Dewalt Powerstuds

Anyone know where Dewalt Powerstuds went? What’s the new mechanical bolt of choice with these gone? I don’t love confast wedge bolts but I don’t wanna spend the money on sleeve. 

You can get them at McMasterCarr:

https://www.mcmaster.com/standard-anchors/

but SS is the norm, not PS. 

Alex Morano wrote:

Anyone know where Dewalt Powerstuds went? What’s the new mechanical bolt of choice with these gone? I don’t love confast wedge bolts but I don’t wanna spend the money on sleeve. 

Jim Titt's wedge bolts (distributed in the US by Team Tough) are a good choice for hard rock. 

I hate to sound like a gatekeeper, but if you can't afford the marginal difference to buy high quality hardware for a route, I would argue that you shouldn't be bolting routes. Best practice IMO is all stainless hardware and glue-ins for soft rock. 

If you're interested in giving back to the community a bit, get in touch with the ASCA, and they can often hook you up with free hardware to update old routes.

Matt Miccioli wrote:

Jim Titt's wedge bolts (distributed in the US by Team Tough) are a good choice for hard rock. 

I hate to sound like a gatekeeper, but if you can't afford the marginal difference to buy high quality hardware for a route, I would argue that you shouldn't be bolting routes. Best practice IMO is all stainless hardware and glue-ins for soft rock. 

If you're interested in giving back to the community a bit, get in touch with the ASCA, and they can often hook you up with free hardware to update old routes.

I only use stainless? Dewalt Powerstuds are 304 SS and I’m bolting in graniteish rock.  I think the sd6 is 316 so I’ve been trying to find those with limited success.

Daniel H Bryant wrote:

You can get them at McMasterCarr:

https://www.mcmaster.com/standard-anchors/

but SS is the norm, not PS. 

It’s like $55 for a 20 pack. I used to pay $1 per bolt on these guys. Guess supply issues are a problem on these too. Thanks for the link!!

Alex Morano wrote:

I only use stainless? Dewalt Powerstuds are 304 SS and I’m bolting in graniteish rock.  I think the sd6 is 316 so I’ve been trying to find those with limited success.

Good to hear. Didn't mean to sound rude--I too am unimpressed with the Confast quality and just would hate to see subpar hardware being installed to save a couple bucks a bolt.   

Team Tough will do a 10% discount if you buy more than 100 pieces from them at a time, and their shipping is pretty reasonable. I think $3.15 a pop before any discounts for each 12mm wedge is a pretty good deal as well. 

Dewalt 3/8 Pwr Stud 3 3/4 (304SS)

Gotten these a couple times ^, They are Dewalt 304 power studs (07351-PWR) so not 316 but also not zinc plated; recommend 3 3/4in length.

The McMaster ones are tempting but I wouldn't dabble unless I were to use in a very dry environment with no seeping. 

Edit:

I see the same site also carries the 316SS versions too: Dewalt 07615-PWR , comparable price to Bolt Products anchors of similar size
Also good reference is Power Stud Tech Page & the Power Stud Product Info Page

Tech page has pullout strengths listed but I don't see any differentiation between 304SS & 316SS pullout strengths.

I've been content with 07351-PWR studs in most applications I've encountered so far (first round bolting & in decent rock).

Note that the Power Stud+ SD4 and SD6 wedge bolts are significantly weaker than the standard Power Stud bolts: 2,745 lbs in shear vs 3,760 lbs (and 3/8" Power-Bolt stainless is around 7,700lbs shear).

(and...a 1/4" buttonhead is 2,090 shear...)

Matt Miccioli wrote:

Jim Titt's wedge bolts (distributed in the US by Team Tough) are a good choice for hard rock. 

I hate to sound like a gatekeeper, but if you can't afford the marginal difference to buy high quality hardware for a route, I would argue that you shouldn't be bolting routes.

I agree. They're exponentially better than the Powers wedges. 

nbrown wrote:

I agree. They're exponentially better than the Powers wedges. 

As someone who is currently using Powers wedges can you explain why? Happy to pay more for a superior product, but would like to have an understanding of why I'd be doing that.

Greg Barnes wrote:

Note that the Power Stud+ SD4 and SD6 wedge bolts are significantly weaker than the standard Power Stud bolts: 2,745 lbs in shear vs 3,760 lbs (and 3/8" Power-Bolt stainless is around 7,700lbs shear).

(and...a 1/4" buttonhead is 2,090 shear...)

Wow. That’s a little scary. I’ll make sure to use the original then. Thanks for the info. How not to high line did some testing that’s pretty interesting. These are probably fine for most installs. However, no reason to not use the originals.

https://youtu.be/VBQbWYPmCW4

304:

https://www.tannerbolt.com/pow-07313-3-8-x-3-powers-power-stud-wedge-expansion-anchors-304-stainless-steel

316:

https://www.tannerbolt.com/pow-07613-3-8-x-3-powers-power-stud-wedge-expansion-anchors-316-stainless-steel?categoryId=32750

Ricky Harline wrote:

As someone who is currently using Powers wedges can you explain why? Happy to pay more for a superior product, but would like to have an understanding of why I'd be doing that.

