Confast Sleeve bolt?

Anybody used these? Or have a opinion? The “Bolting Bible” from how not to highline seems to be fond of them, but strengths seem low. Prices are great. https://www.confast.com/product-3-8-x-4-304-stainless-steel-hex-sleeve-anchor 

https://www.slackademics.com/boltingbibleblog/section6-mechanicalbolts 

Threaded sleeve bolts like these shouldn’t be used for rock climbing purposes. Lots of threads on here that point to the exact reason why. 

Right... seen those, was curious and interested cuz  arguably the most updated and modern bolt information distributer (bolt bible guy) recommended them for a potentially  higher force and similar application sport. But... message received won’t be purchasing

We had a bunch of the 3/8 x 3” plated bolts (possibly Confast, possibly Redhead brand?) of those around here. According to the ASCA they are cheap quality and can snap unexpectedly.

Weak, please don't use.

Larger diameters (at least 1/2") could be OK for soft desert tower rap anchors if you don't have the ability to use glue-ins (for instance when you need to rap off the anchor right away) - since longer 5-piece tend to get sand jammed in the cone and become spinners in soft sandstone. We have a few of the Lok-bolts (same design, Powers brand) in stainless in 1/2" and 5/8" that we occasionally supply for replacement on soft sandstone towers. But never for anchors seeing heavy use like Indian Creek where it's all stainless 5-piece or glue-ins.

A few things about those externally threaded sleeve bolts. IF you decide you need to use them, stainless only! For some reason the plated steel ones corrode faster than anything else, I've seen them become absolutely useless in less than 5 seasons. If you do go for them consider using the 1/2" variety. While I have seen some brands of 3/8" sleeves hold 20+ kN in shear (Powers, Simpson Strong-Tie, Redhead) that 5/16 threaded stud doesn't leave any margin for shitty manufacturing. They aren't like Power Bolts where we know what grade machine screw is being used.

1/2" is probably fine but at that point why not use glueins if those are a feasible option? 

Nevadaslots,

do you have a link to the "Bolting Bible" of which you speak?

I've used the redhead non-stainless version of this that you can get at home depot for construction projects, NOT climbing and while I have absolutely no numbers to go off of they just seemed of far inferior quality to powers bolts ect.  Just seemed like not great tolerances especially the sleeve.

I mean my shelves are still up lol.

8 just measured between the valleys of the threads on a 3/8 one (so the cross section) and its .26 inches.  Once again this is a redhead non-stainless

Bolt bible guy here... I just broke 1/2" confast sleeve (stainless) at 36kn, 36kn and 32kn in shear.  29kn 32kn and 30kn in tension
5/8" broke in shear at 54kn, 53kn, and 50kn.  
I have not tested 3/8"
The bolting bible is based on the specs provided by manufactures in 4000 psi rock.  We will be updating the bolting bible this winter with our research that we have done as we have learned tons since writing the bolting bible originally.  
With this much research and effort, do you all think it would be worth creating a version of the bolting bible that doesn't have sex jokes or does that just keep the whole thing fun?

Ryan Jenks wrote: Bolt bible guy here... I just broke 1/2" confast sleeve at 36kn, 36kn and 32kn in shear.  29kn 32kn and 30kn in tension
5/8" broke in shear at 54kn, 53kn, and 50kn.  
I have not tested 3/8"
The bolting bible is based on the specs provided by manufactures in 4000 psi rock.  We will be updating the bolting bible this winter with our research that we have done as we have learned tons since writing the bolting bible originally.  
With this much research and effort, do you all think it would be worth creating a version of the bolting bible that doesn't have sex jokes or does that just keep the whole thing fun?

Please consider evaluating each bolt type based on the likelihood of reusing the same hole at the end of that bolt's useful life. Cost, strength, etc. are not the only important factors.  

A number of years ago we used some of those exact bolts for top anchors in soft weld-tuff routes in a dry desert-like environment. In so far as I can tell, they have been fine and are holding up well but I was never really a fan of them as the threaded bolt didn't protrude very much from the sleeve so when coupled with a hanger, there were very little threads available. I haven't tried replacing them and re-using the hole but I'd like to think they should be relatively easy to remove given the design (assuming we drilled the holes extra deep to allow room to knock the threaded stock back to disengage it.)

