The Simple Bolt is Surprisingly Complex
Close to 100% of railway depot staff have found a bolt that is inexplicably loose or missing altogether yet few engineer have enough bolting knowledge to suggest corrective actions with confidence. All Hitachi depot workers attend our “Appreciation of Bolting” training. They are in closest contact with bolts on the fleet and we rely on them to recognise bolting problems for referral to fleet engineers. We deliver the training in a short two hour session. Attendees leave understanding:
- Why we don’t reuse bolts in the railway industry.
- Why there is no such thing as a standard torque in the railway industry.
- Why one bolt comes loose whilst other, seemingly identical bolts, do not.
- Why some bolt tightening methods are better than others.
- What secondary locking devices can we trust (deformed thread, split pin, wire locking, double nut, Philidas nut, tab washer, nyloc, spring washers, loctite, Nord-lock washer…)
We use our BoltExpert Wrap both as a training tool and to help engineers understand joint mechanics. It works by considering each element of a bolted joint to reveal the root cause of loosening and the most effective corrective action. Using drop-down controls you can represent your own bolted joint, it will do all the complex maths and present results in live interactive charts. You are guided by integrated videos to explain both how to work the Wrap and to explain the physical phenomenon under consideration. It can be accessed by your PC, your tablet or your phone and each bolt you consider can be stored in a cloud database.
The BoltExpert Wrap serves as an excellent example of how ExcelWraps Technology can provide Expert knowledge across an organisation. We’ll be using the technology again to deliver a new WeldExpert Wrap which will be launched in Texas on Jan. 26th 2015.
This will be the last newsletter this year so I wish everyone a happy Christmas. No time to send out Christmas cards but for those of you with children may I share a story with you, written for a three year old friend of mine.
