unc Archives - Thomas Smith Fasteners

Where do Fasteners get used? – Matt

10th February 202310th February 2023 Matt Barber about us, classic car restoration, fastener industry, fasteners, heritage rail restoration, productsLeave a Comment

As stated in my previous article I’m new to the fastener world. I couldn’t even imagine all the different uses fasteners have. I used to think, very naively, that nuts and bolts weren’t used that frequently. Now, I understand nuts and bolts are everywhere. Thinking back about my previous job, I’ve realized how many nuts and bolts we used to use without even thinking about it, and that was working in retail. So, if you’re interested in the weird and wonderful areas our fasteners get used you’ve come to the right place.

Construction

Right let’s get the obvious out of the way. Fasteners are used in construction. Here at Thomas Smith Fasteners in Hindley Green our outside wall is lined with steel attached by Fasteners. It’s taken me three weeks to notice it but once you start seeing Fasteners you see them everywhere. It’s the Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, once you see or hear something for the first time you see it everywhere. Now when I’m out and about I feel like all I see is fasteners. Walking down the street and see a road sign, how’s it secured? With a fastener, above it there’s a team working on scaffolding, how’s it held together? Fasteners. I’ve started to realize how much work our products do and it’s amazing.

Classic Cars

Okay, we’ve spoken about construction now lets have some fun. Be it a Bentley or Beamer, a Rolls Royce or a Rover, they’re absolutely filled to the brim with Fasteners. All the fancy upholstery is held together with fasteners, the engine is held together by fasteners, fly wheel bolts without them you’re in trouble and yet again they’re made with fasteners. Using fasteners from Thomas Smith Fasteners, our director Tim restored a Classic Ferrari 365-GTC4 and plenty of other Classic Car enthusiasts continue do the same. To illustrate this point I have linked a YouTube video below by Powernation whereby they built a car with a drill, pop rivets and black spray paint. Fasteners helping Lewis Hamilton to 7 formula one titles and helping me to pass my MOT.

Powernation – Drill, Pop Rivets and Paint

Heritage Rail

So as a child my favourite toys were part of my train set, probably until being around 4 years old. I was obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine as a little kid and Thomas used to fly round those tracks but how did he do it?

You guessed it, Fasteners. Fasteners are a key component in Heritage Rail keeping our steam engines going in the modern day. Each summer a massive tourist attraction for the family can be found on Britain’s railways. And here at Thomas Smith Fasteners we provide the specials that keep those trains going. Whether their used to reattach a buffer or a smokebox, fasteners hold them together. Thomas gets his restoration from Thomas Smith Fasteners, I suppose that’s how he looks younger in 2023 than he did in the 80’s.

Aerospace

Do you feel the need, the need for speed? Well your going to need plenty of fasteners if you want to beat Goose in a race. Yes, fasteners yet again help get your aircrafts into the sky. Next time you get a flight have a look down the wing of the plane it’s fasteners galore. They basically hold the entire aircraft together, from doors to wings, without your fasteners your flight to Alicante won’t be going very far. Without the fasteners holding everything together it’d all just be parts, like a guitar without strings. You’ve got your bolts, nuts, screws and rivets that are responsible for your safety and also to make sure you can enjoy your holidays. What’s the alternative take a boat?

Maritime

You think you don’t need fasteners on a boat, think again. Boats are held together by Fasteners as well. From the port to the starboard, your fasteners keep you afloat as you sail the seven seas. You tend to find a lot of stainless steel fasteners are use in the Maritime industry due to their corrosion resistance. As seen previously on our blog we recently helped to renovate the anti-aircraft mount on the HMS Belfast, using 1/2 BSW x 3/4 Slot Raised. Now permanently docked on the Thames as part of the Imperial War Museum, our fasteners have given the HMS Belfast a new lease of life, and stopped it’s anti-aircraft mount from falling off. This also only scratches the surface of the fasteners that can be found on all 9 floors of the HMS Belfast.

