Great deals on bolts, hangers, and other hardware

mattm wrote:

For anything eBay I simply post the item # - people can easily search for it on the other page and using the tiny URL as above.  Best to hot link it though

For these the item #124301339468

Got a box of these as 304 can work in dry TX areas. Legit. The bolts look like the pallet has seen a lot of transport ie lots of movement in the box almost as if tumbled but that’s fine with me.  Jump on these if conditions warrant. 

mattm wrote:

Got a box of these as 304 can work in dry TX areas. Legit. The bolts look like the pallet has seen a lot of transport ie lots of movement in the box almost as if tumbled but that’s fine with me.  Jump on these if conditions warrant. 

Thanks for the report, Matt! I just ordered 4 boxes. Total came to $193 shipped. Smokin' deal. Will report back if I have any trouble.

If anyone missed out on the Ebay deal, I stocked up and will pass some along for $46/box (sorry Mattm). can't do free shipping, but can ship up to three boxes for $15

3/8x3 304ss KB-TZ

Peter Thomas wrote:

If anyone missed out on the Ebay deal, I stocked up and will pass some along for $46/box (sorry Mattm). can't do free shipping, but can ship up to three boxes for $15

3/8x3 304ss KB-TZ

All good. You're helping others out with your pricing. You may be able to use the Flat Rate padded envelopes (with lots of tape) as well to save on shipping.  I've done that with smaller bolt quantities in the past.

 What I recall is there was a smoking deal on SS KB3s back in the day (like they were running 75c each for 304SS. The eBay guy had close to a pallet of them.  Then all of a sudden, they were all gone.  Soon after, a website popped up selling bolting gear and the SAME Spec'd KB3s for like $2.50 each.  Capitalism sure, but it felt a bit poor form to mark them up THAT much.  I could be totally wrong on the whole thing mind you...

3/8" x 3.5" Power-Stud SS 304 $75 for a 50 pack w/ free shipping. Solid deal no?  I've used the 1/2" power-stud, but never the 3/8". I'm assuming they are plenty strong still?

JD Borgeson wrote:

3/8" x 3.5" Power-Stud SS 304 $75 for a 50 pack w/ free shipping. Solid deal no?  I've used the 1/2" power-stud, but never the 3/8". I'm assuming they are plenty strong still?

Yep, they’re plenty strong. That is a pretty good deal, too

Little Man wrote:

I’ve never really like the 3/8 power stud. There’s something about the design that makes them take longer to snug down and I have had a handful of spinners in the limited amount I’ve used. In contrast, I’ve used 100s of Hilti KB3 and KBTZ in 3/8 without ever having one single spinners and they snug down quick, which is great for ground up. I think if you can’t find the Hiltis for a good deal, Confast makes a better 3/8 than the powerstuds in 3” or shorter. Due to their manufacturing process, the longer confast bolts are made by a different manufacturer and are a different design and I had 10 bad bolts in a batch of 50. 

Yeah, I agree, the 3/8 power studs are a really crappy bolt.  The threads are machined which makes them much weaker than most 3/8 wedges which typically have rolled threads, and the cone and sleeve are some of the worst ones on any bolts out there, they have machining marks on the cone which makes it so that the sleeve doesn't slide up the cone well making it take much longer to finally snug down (if they ever do, I've had ones where it wouldn't ever snug down at all).  I would recommend staying away from 3/8 power studs.

Ken Noyce wrote:

Yeah, I agree, the 3/8 power studs are a really crappy bolt.  The threads are machined which makes them much weaker than most 3/8 wedges which typically have rolled threads, and the cone and sleeve are some of the worst ones on any bolts out there, they have machining marks on the cone which makes it so that the sleeve doesn't slide up the cone well making it take much longer to finally snug down (if they ever do, I've had ones where it wouldn't ever snug down at all).  I would recommend staying away from 3/8 power studs.

I've never had any big issues with the 3/8 powerstuds, maybe 1 in 30-50 are spinners for me and I've always assumed its the rock I use them in. However if the KB3 really does snug up faster its worth the switch over for me, I had a 3 3/4" powerstud extract out like 3/4" before snugging last week but again I assumed I just hit a pocket of softer rock 3" in.

I just used the Powerstuds for the first time this spring and definitely noticed they took longer to snug up than any other wedge bolt I'd used.  They were placed in good granite with a power drill so holes should be pretty good.  I probably won't be using them again. 

I'll pile on about the power studs. I placed a bunch in limestone that had a real hard time snugging up. Placed a few more in solid granite and they snugged up fine.

Peter Thomas wrote:

If anyone missed out on the Ebay deal, I stocked up and will pass some along for $46/box (sorry Mattm). can't do free shipping, but can ship up to three boxes for $15

3/8x3 304ss KB-TZ

Still have several boxes of these available. A little shorter, but I think a much better bolt than the power studs. 

JD Borgeson wrote:

3/8" x 3.5" Power-Stud SS 304 $75 for a 50 pack w/ free shipping. Solid deal no?  I've used the 1/2" power-stud, but never the 3/8". I'm assuming they are plenty strong still?

Yeah I just bought 50 for $150 wish I could return them for this deal...

I've had a lot of spinner Powerstuds myself. Recently bought a box of older models with heavily knurled cones, and they're the worst. Hiltis' smooth cone and minimal play between cone and sleeve seem like the makings of a smarter design. All this said, 3/8" SS Powerstuds get whipped on all the time out here, and we've yet to see one shear.

