# Plated or Spigoted truss?



## derekleffew (Jul 8, 2013)

Pins or bolts?


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## shiben (Jul 8, 2013)

Depends what you are trying to do. A lot of trade shows want things that are not rectangles, and for angles other than 90, pins can be easier than anything else. And on steel truss... but yeah. Depends.


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## techieman33 (Jul 8, 2013)

Pins, hands down. They're faster to install and then remove at the end of the night. And if your bolting truss your usually limited to one or two guys bolting up truss since that's all most people carry ratchets for. With pins you can have several hands all pinning truss at the same time.


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## David Ashton (Jul 9, 2013)

I use both, pins on lightweight portable truss, bolts on my heavier stage grid, of course with air spanners, 3 or 4 tapered pins don't inspire me with confidence on large loads.


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## MPowers (Jul 9, 2013)

Just depends on intended purpose. Light loads, pins are faster. Heavy duty loads, bolts are stronger. We have both and use them accordingly.


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## derekleffew (Jul 9, 2013)

MPowers said:


> ... Light loads, pins are faster. Heavy duty loads, bolts are stronger. ...


I was under the opposite impression--that spigots made for a stronger connection than end plates.

The two below appear to be identical except for the connection method. One is rated for significantly more UDL as well as point loads.
TOMCAT Medium duty truss 20.5x20.5 plated.pdf
TOMCAT Medium duty truss 20.5x20.5 spigoted.pdf

I'm talking about industry-standard, general purpose, medium duty 12"x12" or 20.5"x20.5" truss; not DJ or decorative truss.
.


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## MPowers (Jul 9, 2013)

My Bad, you're correct. Sometimes I get dyslexic when I'm in a hurry! 

> Light loads, pins are faster. Heavy duty loads, bolts are stronger. We have both and use them accordingly.


Should have read:
Light loads, bolts are faster. Heavy duty loads, pin are stronger. We have both and use them accordingly. 

The reason spigoted loads are stronger is the connections are steel. Whether they are the fork and knife type like the TOMCAT or the Egg and Pin type like TOTALITE, the ends of the tube and pins and eggs are all steel.


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## gafftapegreenia (Jul 9, 2013)

While I can see the pro's and cons of both, I voted pins, because D washers drive me nuts.


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## ruinexplorer (Jul 10, 2013)

Not working with much truss these days, but of course I have an opinion. When working with less experienced crew, the plated truss was easier in that you could just roll the pieces of truss to get your correct pattern as opposed to having to switch the ends of the truss in cramped space of load in. Also, when on the road and some knucklehead loses some of your pins, well, the bolts would have been easier to replace in short order. Personally glad I am not working in those situations at the moment.


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## techieman33 (Jul 10, 2013)

ruinexplorer said:


> Not working with much truss these days, but of course I have an opinion. When working with less experienced crew, the plated truss was easier in that you could just roll the pieces of truss to get your correct pattern as opposed to having to switch the ends of the truss in cramped space of load in. Also, when on the road and some knucklehead loses some of your pins, well, the bolts would have been easier to replace in short order. Personally glad I am not working in those situations at the moment.



It should be stacked to come off in order in the right direction. And good luck finding a grade 8 bolt that size at the local big box. I guess you could always hope for a real hardware store nearby that was open, but you can't always count on that with the weird hours we are forced to work sometimes. Most people I've seen come though with truss had plenty of spare bolts or pins so that isn't an issue anyway. A few years back we did have one tour come through with no spare pins though, UGH. A pin fell through the gap between the pit lift and the house, that slowed load in down for about 10-15 minutes while one of the guys went down to the basement and into the space under the pit. He finally found it but it came back up with a nice coating of not so fresh hydraulic fluid.


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## len (Jul 10, 2013)

techieman33 said:


> And good luck finding a grade 8 bolt that size at the local big box.



Ace Hardware stocks them. And probably True Value as well. Some Sears Hardware have them. Part of the reason I prefer bolted.


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## josh88 (Jul 10, 2013)

Ace is usually my go to place for a lot of strange or harder to find things. They stock a lot of weird stuff.


Via tapatalk


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## techieman33 (Jul 10, 2013)

josh88 said:


> Ace is usually my go to place for a lot of strange or harder to find things. They stock a lot of weird stuff.
> 
> 
> Via tapatalk



That or I have a Fastenal that I'll go to if I'm buying in bulk, ACE is usually a lot more expensive.


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## gafftapegreenia (Jul 10, 2013)

If I was a road house, I'd keep things like truss bolts and pins in stock, and exorbitantly overcharge for one when someone neglects to bring spares.


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## DuckJordan (Jul 10, 2013)

problem with stocking pins is each truss manufacture is different, Bolts are relatively cheap and if they are a show that would need spares or large enough to warrant truss in theater they'll have a runner and they'll send the runner to go get bolts. We had one group not have enough steel for their rigging and $1000 later and a run to our local rigging supply they had everything they needed.


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## gafftapegreenia (Jul 10, 2013)

DuckJordan said:


> problem with stocking pins is each truss manufacture is different, Bolts are relatively cheap and if they are a show that would need spares or large enough to warrant truss in theater they'll have a runner and they'll send the runner to go get bolts. We had one group not have enough steel for their rigging and $1000 later and a run to our local rigging supply they had everything they needed.



All truth. I was really just being sassy.


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## Les (Jul 12, 2013)

Just to stir the pot a little, what is the general consensus on truss with conical connectors (as Global Truss calls them)?


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## len (Jul 12, 2013)

Les said:


> Just to stir the pot a little, what is the general consensus on truss with conical connectors (as Global Truss calls them)?



I don't like it. However, I use it when I use truss, because a) I'm only renting 18 - 20' at a time and b) the guy I rent moving lites from has it, so it saves me making pick-up and return trips to two places. My rental of trussing is picking up, so if it continues to increase, I'll buy, and if I do, I'd buy plated. Why? Many others around here have plated, so if I needed 1 or 2 extra pieces I can get it from a number of places. Capacity isn't a big issue for me since I don't hang that much on it anyway.


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## ruinexplorer (Jul 13, 2013)

techieman33 said:


> It should be stacked to come off in order in the right direction. And good luck finding a grade 8 bolt that size at the local big box.


It may be stacked on the truck right, but the crew still may not get it in on stage or the ballroom in that same order. I have often stated that some of the labor companies only requirement for getting hired is whether or not you can afford a wrench before the work call (from the Dollar Store I'm sure). And yes, these were some of the national companies who staff many of the major arenas around the country.

Also, I don't always trust the hardware from the big box stores even when not rigging. True I have been working in larger cities, so good hardware stores have always been available.

I also agree that more rental companies seem to stock plated truss making it easier to pick up extra when needed. Then you don't have as much to worry about matching.


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## techieman33 (Jul 13, 2013)

ruinexplorer said:


> Also, I don't always trust the hardware from the big box stores even when not rigging. True I have been working in larger cities, so good hardware stores have always been available.



Yeah most of the time it says "Made in China."


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## David Ashton (Jul 15, 2013)

this type [global truss] is what we use and is fine for lighter duty use, I've never had a problem, my plated truss is much heavier though, horses for courses.


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