Conclusion

So what have we learned today? Well, fasteners are absolutely everywhere and I’ve not even scratched the surface here. We’ve covered almost every mode of transport aside from Shanks’s pony and found they all use fasteners in some way, shape or form. And the best bit of all, here at Thomas Smith Fasteners we have the capability to make specials meaning if you’re struggling to find an imperial bolt we’ve more chance of finding it than most high-street options. So if you’re looking to give your classic car a new lease of life or going away on a long-haul flight, you can thank your fasteners and shop at Thomas Smith Fasteners.

Thanks for reading,

Matt

How it’s done – How I went from Blank to Part-Thread on Bolt Making Knowledge by Matt

24th January 202325th January 2023 Matt Barber about us, fasteners

To begin this post, I would first like to state that I’m new to the Fastener world, but being located at Thomas Smith Fasteners I am learning a lot in a very short space of time. One of the main benefits of being situated at Thomas Smith Fasteners is our manufacturer Smith Bullough being located on site. This has allowed me to understand very quickly what we sell here at Thomas Smith and how it’s manufactured. So to avoid basic copyright infringement, we’re showing ‘How it’s Made’, but calling it ‘How it’s Done’.

How much work goes into making a bolt?

Now, I’ll openly admit that less than two weeks ago, I didn’t have a clue where to start with making fasteners, in fact I said as much in my interview. My point being I just never really thought about it. It was a question I didn’t to know the answer to, like ‘why does a pizza come in a square box?’ (If anyone has the answer send me a DM).

I was going in blind. So I decided to do what anyone in a new job does, ask the bosses a million questions and hope they don’t get sick of answering them.

These questions, led to a tour of the factory, at which point I could see how our fasteners begin to take shape. I entered the factory at Smith Bullough, with the finished product in hand to watch ‘How it’s done’ (Discovery+ aren’t catching on, I hope).

Stage One – A Really Big Saw

We need to cut down our steel rod to size for manufacturing, given that we make both metric and imperial sizes, these can range massively. The team ensure that we have the right length to and then cut down to the right size with the Addison CB250A. When I say it’s a big saw, that kind of undersells it, it cuts through steel like a knife through butter, seriously impressive. I stood back about fifteen yards just in case.

Stage Two – Fire and Brimstone

Through the fire and flames (kind of). This is where we enter the forge, our pins are heated using an induction heater. They can range anywhere between 1,500 and 2000 degrees, and then are pulled out smoking like Pat Butcher on an EastEnders Christmas Special. The pin is then forged into a hexagon blank by being bit by the forge hammer. It’s at this point everything begins to look as you’d expect as the bolt is trimmed and set aside to cool down. I stood back around 20 yards for this one, and that felt like the Costa del Sol.

Stage Three – Big Wheels Keep On Turning

Onto my favourite part. We have our blank and we now need to add the thread. But first we need to chamfer our budding bolt to be. Adding a smooth edge to end of our bolt by applying a lubricant and then filing away the rough edges using a spinning wheel. Following the chamfer process, we enter the area of hypnosis, cut threads. I’ll be honest, I could watch this process all day and not get bored, if Netflix were to come down and film thread cutting for a 20 episode series, they could double my monthly subscription and I’d happily pay just to watch ‘Wednesday’, ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Cut Threads’. Again using a lubricant and put through a spinning wheel the thread is cut into the bolt. Hypnotic.

Stage Four – The Final Bells and Whistles

Finally now our threads been cut we’re onto the final countdown our piece of steel’s been burnt, battered and cut and is now going to get cleaned up before we send it out into the big leagues. The first stage of this comes from thread rolling smoothening up those edges before we hit the CNC machine to get its final bit of pampering. We get a machine shank, and then a bit more chamfering to make it neat and tidy before one final bit of form threading then bang, you’ve got a bolt.

