How we make it, step by step.
Studs, bolts, nuts, U-bolts and machined parts are cut, turned, threaded, forged and marked in our Houston shop: 30,000 sq ft and 50+ machines, including 27 CNC lathes. Heat treatment, plating, hot-dip galvanizing and coating run through approved Houston processors. Each process below has a blueprint drawing and a step-by-step 3D animation you can play, pause and step through, with an explanation of what it does to the part.
Bar cut to length and turned, milled or broached to the drawing.
3D animationBand sawing
Studs, bolts and machined parts start as certified bar cut to length.
Watch it step by step in 3D
3D animationHigh-speed circular sawing
Alongside our band saws, an automatic high-speed circular saw with a carbide-tipped disc cuts certified bar into blanks in our Houston shop.
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3D animationCNC turning
A CNC lathe spins the bar and moves cutting tools along and across it under program control.
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3D animationSwiss-type turning
On a Swiss-type lathe the headstock slides: it pushes the turning bar out through a guide bushing, and the tools cut right at the face of the bushing, where the bar is supported.
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3D animationCNC milling
Our milling is done on a vertical machining centre: the cutter spins in a vertical spindle above the part, and a 4th axis, a rotary unit on the table that holds the part, turns it to the next angle between features.
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3D animationSocket broaching
A hex socket has sharp inside corners that no drill can make.
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3D animationEDM sockets
Sinker EDM (electrical discharge machining) makes a hex socket without cutting.
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3D animationTapping nuts
A nut's thread is cut by a tap, a hardened threaded tool that advances exactly one thread pitch for every turn as it cuts.
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3D animationChamfering
Chamfering cuts the end of a stud or bolt back at an angle, from the outside of the thread to its root diameter or below, so a nut starts cleanly on a full thread.
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3D animationPolygon turning
A polygon cutter is a driven disc with evenly spaced blades that spins beside the turning part, geared to it: the same direction, exactly twice as fast.
Watch it step by step in 3DThreads rolled, cut with die heads or single-pointed on the lathe.
3D animationThread rolling
Thread rolling presses a thread into a plain blank between hardened dies.
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3D animationDie-head thread cutting
A self-opening die head cuts a thread with a set of chasers: hardened tools spaced round the bar, each with a row of thread teeth.
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3D animationSingle-point threading
Single-point threading cuts a thread on a CNC lathe with one insert shaped to the thread form.
Watch it step by step in 3DHeads and nuts forged hot; U-bolts bent to the pipe.
3D animationHot forging
Hot forging heats the end of a bar until the steel flows under pressure, then drives it into a die to form a bolt head or a nut.
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3D animationU-bolt bending
A U-bolt is a rod threaded at both ends and bent round a former so it wraps a pipe or a structural member.
Watch it step by step in 3DEvery part marked to its heat, then paired, counted and tagged.
3D animationDot-peen marking
A carbide-tipped pin strikes the part many times a second, building each character from small dots.
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3D animationStud bolt assembly
A flanged joint is held by stud bolts, each a threaded stud with a heavy hex nut at each end.
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3D animationLaser marking
A fiber laser writes our maker's mark INF, the grade symbol and the heat number onto the part with a focused beam steered by two small mirrors.
Watch it step by step in 3DProved, then finished.
Parts are tested to the specification and finished by outside processors to the class on the order. Each test and finish has its own page.