Gregger Man wrote:

Please consider evaluating each bolt type based on the likelihood of reusing the same hole at the end of that bolt's useful life. Cost, strength, etc. are not the only important factors.  

Valid point Greg. Removability is something we are very interested in as well. 

As these should not be used for climbing, I will note that I've had a near 100% success rate removing them with a spinner + Hurley JR with relative ease and reusing the hole.

Jason Halladay wrote: A number of years ago we used some of those exact bolts for top anchors in soft weld-tuff routes in a dry desert-like environment. In so far as I can tell, they have been fine and are holding up well but I was never really a fan of them as the threaded bolt didn't protrude very much from the sleeve so when coupled with a hanger, there were very little threads available. I haven't tried replacing them and re-using the hole but I'd like to think they should be relatively easy to remove given the design (assuming we drilled the holes extra deep to allow room to knock the threaded stock back to disengage it.)

What diameter?

M Mobes wrote:

What diameter?

Just checked my old invoices. We used the 1/2" x 3".  After one box I wasn't sold on them and haven't used them since, though. 

Confast SS 316 wedge bolts are good. And cheap.

Jason Halladay wrote:

Just checked my old invoices. We used the 1/2" x 3".  After one box I wasn't sold on them and haven't used them since, though. 

Did you use 3/8" or 1/2" hangers? Does anyone know how shear strength is affected when the hanger rests on only the stud and not on the sleeve?

I replaced a ton of these threaded sleeve bolts that were 1/2" x about 3" and utilized a 3/8" hanger. Horrible, horrible, horrible bolts when installed like this. Proper torque was never achieved and it was basically a hanger on a steel rod placed in a hole. The hanger was not compressed against the wall whatsoever, which is what gives a mechanical bolt most of its strength. The only thing holding falls was the shear strength of the threaded bolt.The bolts we replaced were only a few years old and not corroded in the slightest. No rust or anything. The reason we chose to swap them all for glue in's was because they weren't ever able to be properly torqued and one fell out of the hole. They weren't confidence inspiring in the slightest. We thought about swapping all the hangers for 1/2" which is what should have been used in the first place, but the amount of work to do that was similar to just pulling the bolts and installing glue in's. I think if you're going to make the decision to use these, you absolutely have to use 3/8" with 3/8" and 1/2" with 1/2".

Just a footnote here, when we replaced these, it was incredibly easy. We went hole for hole on probably 75 of these in a day. Pull off the nut, barely tap in the bolt to disengage the sleeve, then fish out the sleeve with needle nose vice grips or pliers. Once you pull out the sleeve, the threaded bolt is just floating in an empty hole and is easy to pull out. A magnet on an extendable rod is useful to pull the bolt out of the hole if you push it in too far. The one thing we had to make sure to do was drill the hole a little deeper to make sure it was adequate for our glue in's. This may be required in certain cases.

C Williams wrote:

Did you use 3/8" or 1/2" hangers? Does anyone know how shear strength is affected when the hanger rests on only the stud and not on the sleeve?

We used 3/8" hangers which was a good fit. The 1/2" hangers are much too large for these 1/2" bolts. Some photos:

Taylor Spiegelberg wrote: Just a footnote here, when we replaced these, it was incredibly easy. We went hole for hole on probably 75 of these in a day. Pull off the nut, barely tap in the bolt to disengage the sleeve, then fish out the sleeve with needle nose vice grips or pliers. Once you pull out the sleeve, the threaded bolt is just floating in an empty hole and is easy to pull out. A magnet on an extendable rod is useful to pull the bolt out of the hole if you push it in too far. The one thing we had to make sure to do was drill the hole a little deeper to make sure it was adequate for our glue in's. This may be required in certain cases.

That's great to hear. I'd like to replace many of the ones we placed with wave bolts as you did. Thanks for the info.