Installing Glue In Bolts - Monster Crux with Hilti V3 500
The Bolting Bible
The Book of Installing Glue In's
“If the hole isn’t clean, it can be really risky!”
Welcome to our free course as our way of contributing to the bolting community. It's nice to understand what you are clipping and trusting with your life, even if you never plan on installing or removing bolts. Also, if someone is going to spend their time and money to bolt something, I assume, they probably want to do it as good as possible. Hopefully the Bolting Bible gives you the tools you need to do a great job. Get it?
Our courses are A-Z content in blog format, glued together with an over arching blog we call a text book. A blog format is easy to read, easy to update, and easy to translate. Be sure to begin at the TEXTBOOK and at the end of each episode we'll point you to the next.
If you have the right bolt and the right glue and the right stoke, you can still screw (or glue, get it?), this up and kill someone. You don’t have to be a nuclear physicist to install a glue in bolt, but you DO have to do the simple instructions or you can kill someone. Let’s emphasize the killing someone real quick. This isn’t about long term vs short term anchors here. We are talking about them coming out, AKA killing someone if they don’t get put in correctly.
Another way to fail, that has less consequence, is by failing to actually install the bolts you set out to do. You spent weeks reading the Bolting Bible, spent a bunch of money, used a good weather weekend, and you get there and find out the plunger is too big on your dispenser to push out the glue. Or that cheap caulk guns are too weak to push cold glue out. You could run out of battery before you finish drilling, or find out you left the extension tips to your mixing tips at home... so now you can’t put the glue in the back of the hole, after you cut open your tube! Nope, none of these have ever happened to me… nope… not me! Taking preparation and installation seriously can make you a bad-ass, otherwise you might just be a dumb-ass!
TOOL LIST
● Bolts, duh! The softer the rock, the longer you want your bolt.
● Glue cartridge + Dispenser ...OR Capsules
○ Spare mixing tips and extension tips
○ NOTE: 10oz fills roughly 10 ½” holes but if you have to change out mixing tips often,
you lose quite a bit each time you change one.
● Knife
● Drill, and correct size bit, plus spare bits
● Safety goggles
● Face mask - rock dust isn’t good for you.
● Ear plugs if drilling a lot
● Pipe cleaner and blow pump (for really clean holes!)
● Rubber gloves and paper towels! It can get messy.
● Tape for a perimeter around notch so it doesn’t ooze everywhere AND for making a depth
marker on your drill bit.
● Cotton swabs for detailing in case it oozes out a lot
● Bag for garbage
● Bag for testing mixture (see “Filling Hole” below)
● Plastic or covered Hammer (For bolts with a tight fit)
● Rubber hammer for tight fitting glue in bolts
● Heart full of stoke and a car full of friends!
● Bag to go on your harness for installs in the vertical world
TRAINING and PREPARATION
Please please don’t let your first glue in bolt be anywhere important. Do several in your backyard or your parents backyard or the backyard of someone you don’t like when they are out of town (kidding! Just kidding! Jeez). If you think that would be an eyesore, now you know how all the whiners feel that complain about over bolting. You can read this Glue In Section 100x, but you will always have kinks to work out, and kinky stuff should be done at home.
Practice also helps you verify you have the right drill type, bit type, bit size, glue accessories, amount of glue, cleaning tools AND TECHNIQUE. Or... you can just wing it and go learn in a popular area, but just make sure you put your name on it so we know who to troll!
Can you answer the following questions about what is in your bolt kit bag?
1. What are the min and max cure temperatures?
a. What temperature will it be when I install these?
b. Can the glue even be installed at the installation temperature?
2. What is the nozzle time? (how long can it sit in nozzle before you have to put a new one
on)
a. Do I have spare nozzles
b. Do I have spare extension tips to get the glue in the back of the hole?
3. What is the working time so I don’t ruin the bond before it is cured?
4. Will this glue run out of a hole if I put it in horizontal or in an overhanging rock?
5. What is the cure time for low, medium and high
temps?
a. When do I plan on climbing or highlining on
these bolts?
6. Did I charge my batteries for my drill? Do I have spare
batteries?
7. How deep do I need to drill, and will I need a notch?
8. Do I have a way to keep things clean and tidy?
9. How many holes can I fill up with one tube?
10.Do I have the right bolt for my glue capsule (angled
end for screw install and blunt end for hammer install!)