Nut and Bolt

A huge range of nut and bolt products are available from Engineering Services. Whether you require a stainless steel bolt, a rivet, eye bolt, anchor bolt, bolt gasket set or a lock nut, Engineering Services are the bolt supplier to trust for quality products and fast delivery.

The nut and bolt is probably the most common element in design and construction. Nuts and bolts, also know as bolted joints, consist of cap screws or studs that capture and join other parts and are secured by the mating of screw threads with a nut.

There are two main types of nut and bolt design. In one method, the bolt is tightened to a calculated torque, producing a clamp load. The joint will be designed in such a way that the clamp load is not overcome by the forces that are acting upon the joint and therefore, there is no movement between the joined parts.

The second type of bolt does not have a designated clamp load. Instead, this bolt relies solely on the sheer strength of the bolt shaft. This may include joints that are able to move, known as clevis linkages and joints that rely upon a locking mechanism such as a lock nut.

The clamp load of a cap screw is created when a torque is applied and is generally a percentage of the cap screw's proof strength. We offer a range of charts that identify the required torque for cap screws based upon their properties.

When a cap screw is tightened it is stretched and the parts that are caught are compressed. This results in a spring-like assembly. External forces are designed to act on the parts that have been compressed and not on the screw itself. The result is an even distribution of strain as long as the compression does not exceed the clamp load.

Controlling the torque of a tightened fastener is the most popular means of controlling the clamp load. The amount of torque necessary to tighten the bolt to a certain clamp load can easily be determined from our tables or by working out the relationship between torque and the bolt tension gained.