The bigHead fasteners by the English manufacturer of the same name are already available from   KVT-Fastening in over 400 standard varieties. Customers in the vehicle, shipbuilding and machinery construction industries as well as the furniture industry can call on a wide range of alternatives to traditional fastening technologies. The added flexibility is a product of the design of a bigHead: on a basic plate (the head) a number of different fixing points such as pins, nails, nuts, threads, hooks etc. are attached by a welded spot. In this way, the fasteners can be invisibly integrated in many plastic and compound materials. Not only that, there is no need to drill as there is in traditional fasteners, which can cause a loss of strength in the component. The bigHead fasteners prove their exceptional tensile strength for example on in-door climbing walls produced by the manufacturer DR Climbing Walls Limited.

bigHead application example DR Climbing Walls

The artificial indoor climbing walls by DR Climbing Walls Limited are created from a hard-wearing resin aggregate on either a plywood or glass reinforced plastic base. bigHead fasteners, in particular the F1/S38-M10 type, provide the necessary anchorage for the handholds and toe-holds. They are bonded onto these substrates to act as the necessary anchor-points for the interchangeable bolt-on holds and steps. Thus it is possible to incorporate major rock-climbing features into the climbing walls, such as hand-jamming cracks, flakes and tuff to model the natural prototype. The bigHead fasteners are used above all because of their extreme strength and the wide range of positioning possibilities they offer.
Thomas Kraushaar, Head of Product Category at KVT-Fastening, summarises: "Traditional connectors and fasteners quickly reach their limits in lightweight and modular construction. The use of a bigHead ensures not only optimisation in the erection process, but also better load distribution in the component itself. That means for example that the optical and functional features can be brought out to better effect without the need to compromise in terms of strength". The flexibility of the bigHead fasteners is reflected in a wide variety of scenarios in which they are used. For instance, they can be laminated into composite materials or bonded onto surfaces or into sandwich materials. They can also be embedded in injection-moulded plastics. They are made either of galvanised steel or stainless steel.

Highlight at InnoTrans: bigHead solutions and examples of application

At InnoTrans 2014 in Hall 8.2 on Stand No. 220 there will be a selection from the bigHead-portfolio on display. In addition, as part of a keynote, practical applications will be demonstrated. More information all about the trade fair presence of the Bossard Group and KVT-Fastening will be found on the following webseite:
http://www.bossard.com/innotrans