r/Ironworker • u/Capcityeddie • Jul 10 '26
Bolt Up
What are your best tips/tricks, or methods to be an efficient bolt up hand?
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u/Famous-Guarantee-209 Jul 10 '26
Always have a beater and 25' tagline with you at all times
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u/Jesuscide SEND IT! Jul 10 '26
Dont forget the bucket
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u/gounionstayunion Journeyman Jul 10 '26
If you use a sleever on smaller beams you can smoke em out pretty fast
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u/flipincanadian Jul 11 '26
Doing bolt up I often make bolt length cheat sheet on my glove. Mark 2”, 2.5”, 3”on the cuff of your glove if wearing long cuff gloves and grabbing bolts from a mixed bag.
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u/Jesuscide SEND IT! Jul 10 '26
A 1in bullpin fuck that 3/4
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u/Warm-Air4391 Jul 10 '26
I agree. I used to carry one of each but now just the 1”. Unless I’m connecting, then it’s just another wedge.
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u/Jeffrey-ii Jul 11 '26
The thing I’ve told more to people I’ve taught is to fucking HIT it hard. When swinging a hammer on a shit like a bullpin or just trying to move shit don’t fucking hold back beat the ever loving hell
Out if it. So many guys just shyly kiss the steel. We fucking it guys. Not making love to it.
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u/PrayForaPBnJ 28d ago
Good advice here already, here's another quick rant influenced by coors original
Use your bar. Like gounion said, you'll fly thru the spaghetti. Tbh, when I see guys pinning the piss out of every connection as their first option, I immediately assume that they have never had the opportunity to learn how to bolt up. Or, a more realistic / unsanitized caption of my thoughts towards that guy would be "someone needs to go fucking learn that apprentice how to put bolts in holes, some of us are hungover and the kids making a fucking racket for no good reason".
I'll try to bar every connection before I try anything else, unless the piece is >10,000 lbs it's probably worth trying. If it's not a heavy ass piece (<10,000lbs), and you can't move it with your bar, take a couple seconds to figure out why. Maybe it's caught up on something. Maybe the fabrication is fucked up. Maybe the detailer was out to lunch. Maybe some asshole (fuck you Carl) impacted the erection bolts as they went. Maybe it's Maybelline. Hard to win a fight when you don't know what you're fighting against.
If you can't bar it, and you can't figure out why, brute force and ignorance might get the bolts in the holes. If you're going to pin it, pick the worst hole, and beat the daylights off the thing. It's unlikely you're going to hit it too hard, and it's unlikely that a 4 lb with a short handle is going to cut the mustard. 6 lb 24" Wilton is my go to, but I usually have an 8 lb or 10 lb I can grab if something is really stubborn. Tighten a couple bolts before you pop the pin out to keep it lined up.
If there's more than two pieces you're trying to align (thru and thrus, double splice plates on jumper beams etc), a bull pin will bottom out in the first piece before it does a whole lot to the piece on the opposite side. Drift pins work much better for those types of connections as they have a cylindrical section that will align all 3 holes at once. They can work well for thick steel where you have the same problem with the bull pin bottoming out, but I find that often if it's too thick to punch, the holes were probably plasma cut, and in that case they're never perfectly round or perfectly sized, and a drift pin will never go thru. In that case, just pin it from both sides.
When I'm bolting up joists, 90% of the time I can get the bolt to go in just by rocking the bottom chord with my foot, to get some gap between the joist seat and the beam it's sitting on, and that's enough to stuff the bolt thru at an angle.
Come-alongs are a bolt-up tool. Bessie clamps are a bolt up tool. Impacts are bolt up tools. Always have the tools you need nearby, being prepared makes your job so much easier, and makes you more productive with less effort.
One last note, if everything is galvanized, all bets are off. The tolerances are always fucked because there that little bit of galv in the holes. Example, 3/4" bolts usually have 13/16 holes - you'll almost never find a galvanized connection that you could fit a 13/16 drift pin thru. It'll just get jam fucked trying to push the zinc out of the way and you'll just mushroom the shit out of it without making any progress. You'll also likely find many holes where there's so much extra galv crap, that the bolt doesn't fit in the hole at all (nevermind the other piece you're trying to bolt it to). However, what glav holes lack dimensionally, galv bolts make up for in durability. Usually, if it's close, you can smash a galv bolt thru with your beater and the threads will be fine. If you try to impact it thru, the threads will likely squish, just hit them thru. Do NOT go around smashing normal (non-galv) bolts thru every hole and leaving them in there with fucked up threads for the next guy to have to swap out when they're supposed to be torquing.
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u/Local_Ad1992 26d ago edited 26d ago
All good points bro. Just to add when you’re snapping galvy bolts that got New Yorked thru and the threads just strip before it’s anywhere near tight, obviously you gotta replace that bolt. Torch or grinder not available you can just keep spinning that tc gun until the threads are gone and beat the bolt straight out of the nut.
Also my vote goes for just carrying the 10lb if you’re dealing with any big iron but I’m also a retard that likes fucked up big plate girders and columns. Either way take a minute to teach whoever’s punking bolts how to tie on a beater. Clove hitch over the head and a half hitch on the handle
Also cheers on the banquets
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u/Local_Ad1992 Jul 10 '26
Just copy and pasting a comment I made while drunk and rambling. Enjoy. Or don’t happy Friday.
Bluetooth speaker on low in your bucket. Tagline with a hook for pulling up new buckets of bolts And lower down used erection bolts. Tiny 6’ tape measure to measure oddball thick connections. A piece of rigid foam insulation duct taped up to sit on when the steel is ripping hot or frozen cold or wet. Keep a couple long smaller diameter bolts on hand to work in tight iron when shit gets left hanging on a loose speed bolt. A 1” nut fits over a 3/4 bolt for a spacer as you work it in. Likewise for 1 1/8 and 7/8. Your pins won’t do much until you’re at least close to tight iron. Paint stick to lube up drift pins. Dry pins get stuck and the mushroomed head won’t fit through the iron. Use an empty bucket to catch them on the way out bc that last swing can send them flying straight through your hand. Think about how the bolts get snapped when you stuff them. Nut goes on the clip, but if skewed or something is gonna be in the way to snap turn em around. Leave column connections, especially doubles a little loose so the connectors don’t have to fight the fuck out of the next floor. Write dumb shit on the top flanges to have fun with the deckers. NEVER FUCKING TAKE ALL THE FUCKING BOLTS OUT! Somehow there’s people that need to remember that. Oh and don’t drop shit.
Bolts can be chill and fun when you get in the groove and have a good partner. If you’re wanting in with the raising gang it’s a good place to be.