RotaBolt® hits it on the head
18 December 2015
RotaBolt® measurement fasteners have recently been fitted by BSP International Foundations Ltd to the largest hydraulic piling hammer that it manufactures. The hammer, which has a 40 tonne drop weight, has been operating on a site in Venezuela for the past year and has been trouble free.
BSP manufactures a range of hydraulic piling hammers from 1 tonne drop weight up to 40 tonnes. The CGL 590kNm hammers are 14m high and can accommodate a 2m diameter pile. The complete assembly weighs 84 tonnes and has two main sleeve flanges, which are now fitted with M24 and M36 RotaBolt® fasteners to assure overall integrity.
The RotaBolts have been used to connect the main flanged segments of the pile sleeve. “The hammers are subject to continuous high vibration and shock loads throughout their life,” commented Matthew Liddle, chief engineer at BSP. “We had tried all sorts of locking methods to prevent bolt loosening, but RotaBolts have helped to give us product integrity and have also made inspection and maintenance in the field much easier.”
Once the RotaBolts have been installed to the correct design tension, the RotaCaps on the top of each RotaBolt lock. Throughout the hammer’s operational life the RotaCaps can then be instantly finger checked to ensure that they are still maintaining the correct tension across the joint. If any tension should be lost, the RotaCap rotates freely and this can be quickly and easily detected.
90% of the hammers that BSP manufactures are exported for use in a wide range of environments and climates. The use of RotaBolts is helping the company to ensure the hammers are not only assembled correctly, but they are also operated as efficiently as possible. BSP has subsequently fitted RotaBolts on another two smaller 20 tonne hammers and is now making RotaBolt fasteners standard fit.
RotaBolt technology is also being used to assure bolted joint integrity across a wide range of heavy engineering applications where vibration, fatigue and structural slippage can be problematic. The fasteners are being used on longwall mining shearers, large crane grab jaws, stacker reclaimers, military bridging systems, as well as on pedestal and tower cranes.
