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Huck is one of the most recognized fastener brands, and the Huck BobTail® lockbolt is one of the most popular and reliable fastener systems on the market.
Huck fasteners, which Howmet Aerospace manufactures, have a long performance history, offering speedy installation and strength. New fastener applications and innovations continue to drive fastener sales, and Grand View Research reports that global fastener sales hit $95.5 billion in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate of 4.7 percent. Huck fasteners have consistently led the market, and the Huck BobTail is one of the brand’s best sellers.
A Unique Design
Introduced in 2009, the Huck BobTail has a unique, pintail-less lockbolt design. The BobTail can be installed in under two seconds, and it delivers five times the fatigue strength of conventional nuts and bolts.
The lockbolt itself has a distinctive, zero-break design. Most lockbolts have a pintail that needs to be removed, but the BobTail doesn’t, which eliminates any excess metal you need to collect and the noise of removing it. The pintail-less design also makes it faster to install the BobTail.
The Huck BobTail has become a preferred fastener for rigorous applications because it delivers superior strength, especially in applications subject to vibration. The BobTail is versatile; it comes in sizes ranging from ¼-inch to 22mm and is available in steel, aluminum, or stainless steel. It is also available with round truss, flush, and flanged head styles.
Installation of the Huck BobTail
The strength of lockbolts such as the BobTail is in their design. To install a BobTail, fit the lockbolt pin through the hole for the joint and fit the collar over the pin on the opposite side. Then, swage the collar using a lockbolt installation tool. Unlike nuts and bolts that screw together, the swaged collar is pressed into the threads of the pin to form a permanent bond.
With any lockbolt, once you swage the collar, you can’t remove the lockbolt without cutting off the collar. The BobTail is designed to have complete metal-to-metal contact between the collar and the bolt grooves with no gaps, so the joint is more reliable and won’t work loose with vibration.
A swage collar is also much faster to install than nuts and bolts. The lockbolt tool fits over the collar and completes the swage quickly, and little or no training is needed to install lockbolts. And unlike nuts and bolts, lockbolts never need to be tightened.
Better Performance
There are several reasons that lockbolts such as the BobTail offer superior performance.
When you install a lockbolt, you pull the pin, generating more force across the joint. The squeezing action to swage the collar, combined with the pull on the pin, results in a tighter, more permanent bond with the collar cinched against the pin grooves.
Lockbolts such as the BobTail also offer greater shear and tensile strength than other fasteners. The shear strength is the result of the materials used (e.g., steel or aluminum) and the diameter of the lockbolt. The tensile strength is related to the size of the collar. The wider the collar, the more threads are filled and the greater the tensile strength.
Lockbolts can be used in any application where you have access to both sides of a workpiece. They are commonly used in steel construction, solar installations, wind farms, transportation, and other applications requiring superior, lasting performance. Lockbolts are also popular for critical applications where safety is a concern because they are easy to inspect.
Specific Advantages
The Huck BobTail offers some unique advantages over other lockbolts.
The BobTail is easier and faster to install than other lockbolts, and you can also install it using 30 percent less swage pressure. Less pressure means you can use lighter tools for installation, and the tools take less wear. Using a swage collar also means the pin grooves can be shallower, delivering five times the fatigue strength.
Eliminating pintails also reduces stress on the tool and the operator because there is no shock load or noise from shearing the pin. According to Howlett Aerospace, customers using the Huck BobTail see a 50 percent reduction in tool maintenance because of reduced shock load and wear. The BobTail also leaves a tail pull-groove intact, so you can use the same swage tool to cut the collar and remove the lockbolt.
The Huck BobTail is just one of the many types of lockbolts available on the Bay Supply Marketplace. To learn more about lockbolts and their uses, download The Essential Guide to Lockbolts.
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