I don't have pics right now to illustrate, but my main reason is that they have a much more aggressive clip (or whatever it's called) on the end. The Powers is just a small strip of metal whereas the Bolt-Products' longer clip has significantly more surface area. I've see a number of Powers wedges wallow out back in the hole where the clip seats, creating a situation where they don't want to tighten down. This happens on both high-traffic routes (especially if subjected to a lot of sideways torque) and/or rock that has softer pockets in it. Even in "bomber" granite. Seen it a lot in both Carolina and Colorado. Carolina granites are almost all metamorphic and therefore have softer (mica rich) minerals. A lot of the Colorado granites (SPlatte, St Vrain, etc.) are just softer in general. This is specially true near the top of the formations.

Recently at Staunton State Park in CO, a wobbly wedge bolt on a newish route had to be fixed. It was a Powers wedges bolt. In speaking with the FA who replaced it, I'm guessing it probably wouldn't have been an issue with a higher quality bolt.

Other Bolt-Products attributes that I prefer:

- A little beefier at 10 mm.

- Better threads. Not sure what they do differently but I've never had one gall when tightening or unscrewing to change out hangers, etc. Have had numerous issues with other brands doing this (including Powers, and especially Fixe).

- They're all 316 ss.

nbrown wrote:

Recently at Staunton State Park in CO, a wobbly wedge bolt on a newish route had to be fixed. It was a Powers wedges bolt. In speaking with the FA who replaced it, I'm guessing it probably wouldn't have been an issue with a higher quality bolt.

Would love to see pix, glad it was replaced before it got worse. 

High quality bolts are not the solution for low quality placement. 

Shawn S wrote:

Would love to see pix, glad it was replaced before it got worse. 

High quality bolts are not the solution for low quality placement. 

Ok

These Dewalt bolts look almost identical to the Fixe bolts, which look very similar to the Team Tough,  and all 3 look very similar to Confast bolts.   

I hear a lot about how the Confast anchors are junk that only half assers would buy but I don't understand exactly why? The Sheer Capacity looks to be pretty close to the same for all of them, and from what I can tell the Confast is actually stronger for a 3/8ths 3 inch (if I am seeing it correctly).    I don't know if I am reading it right but the McMasters says they have a sheer capacity at 500lbs?  Yikes.  I couldn't find a Sheer capacity for the Team Tough wedges in my quick search.

I edited the length that I was researching to 3 inches rather than 3.5. 

Kyran Keisling wrote:

These Dewalt bolts look almost identical to the Fixe bolts, which look very similar to the Team Tough,  and all 3 look very similar to Confast bolts.   

I hear a lot about how the Confast anchors are junk that only half assers would buy but I don't understand exactly why? The Sheer Capacity looks to be pretty close to the same for all of them, and from what I can tell the Confast is actually stronger for a 3/8ths 3 1/2 inch (if I am seeing it correctly).    I don't know if I am reading it right but the McMasters says they have a sheer capacity at 500lbs?  Yikes.  I couldn't find a Sheer capacity for the Team Tough wedges in my quick search.

The material seems fine to me on the confast anchors. Something about the little sleeve is off however. I’ve bought a couple for just at home applications and never really got the bolt to tighten down. I’ve heard it’s worse in soft rock, but I can’t say. They’re probably ok to be honest. Most of the routes in this country are zinc plated red heads and we see hardware related accidents remaining low.  I’m pretty sure the dewalts are only marginally more expensive, so I’ll stick to what I know works. 

Alex Morano wrote:

The material seems fine to me on the confast anchors. Something about the little sleeve is off however. I’ve bought a couple for just at home applications and never really got the bolt to tighten down. I’ve heard it’s worse in soft rock, but I can’t say. They’re probably ok to be honest. Most of the routes in this country are zinc plated red heads and we see hardware related accidents remaining low.  I’m pretty sure the dewalts are only marginally more expensive, so I’ll stick to what I know works. 

Sorry, Alex.  I wasn't trying to talk you into changing products, I was just trying to scavenge some knowledge from your thread.  BTW I have been using the Confast anchors and have had zero issues with quality.  

Kyran Keisling wrote:

Sorry, Alex.  I wasn't trying to talk you into changing products, I was just trying to scavenge some knowledge from your thread.  BTW I have been using the Confast anchors and have had zero issues with quality.  

Oh you’re all good. What rock are you working with? It is nice to have free two day shipping lol.

On the subject of wedge anchors, has anyone experience with the Simpson Wedge-All in 316? I've seen a few uncomplimentary comments in other threads in days gone by, but don't recollect the reasons.

Greg Barnes wrote:

Note that the Power Stud+ SD4 and SD6 wedge bolts are significantly weaker than the standard Power Stud bolts: 2,745 lbs in shear vs 3,760 lbs (and 3/8" Power-Bolt stainless is around 7,700lbs shear).

(and...a 1/4" buttonhead is 2,090 shear...)

I would strongly disagree with those numbers. I’ve personally seen 3/8 x 2-3/4” SD6 bolts pulled past 30 kN in shear. There is also a Bolt-Busters video to back this up. DeWalt publishes the lowest value in the minimum embed depth, in the weakest concrete. That’s why the load numbers are the same even as length and concrete strength goes up.