Now it’s done

So our bolt’s now made and ready to be used, well aside from quality control but we’ll chat about them another time. And as much as it’s probably took about 5 minutes to read this in that time our team have probably made 15 more bolts to go with the one you’ve just read about. Whether is be metric or imperial our teams have got it covered. For any enquiries contact Thomas Smith Fasteners.

And if Netflix want my ‘Thread Cut Hypnosis’ TV idea they can drop me an email, thanks for reading.

Fast Turnaround – Special UNC Zinc Nickel Bolts to Abu Dhabi

13th April 2015 Stephen testimonials

Thomas Smith Fasteners were delighted to help out a new client in Abu Dhabi, UAE, who had an urgent requirement for special UNC bolts in Zinc/Nickel Plated.

These bolts, which were required for a power station, were manufactured in our machine shop before being sent to our local platers for the Zinc Nickel finish.

From receiving the order we were able to turn-around in just 4 working days.

Another satisfied customer!

Online shop – free shipping on UK orders over £100

3rd September 2014 Stephen fasteners, online shop

This is just a quick notice to let our valued customers know that our online shop now includes free shipping on all UK orders over £100.

Bolts, nuts, washers, screws, rivets and fixings can all be ordered online, and threadforms include Metric, BSF, BSF, UNC, UNF and BA. Also available is our popular range of assorted fastener kits.

Please note that the online shop is just a small part of our range. We carry many more items than we are able to list online, and can also manufacture specials to customer specification.

Please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

Thomas Smith Fasteners – Bolts from Wigan to China

7th January 2014 Stephen about us, fasteners, products

Thomas Smith Fasteners has recently experienced further export success by supplying imperial fasteners to China.

Manager Gary Stevens said: ‘We are pleased to receive orders from China & over the last few years we have exported to more than 40 countries worldwide. Recently we have found that we are getting more enquiries for British made products and with our manufacturing facilities on site we are able to supply to customer requirements with all the relevant certificates. This shows that overseas customers still have confidence in the high quality of British manufacture. The order we received from China was to replace all the old fasteners in a British made milling machine. The old bolts were BSW and BSF imperial threadforms which we could make within the specified delivery of 2 weeks’.

The company’s main sales base is in the Greater Manchester area. Thomas Smith Fasteners holds large stocks of metric & imperial fasteners, offering a 24-hour turnaround service with specials manufactured to order.

Fasteners for Motor Racing – Tom White at Oulton Park in 1977 Crossle FF

13th September 2013 Stephen about us, fasteners

Last year, we posted this blog entry about supplying the fasteners for a fantastic 1977 Crossle 33F Formula Ford 2 Litre racing car, to be driven by Tom White, then aged 16. We supplied many different fasteners for this car, from socket screws to hexagon bolts, nuts and washers, and thought we’d update on Tom’s progress!

A year on, Tom is now 17 and recently completed a hillclimb in the car. He has now also completed his first track race at the Oulton Park Gold Cup. The picture at the top of the article shows race day.

Tom posted the fastest time in the wet practice session, which is pictured below. A great achievement, especially as it was his first time driving around Oulton Park!

Tom will be racing again at Brands Hatch at the end of September. Next year, he is hoping to complete a full racing season.

All of us at Thomas Smith Fasteners would like to wish Tom the best of luck in his future racing endeavours!

Imperial nuts and bolts are extensively used in classic vehicles like this one, and we hold the UK’s largest stocks. We offer a wide range of fasteners with metric and imperial threadforms (BSF, BSW, UNC, UNF). If you’d like to know more about what we can offer, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01942 520260.

Stainless Steel Assorted Fastener Packs added to Online Shop

18th July 2013 Stephen fasteners, online shop, products

We are pleased to announce that we have now added Stainless Steel Assorted Fastener Packs to our online shop.

Mixed kits of stainless steel bolts, nuts and washers have now been added in UNC, UNF and Metric threadforms. In addition to our stainless range, we also sell BSW, BSF, UNC, UNF and Metric mixed packs in standard high tensile carbon steel.

All of our kits are available in three pack sizes for your convenience – 105 pieces, 326 pieces and 540 pieces.

