t nut

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X Nut System

08/25/2009T-Nuts – how important are they really?

As builders of the finest commercial climbing gyms in the world, we understand the importance that t-nuts play over the lifespan of a climbing wall. A climbing wall with failed t-nuts becomes limited and eventually useless. Poor quality t-nuts make route-setting a chore. Our goal is to provide the absolute highest quality modular hold attachment system available and we have spared no expense in creating a system which we believe to be unmatched in this industry.

The following is a brief history of our experience

Since 1991, we have been in search of the ‘perfect t-nut’ and over the years have used 7 different types of commercially available threaded inserts (t-nuts, weld nuts, pallet nuts, etc). Each fastener offered different positive attributes but none was truly perfect.

In the early days we used a small, shallow pronged t-nut which was once the industry standard. Most home walls and even some wall builders still use these today. The problem with this fastener is that its short barrel depth keeps the threads back from the wall surface which makes cross-threading more prevalent – especially if the route setter isn’t very careful. Also, the prongs are small and set close to the hole in the plywood which allows it to spin when put under too much stress.

We moved to using screw in pallet nuts near the turn of the century because of the spinning problems that t-nuts were experiencing. The screw-in fasteners didn’t have the same spinning problems but failures were causing other issues. A failure in a screw-in type fastener can be much more destructive to the climbing wall – to the point that the hole becomes completely shredded and becomes unusable. While these types of failures were less common, they weren’t what we wanted to offer in a top-quality commercial climbing structure designed to be used for 20 or 30 years.

In 2006 we started working with the largest manufacturer and supplier of t-nuts and threaded fasteners to develop the first custom t-nut manufactured specifically for our GymRock climbing walls. We call it the X-Nut because the huge prongs make it look a little like the X-wing fighter in Star Wars.

The X-nut incorporates all of the features from each fastener that we have used in the past:

· Long barrel - brings the threads to the surface of the texture (reduces cross threading).

· Counter-bore alignment barrel – The first 3/16” of the X-Nut barrel is machined out and contains no threads. This aligns the bold perfectly straight before it reaches the threads, virtually eliminating cross threading. The X-Nut is the ONLY fastener in the climbing wall industry to use a counter bore alignment barrel.

· Tapered barrel – provides a pressed-fit into the wood – reduces spinning.

· Large diameter Flange – eliminates pulling through and blow-outs.

· Large Prongs – ½” deep prongs sink deeply into the wood and prevent spinning.o Note: In the event of a failure – pronged fasteners fold-over rather than shredding the wood the way that screws do. While the X-Nuts hardly ever fail, when they do, they don’t destroy the wood in the process making it possible to replace them in the original hole.

· Pressed-in factory installed process – Rockwerx uses a 300,000 pound hydraulic press to install every X-Nut. We do this process in our factory to ensure that every X-Nut is installed perfectly straight prior to being shipped to the job-site.

The X-Nut has gone through a few different design changes since its inception. Our initial design had small prongs which worked well but was still was subject to spinning. Generation II increased the size of the prongs. Generation III added the counter bore alignment to the shaft.

There truly is no better fastener available at any price for a climbing wall application.