Fastening & Assembly Solutions & Technology July 2012

FAST JULY 2012
FASTUPDATES
Fastener laboratory is fully commissioned
A-LAB, Anixter Fasteners’
independent testing laboratory in
Gloucester is now fully commissioned.
The facility, which has
been independently audited by
UKAS and accredited to
UKAS/ISO17025, offers a comprehensive
range of fastener testing
and failure investigation
capabilities.
Commenting on the new laboratory,
costing over £450,000 to
commission and establish,
Richard Hawker, vice president
10
of technical services, said: “One
of Anixter’s core values is quality
and our culture is focused to
deliver a zero defects standard,
whilst supplying over 14 billion
components annually, worldwide.
As part of this commitment
we have invested heavily in
our technical capability. Our
UKAS accredited laboratory not
only tests products that we supply,
but also provides an independent
investigation and product
verification service.”
CNC technology makes better springs
William Hughes has adopted
CNC technology to process
spring hard wire into spiral
springs. Unlike other manufacturers
who use soft wire which is
then hardened and tempered to
give the required characteristics,
William Hughes uses CNC technology
to process spring hardwire
into the required shape. The
spring is then stress relieved and
finished resulting in a spring that
is faster to produce, has a lower
cost, looks better and has better
performance characteristics.
Clock springs as they are
sometimes inaccurately known
are a type of torsion spring. The
use of profiled or square wire,
allows high performance parts to
be engineered for applications in
awkward or confined spaces. The
difference between a spiral
spring and a clock spring is that a
spiral spring has a few coils that
do not touch each other generally
The services offered at A-LAB
fall under the five headings of
metallurgical, mechanical, chemical,
failure investigation and product
finish testing. The full list
includes a plethora of tests that
require extensive specialist equipment,
including optical emission
spectrometers as well as plus
facilities to undertake specific
tests such as salt spray testing.
The tests that Anixter subjects
components to measures their
integrity and performance to stan-
delivering less than one full rotation
whereas a clock spring has
many coils, usually fitting into a
confined casing.
CNC technology means that
tooling for new springs can be
manufactured more quickly and
at a lower cost. Even small batch
quantities can be quickly and
economically produced for prototyping
or low production runs.
The company’s product range
includes compression, tension
dards compliance and beyond.
Metallurgist, Lee Pugh explained,
“At A-LAB in Gloucester we
offer over 25 different tests to
scrutinise the integrity of a huge
array of components. We work to
the most exacting standards of a
broad range of industries, covering
the specifications of BS, ISO,
ASTM and Ford.”
ANIXTER
01202 865213
and torsion springs in many
bespoke configurations, wire
forms, PCB test points and
spring wire. Stringent quality
checks to ISO 9001:2008, TS
16949 and AS 9100, combined
with the latest design, production
and distribution techniques
ensure continuity of supply, rapid
delivery and competitive prices
across the range.
WILLIAM HUGHES
01963 363377