Why are there no Nuts / Bolts / Screws in Star Trek?

[KamenRiderBlade]

In all of the episodes that I've watched which consists of all of
TNG, DS9, VOY, & ENT, I've never seen a single screw, nut or bolt, even a rivet in the future.

Somebody has to make the prototype of the item or part that gets mass replicated. How did they put all the items together in the first place?

Did they just weld or sodder everything together?

I'm assuming they must use something to hold all their tools, gadgets, pipes, etc together.

Any ideas from you fans?

[King Daniel]

There are plenty of nuts and bolts in the Enterprise's enineering section in the 2009 Star Trek movie, and I'm sure I've seen panels being unscrewed in Enterprise, although I can't recall which episodes.

I guess the 24th century Treks use some magical futuristic... somethingorother... involving waving magical techno-wands....

[toughlittleship]

DS9 had self-sealing stem bolts.

[SchwEnt]

cuz it's the future and they've gone beyond contemporary conventional methods.

i'm no engineer or mechanic, but 200/300 years ago i don't think there were many nuts-bolts-rivets.

similarly, 200/300 years from now, they will have construction methods unknown today. you know, invention.

also: yes... self-sealing stem bolts. yes.

[Sumghai]

I suspect given the size and shape of the Self-Sealing stem bolt props, they were probably used for major assemblies like starship or starbase components.

As for smaller items, I presume that because the industrial replicator can fabricate pre-assembled objects with complex part geometries, subcomponents and individual fixtures were deemed unneccessary (unless one wants items such as hand Phasers or tricorders to be repairable)

Of course, it may just be the producers' and art departments idea of a clean futuristic look by taking out fasteners that would look ostensibly like something out of the 20~21st Centuries.

[MacLeod]

As others have said changes in technology

[jayrath]

We never saw Kleenex, Tampons or toilets, either, though we all assume the crew had access to such. Why do you ask? Do you find screws, nuts and bolts dramatically compelling?

[C.E. Evans]

Nuts, bolts, and screws are so pre-warp...

[Sandoval]

KamenRiderBlade wrote:

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Did they just weld or sodder everything together?

Solder.

Where do we find these people? Sodder...

[King Daniel]

There's certainly welding...

[The Wormhole]

jayrath wrote:

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We never saw Kleenex, Tampons or toilets, either,

A toilet was seen in Trek V.

Learn more about Toilets in Star Trek.

[T'Girl]

C.E. Evans wrote:

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Nuts, bolts, and screws are so pre-warp...

By the 24th century, Humanity is too evolved to use rivets.

KingDaniel wrote:

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There's certainly welding...

In the video, they're specifically arc welding.

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Perhaps there still are. Maybe only during Parrises Squares tournaments with the cheerleaders: "Nuts and bolts. Nuts and bolts. We got screwed!"

[KamenRiderBlade]

Sandoval wrote:

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Solder.

Where do we find these people? Sodder...

My bad, I was typing quickly and didn't spell check.

[RoJoHen]

KamenRiderBlade wrote:

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My bad, I was typing quickly and didn't spell check.

I doubt it's a word people spell that often. And I don't know how people pronounce it in other countries, but in America the L tends to be silent anyway.