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Smartbolts

smartbolts.com

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Re: Smartbolts

#131

Post by KamiCrit »

Torque is bolt stretch!

In some real deal applications like connecting rods on engines you can stick your head into. Techs will measure when a bolt has reached a correct torque spec when the bolt has stretched to certain dimension measured with a micrometer.

Torque is also very misleading depending on material. Steel bolts stretch in what feels very linear. Stainless steel bolts, when those are tightened up it's like hitting a wall going from loose to tight.

Click sticks (torque wrenches) also have something to say. Where you hold your hand on the wrench will affect the torque value. Usually there is a line on the handle showing you exactly where your hand should be placed and pulling from.

Re: Smartbolts

#132

Post by silisili »

I guess I don't see the practical application. These will fill with grime in days if not seconds, depending on application. A torque wrench and loctite more or less make something like this unnecessary.

If it's for some specific scientific applications, more power to them. But let's not pretend they just saw something so obvious everyone else has been missing.

Edit to add: I actually feel like these should be reverse designed. A small tit that sticks up would probably be much more evident than a hole in most applications.

Re: Smartbolts

#133

Post by brudgers »

robbrown451 wrote: post #127
brudgers wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The general idea is that proper bolt installation is a solved problem…at least in so far as ordinary industrial/commercial/construction applications are concerned. There’s an informed experienced trade base, a well established supply chain, and sound engineering practices already. To put it another way, the right tension includes a safety factor. And engineering practice specifies testing and inspection and proven ma…

That safety factor and testing and inspection has costs associated with it. Basically, it is a "solved problem" by designing things stronger than they have to be, and spending more on testing and inspection than necessary. I'm sure the cases where these things are economical are fairly few, at least today, but if everyone took your attitude no progress would happen at all.

Safety factors; testing; and inspection are engineering.

The Smartbolt doesn't eliminate engineering.

More importantly, safety factors; testing; and inspection are progress. We have robust assemblies built first time based on rational analysis and formal processes. We have sky scrapers, suspension bridges, and space telescopes.

Re: Smartbolts

#134

Post by dansult »

blamazon wrote: post #3

I’m a mechanical engineer - smartbolts are cool but rarely used in my experience. Much more commonly used are DTI washers: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_tension_indicator Due to the washer style can be used with a wide range of fasteners. The most common type, in my experience, due to the ease of use, has a little bit of colored goo inside the arched cells. The goo squirts out when the specified torque is re…

I haven't heard anyone talk about DTI's in years. We used to call them "squirters". Takes me back to when I worked in the shop as a kid.

Made my day

Re: Smartbolts

#135

Post by Too »

Very smart until you put a socket wrench over it so you can't see the indicator? This would only be useful with open spanners.

Re: Smartbolts

#136

Post by drjasonharrison »

WalterBright wrote: post #70
blamazon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Installing to a known torque and painting a line on the fastener is a lot less expensive, which becomes important when your project has potentially tens of thousands of key fasteners, like a bridge. But for something like an MRI machine where there’s fewer fasteners and higher stakes - would make a lot of sense to use Smartbolt I think. Tangential: related to trucks, there is a somewhat similar product to easily moni…

If you look at a tire from the side, you can precisely see the bulge of the tire, which I do all the time to check the pressure.

This isn't generally true. Run flat tires have stiffer sidewalls and don't bulge.

Re: Smartbolts

#137

Post by deltaonefour »

thomasjudge wrote: post #121
deltaonefour wrote: post #118

This is a bad name. The word "smart" implies the bolt can connect to my phone via bluetooth and I can download an app that will tell me the status of the bolt.

I was just thinking that these don't have wifi, an ip address, contact the mothership via aws to make sure the maintenance contract is paid up and TOS clicked...such a missed opportunity...

Imagine replacing the batteries. The business opportunity here is highly lucrative.

Re: Smartbolts

#138

Post by WalterBright »

drjasonharrison wrote: post #136
WalterBright wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at a tire from the side, you can precisely see the bulge of the tire, which I do all the time to check the pressure.

This isn't generally true. Run flat tires have stiffer sidewalls and don't bulge.

Obviously, I don't have run flat tires. My tires bulge when the pressure is low.

Re: Smartbolts

#139

Post by jaclaz »

ominous_prime wrote: post #13
blamazon wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Installing to a known torque and painting a line on the fastener is a lot less expensive, which becomes important when your project has potentially tens of thousands of key fasteners, like a bridge. But for something like an MRI machine where there’s fewer fasteners and higher stakes - would make a lot of sense to use Smartbolt I think. Tangential: related to trucks, there is a somewhat similar product to easily moni…

A problem with installation is that torque is only a proxy for tension. Torque alone is not incredibly accurate, so there are a lot of cases that could benefit from an easier way to accurately indicate tension than by externally measuring the stretch of the bolt (which often is not an option)

Well often nowadays it is torque+angle:

https://www.srtorque.com/error-proofing-tools/digital-torque...

Re: Smartbolts

#140

Post by sleight42 »

ctf1er wrote: post #117
jrockway wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're "contact us for pricing" which basically means you can't afford them.

try The Noh-Jay Consortium. Nothing can be built without bolts.

Scrolled this whole comment section just because I hoped to see this thread.
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