going on while bolting is taking place, but this situation above is done and now I'm pretty sure they will be asking for some inspection to make sure it's OK. There are no match marks anywhere, so I'm not even sure of the method of tensioning that was used.
Parent - - By welderbrent (*****) Date 10-31-2013 04:04
I didn't see this earlier, been a busy day.

First, what is the actual method called for? Snug tight? Turn of nut?

Does the application require pretensioning?

I have contacted a couple of engineers and had them change to Snug tight to forego all the pretensioning requirements.  Then no pre-installation calibration is needed.  No observance. 

But, someone should have documented hole size, faying surface condition, and bolt storage.  Then, all that needs to be done is document that all the holes have structural bolts in them that can't be loosened by hand and the threads don't look as though the bolts were hammered into the holes damaging the threads.

Have a Great Day,  Brent
Parent - - By SCOTTN (***) Date 11-01-2013 16:29
John,

Were the tick marks at the end of the threads? A scenario that I've seen before is that the fabricator just finger tightened the nuts and "ticked" the end of the threads to keep the nuts from backing off and going through somebody's windshield en route to the jobsite, with the nuts eventually being snug tightened by the erector.  As you know, finger tightening is not a tightening method recognized by the RCSC, but I've seen it more times than I can count.
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 11-01-2013 16:52
What I'm calling tick marks were little check marks beside every bolt....not to be confused with match marks to verify the turn-of-nut method.
I haven't addressed it any further, hoping it may go away and I won't be asked to get into that aspect of the inspection.

BTW,
The definition for snug tight has also been changed to say:
Snug tight is a condition that exists when all of the plies in a connection have been pulled into firm contact by the bolts in the joint and all of the bolts in the joint have been tightened sufficiently to prevent removal of the nuts without the use of a wrench.
Parent - By welderbrent (*****) Date 11-01-2013 17:15
While the glossary definition changed, the application of installation in 8.1 did not.  They still say that the installation of snug tight connections is done to a few impacts of an impact wrench or the full effort of an ironworker on a properly sized spud wrench. 

Have a Great Day,  Brent
- - By 803056 (*****) Date 11-01-2013 18:56
I would defray to the Engineer and let him tell me what he wanted in the way of testing and the extent of testing required. 

There is a big difference in checking freshly installed bolts versus those that have been exposed to the weather for several weeks. The Engineer is the individual with the authority to determine the methodology and the extent of testing needed. It is the inspector's duty to ensure the work is completed in accordance with the Engineer's requirements.

Best regards - Al
Parent - - By jwright650 (*****) Date 11-01-2013 20:02
Thanks guys for chiming in here....just thought there may be some magical way of testing previously installed bolts that I wasn't thinking about or was aware of. Typically all of the bolt inspection that I've been involved with I was able to watch the entire process from start to finish, but this situation was a bit different.
My role in this was an engineering firm asked me to do some inspection as a favor due to his go-to guy being unavailable at the time. I get a scope of what they want me to look at and verify, and that is all that I do...if it isn't on the list of things to do, I ignore it unless it appears to be a safety issue or something way out of line that I see glaring at me while I'm looking at items on the list. I had another project with them where I did mention some items that were not done properly.(wrong electrodes were used) Stubs on the ground and slag still on the welds that matched the stubs laying on the ground gave it away.
Parent - - By 803056 (*****) Date 11-01-2013 20:38
Those jobs are what keep us employed. If the contractor or welder never made a mistake we would be out of business.

Best regards -Al
Parent - By ede Date 02-18-2014 18:32
Section 10 of RCSC Specification for Structural Joints Using High-Strength Bolts may be of some use in ersolving this problem.
Up Topic Welding Industry / Processes / Inspection of previously installed hex bolts

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