These packs are a convenient, great value way of keeping an assortment of metric and imperial bolts, nuts and fasteners to hand.

We are not just an online shop! We have been specialists in fastener supply since 1987 and our sister company is one of the oldest bolt manufacturers in the UK, dating back to the 1800s. We understand that sometimes its preferable to speak to someone about your purchase and we are equally happy to take orders over the telephone. If you’d prefer to speak to somebody, please call our sales staff on 01942 520260 and we’ll be happy to help.

Onsite Manufacturing – 2″ x 7″ BSW CNC Machined Bolts and Setscrews

10th July 2013 Stephen fasteners, products

These large 2″ BSW (Whitworth) x 7″ Hexagon Setscrews were produced in our onsite machine shop using a CNC, and are a good example of how our special fastener manufacturing capabilities complement our extensive stocked range of standard industrial fasteners and fixings.

We stock standard sizes of bolts, nuts and fasteners in Metric, BSW (Whitworth), BSF, BA, UNC and UNF threadforms, and can manufacture non-standard sizes in most materials, grades and surfaces finishes. We also offer in-house quality testing facilities and are fully accredited to ISO 9001:2008.

We export nuts, bolts and fasteners worldwide – these hexagon bolts were produced for a construction firm in Austria.

For further information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Thomas Smith Fasteners exports Imperial Nuts and Bolts to Australia

17th May 2013 Stephen fasteners, products, testimonials

On a recent visit to Australia, our Business Development Manager Stuart Briscoe obtained orders for imperial nuts and bolts for an Australian power station. This follows on from our recent orders from Australian classic car restorers for BA and BSF fasteners.

The order included stainless steel and high tensile imperial threadform fasteners.

We hold the UK’s largest stocks of BSW, BSF, BA, UNC and UNF fasteners and now export to more than 35 countries around the world.

For further information, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

Cholmondeley Pageant of Power 2011 Review

10th August 2011 Stephen about us

On the 16^th July 2011, we attended the Cholmondeley Pageant of Power, which is the UK’s biggest celebration of power and speed.

This year’s event was extended to three days, with the Friday being set aside for press, trade and sponsors and also for the competing cars to participate in practice laps of the 1.2 mile, ‘U’ shaped circuit.

Despite heavy rain on Sunday, the meeting attracted a record crowd of 60,000 who viewed the 175 modern and classic cars & bikes on the track in addition to hundreds of display cars.

The spectators witnessed a formidable array of classic and modern cars on track, including the Vanwall VW14, AC Cobra, Ferrari 250GT SWB, the incredibly succesful 1989 Lancia Delta Integrale rally car, and the 1990 Lotus T102 F1 car.

Five times Le Mans winner and racing legend Derek Bell was in attendance, driving the Bentley Super 8 that won the 2003 Le Mans.

Being a celebration of power and speed, the pageant is not confined to road vehicles. There were many additional attractions including powerboat racing, army mock battle scenes, and airplane stunt displays.

The pageant hosts the largest gathering of racing powerboats in the UK, and the lake saw plenty of racing action, with catamarans, hydroplanes and wetbikes taking to the water.

The Defence Helicopter Flying School, which is based at nearby RAF Shawbury, provided spectacular air displays including a Search and Rescue Training Unit (SARTU) training demonstration.

The Army conducted a live combined arms demonstration, providing a fascinating insight into miltary operations, and tanks and helicopters were used to insert the troops into the action. The displays raised funds for the military charities Combat Stress, Remount and the Mercian Benevolent Fund (MBF). A thrilling spectacle for a worthy cause.

What really stood out this year was that that there were so many different attractions to witness and enjoy. On track action, classic and modern vehicle displays, powerboats gunning their engines on the lake, biplanes and helicopters roaring overhead, army demonstrations, firework displays and more make for a very enjoyable weekend for all the family.

An action-packed time was had by all and we’re already looking forward to next year’s event. See you there!

The Fastener Specialists

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