Fastener Training Institute – Fastener Training Week – Cleveland

At All America Threaded Products our team members are the lifeblood of our business. We invest in them by providing continual training and updating of products and trends in the fastener world. There is no better resource in the fastener industry for training our onsite technical team than the Fastener Training Institute.

Dan Smith, of All America Threaded Products in Lancaster, PA is the most recent team member to attend a week long education session with the Fastener Training Institute in Cleveland, OH. The course dives deep into the technical rudiments of the fastener industry.

Joe Greenslade, International Fastener Institute’s Technical Director from 2007 until 2015, developed this onsite program that has served hundreds of students. “Almost everyone in the fastener industry from one month to thirty years of experience in any capacity related to sales, engineering, or quality can learn and benefit from this program,” he said.

During this 5-day fastener intensive, Dan enhanced his education in multiple fastener topics that he could instill at All America Threaded Products in Lancaster. The key fastener topics were:

• Fastener Thread Specifications
• Fastener Material Specifications
• Fastener Process Specifications
• Fastener Dimensional Specifications
• Fastener Quality Systems and Specifications
• Fastener Lot Traceability
• Fastener Test Reports
• Fastener Print Reading and Tolerances
• Fastener Thread Gauging and Dimensional Inspection

Fastener Training Week in Cleveland – April 3-7, 2023 Summary

During FTI Training Week in Cleveland, OH there was such a high inflow of information we are presenting a week recap that outlines the Dan’s personal experience throughout the program.

A student at Fastener Training Institute Training Week in Cleveland turns a fastener to specifications

Day 1 At Fastener Training Institute

At the outset of the course, we start learning introductory subjects like the standard thread sizes, angle of threads, pitch, major and minor diameters. The first day I was fortunate to have many of these topics in my forefront because of the experience I gained at All America Threaded Products.

Day 2 At Fastener Training Institute

By day 2 though it started to feel like we were drinking water from a fire hose, because we dove deeper into metallurgy and structure of metals, pearlite vs. bainite vs. martensite. We learned about work hardening as well as the spheroidization of metal in the temper & quenching process. Steel vs Alloy Steel vs cast iron.

Charter Steel CTL Line in Cleveland, Ohio

Day 3 At Fastener Training Institute

Day 3 was a highlight because we went on field trips. We first visited Charter Steel in Cleveland.

We were able to see how they pull raw scrap metal and pig iron and blast it in their Electric Arc Furnace. Their maintenance facility alone was the size of AATP. We saw how they blow oxygen and argon into a huge ladle to remove unwanted hydrogen from molten steel. We saw how billets were cast and cut with a huge torch, and then we saw how they maintain their heat and lot control (they stamp and tag the hot billets).

We also visited Auto Bolt in Cleveland, which I found fascinating. They can flat-thread grade 12.9 bolts which is even tougher than Grade 8! And we finished off the day with Telefast, a nut and washer manufacturer.

Day 4 At Fastener Training Institute

Day 4 we dove deep into material specs. We learned how to read material specs and how to go about finding specs in the IFI Fastener Handbook. We worked in groups to solve theoretical problems and customer concerns. We learned about testing methods & why we do them. We spent time learning about plating finishes: electro zinc, Hot Dip Galvanized, Nickel, Cadmium, Black Oxide, passivation etc.

Day 5 At Fastener Training Institute

Day 5 was a short class before we took off, where the instructor shared with us his unique experience with Hydrogen Embrittlement and the San Francisco Bay Bridge that had very large A 354 BD rods snap due to being exposed to the elements (H20…hydrogen) for years before they installed the rods to proof load.

Want To Join A Fastener Company That Invests In Training?

All America Threaded Products is a fastener company that invests in education for its team and your future. Join the fastest growing fastener company in Pennsylvania and make that dream a reality!