SFS Center Point System Launched To Enhance Accuracy, Appearance And The Environment

Building on its well-founded reputation as a manufacturer of cladding support systems and high-performance fasteners, SFS Group Fastening Technology has developed an advance, user-friendly new system for installing flat panels across both steel and aluminium sub-frames.

Amongst the benefits of the patented Center Point System is the fact that it answers the challenge of accurately positioning the self-drilling, double thread fastener at the exact centre of the hole in the panel, ensuring the avoidance of subsequent damage to the surface through thermal movement/  It also prevents the environmental risk of plastic waste polluting the site by employing a bio-degradable, pre-fitted centring sleeve, which will not constrict the space around the shaft with any residue.

Being made available through SFS stockists nationwide, in a selection of clamping lengths to suit different panel thicknesses, the well-engineered fixing can double the rate of progress and is designed to negate the problem of façades being disfigured, sometimes within just months of completion.  Having been made available in Europe last year with a standard centring sleeve, the new SDA4 and SX4 fasteners have already been appraised for compatibility by a number of leading OEMs as well as major installers across the UK industry and are being recognised within ETAs. 

The Director of Product and Market Development for SFS, Andrew Stolworthy, comments: “Center Point solves a variety of issues in a single, simple-to-fit development; avoiding the risk of misalignment or having to utilise a separate, expensive centring device for predrilling the hole in the sub-structure member, which takes time. Otherwise, once the building is handed over, the expansion and contraction that occurs across the panel and within the sub-frame will lead to cracks or potting if the movement is not correctly accommodated." 

"With Center Point, the sleeve is ejected from the hole as the installer tightens the fixing and will then biodegrade in line with accepted scientific guidance.  The shaft, furthermore, features a double-thread which avoids it being pulled over to one side, and then there is a thread-free zone to prevent it unwinding and working loose due to vibration.”

In fact, the sleeves, given the designation CS11/4, are produced from biopolymers and other materials which science recognises as being biodegradable under DIN EN ISO 14855, while also meeting limits on heavy metals and other hazardous substances set out under EN13432.2000.  In normal soil and under moderate climate conditions, all traces of the sleeve will be subject to full decomposition by microorganisms during the lifetime of the building. 

Both the SDA4 and SX4 ranges, for steel and aluminium subframes respectively, are available in four different sizes to suit panel thicknesses of 6, 8, 10 and 12-13mm, with corresponding variations in clamping length.  Center Point will be available from early in Q3 in a full selection of RAL colours on a lead time of just five working days: well within the 6-8 week period typical for the panels themselves. For further information, call 0330 0555888 or visit https://uk.sfs.com