Chapter 15: SFS Group
New SFS Center Point System:

Bringing speed, simplicity and precision
to every installation

Building on its well-founded reputation as a manufacturer of cladding support systems and high-performance fasteners, SFS Group Fastening Technology has developed an advanced, user-friendly new fastening 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 achieves this through its specialist centring sleeve, made from biopolymers. The sleeve is designed to break into two parts, which fall away and do not remain in the drill hole. This ensures that the panel retains full freedom of movement for thermal expansion and contraction, avoiding stress build-up around the fastener.

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 compared to a standard rivet solution and is designed to negate the problem of panels being damaged, 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.

Product Manager for SFS, Francesca Healy, 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 allowing the hole to absorb expansion, preventing stress to the panel. 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.”

Every detail of the Centre Point System fastener has been carefully considered and engineered. This includes the head of the fastener, in which the side in contact with the panel surface is slightly coned. This subtle coning ensures that there is no direct contact at the outer diameter, protecting the panel surface from pressure marks or damage.

The range is available in stainless steel A4, offering enhanced corrosion resistance and long-term durability. 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 six to eight-week period typical for the panels themselves.

For more information visit: uk.sfs.com