Ghost Bolts

[leo.tavakoli]

Hi All,

Recently I was checking a BOM of my project and I found there are some extra bolts that I cannot locate in the model. They exist everywhere, in all the reports and BOMs but they are completely invisible in my 3D model.

They don't even create any holes in the members and plates. If I hadn't checked the reports, I could never have found them.

They only appear as a red dot and changing the "display type" doesn't have any effect on them.

I have many other correct bolts with the same bolt type and grade, so my database of bolts should be correct.

One other thing which is strange about it is that their properties show that their "grip length" is longer than their "bolt length" which is odd.

Now that I have found them I can delete them but I'm perplexed how they were created in the first place.

Does anybody have a similar experience?

Best Regards,

Leo

[bigcarl5000kg]

Hi @leo.tavakoli,

I've seen something like this before in Advance Steel 2022, if I had bolts in a bent plate and then just deleted the bend between the sheets to edit the sheet geometry - either new holes were generated or sometimes bolts too in these sheets, very rarely ghost bolts.

[bigcarl5000kg]

If you select these ghost bolts, do you see any connected elements in the Properties palette (here at German)?

[leo.tavakoli]

Yes,

They are connected to some plates and beams but no matter what I do with them, they won't change. They don't even create any holes on the members.

[bigcarl5000kg]

Can you post here a part from your model data with the ghost bolts? 

[bigcarl5000kg]

Select the ghost bolts and use "Display connected objects"

[bigcarl5000kg]

Those ghost bolts must be related to some connection you made or a macro you used for some connection ... it's hard to advise further, look for the causes

[leo.tavakoli]

Hi BigCarl,

Please find attached part of my project that contains the ghost bolts.

You are correct that they must have been somehow created by mistake and by copying my connections everywhere in the model, it must have been regenerated several times. 

I'm perplexed how they have been generated in the first place because I'm unable to consciously make the same mistake again.

You mentioned creating a bent plate and deleting the bent part, but since my bent plate was supposed to be welded on-site, I never connected it to anything by a bolt. Apparently, there is more than one way to create a ghost hole. 

[bigcarl5000kg]

Hi @leo.tavakoli,

I found a total of 8 such screws there, obviously connecting always two objects - the main beams RHS 125x73x3 with the flanges / endplates (see red objects below), which is basically nonsense - these parts are only welded together. Conversely, if I filter the bolts and welds for this beam, it will indeed find the ghost bolts as well - these objects are clearly assigned to the given part through some connection. I would say that the problem occurred somewhere between the chair and the computer 😁.

Each of these bolts have internally a quantity of 2 defined - however, only one object is displayed. Either you or AS are magicians 🤣.

If I move these bolts, change their definition (standard, size,...), no change appears, no bolt body appears. Screws cannot even be converted to holes.

I would say that you define the welds between objects a bit pointlessly. They are often in places only (all  part welded together via one weld only) form multiple objects, so you are probably not using automatic weld symbols in the drawings. Do you do it all manually? Why? I strongly do not recommend it. I just hope you don't make the bolted connections like that ...

I'm not even talking about another mysterious objects in the whole model...

The problem with the ghost bolts is found in 4 identical / similar places, so it is not a random occurrence, so you have to be careful.

Try searching in your overall model, you should find something (I don't see any macros there). I think it's not AS's fault, it's just incorrect/wrong use of some connection ... But I can't rule anything out.