Edit for context: Most of my spinners have occurred in basalt or tuff. Localized pockets of scoria are certainly a factor, but the frequency of spinners seems much higher with the more deeply-knurled versions (which I'm just going to save for bullet granite...or sell at a loss if you're into that kinda thing). Will post a photo if I remember.

I too have placed 100’s of power studs and never experienced a spinner. Interesting feedback though, I’ll keep in mind when I pick up more bolts.
edit to add, all the PS I’ve placed are granite or other very hard rock. 

I agree that the KB3s are much better than the PowerStuds and that the PowerStuds can take a bit longer to snug up but I've placed hundreds of them and never had an issue. Almost all that I've placed have been in granite for what it's worth. I've only placed a small number in limestone but from what I've observed the rock type can make a difference. 

mattm wrote:

All good. You're helping others out with your pricing. You may be able to use the Flat Rate padded envelopes (with lots of tape) as well to save on shipping.  I've done that with smaller bolt quantities in the past.

 What I recall is there was a smoking deal on SS KB3s back in the day (like they were running 75c each for 304SS. The eBay guy had close to a pallet of them.  Then all of a sudden, they were all gone.  Soon after, a website popped up selling bolting gear and the SAME Spec'd KB3s for like $2.50 each.  Capitalism sure, but it felt a bit poor form to mark them up THAT much.  I could be totally wrong on the whole thing mind you...

I recall buying them for 25 - 50 bucks/box on ebay for a number of years, then someone spilled the beans on a climbing forum... The price went up to something like 150/box almost overnight. Rare to find a good deal anymore.

So, on the discussion of spinning Powerstuds, here's a visual aid. 

On the left is an older model Powerstud with the silly knurled cone. Note the free-play in the sleeve. 2.75" x 3/8" 304 SS. Don't have the model #, but it's the model that's often spinning on me. If anyone likes these, I have 32 of them that I'll ship to you for $35--complete with washers and nuts. 

Middle is a KB-TZ from a recent sale. Note the minimal free-play. Haven't installed one, but will tomorrow, and if I hate them, I'll pass the savings on to you.

Right is a newer Powerstud with Dewalt's name on the box. Smooth-ish cone with very subtle machining grooves, no palpable free-play. These are behaving a lot better than the knurled-coned version.

Logan Peterson wrote:

So, on the discussion of spinning Powerstuds, here's a visual aid. 

On the left is an older model Powerstud with the silly knurled cone. Note the free-play in the sleeve. 2.75" x 3/8" 304 SS. Don't have the model #, but it's the model that's often spinning on me. If anyone likes these, I have 32 of them that I'll ship to you for $35--complete with washers and nuts. 

Middle is a KB-TZ from a recent sale. Note the minimal free-play. Haven't installed one, but will tomorrow, and if I hate them, I'll pass the savings on to you.

Right is a newer Powerstud with Dewalt's name on the box. Smooth-ish cone with very subtle machining grooves, no palpable free-play. These are behaving a lot better than the knurled-coned version.

Are the powers bolts 304 stainless or zinc plated? 

Logan Peterson wrote:

So, on the discussion of spinning Powerstuds, here's a visual aid. 

On the left is an older model Powerstud with the silly knurled cone. Note the free-play in the sleeve. 2.75" x 3/8" 304 SS. Don't have the model #, but it's the model that's often spinning on me. If anyone likes these, I have 32 of them that I'll ship to you for $35--complete with washers and nuts. 

Middle is a KB-TZ from a recent sale. Note the minimal free-play. Haven't installed one, but will tomorrow, and if I hate them, I'll pass the savings on to you.

Right is a newer Powerstud with Dewalt's name on the box. Smooth-ish cone with very subtle machining grooves, no palpable free-play. These are behaving a lot better than the knurled-coned version.

I believe the left bolt is actually a POWER STUD+.  SD4=304 and SD6=316.  Right one is a POWER STUD.

I've tried a few of the STUD+ (knurled wedge) and had similar issues with it taking a while to tighten or ends up not hitting torque.  This was in hard limestone.  Jury is still out for me on those (I sent some to Bobby and Ryan to pull test as well).  

Hilti's are superior for me because of the wedge and clip design.  The wedge shape is progressive, with the ramp angle steepening (slightly) as it near the end but starting off lower angle than most.  The clip is the same having "petals" that are thinner near the end and that thicken closer to the threads.  This combo seems to allow the clip to grab faster and "ramp up" the wedding action resulting in consistent placements.  

I have not used the POWER STUD but its shape reminds me a bit of older FIXE studs where the clip has minimal protrusions to help it grab.  

The EU seems to have a lot more quality options but sourcing in the USA (most being 10mm) is hard.  Fischer, Mungo and Friulsider all appear to have quality offerings in A4

mattm wrote:

I believe the left bolt is actually a POWER STUD+.  SD4=304 and SD6=316.  Right one is a POWER STUD.

That's correct. I've actually had better luck with these (on the left) than the ones on the right. But of course, the Hiltis in the middle are far superior to either. 

And even better yet are the Boltproducts wedges. They're beefier and overall even better than the Hiltis.

One last note on the Hilti TZ: For whatever reason, they always fit just a little looser in the hole than the regular KB3. Good if the rock is super hard but not if it's on the "softer" side. Just something to be aware of.