Bruno of Bruno Bracing-Aligning-Shoring said "we knew that our lateral bracing products were strong, but we had no idea Kwicker-Kicker KD braces were so durable. Showing no signs of movement until reaching 13 thousand lbs. of direct pressure was pretty awesome" The staff and students at Cal-poly are amazing, the Structures Lab is a top notch facility at the number 1 ranked engineering school in the nation.
The structures Lab is run by Dr. Charles Chadwell who is also a licensed engineer in the state of California.
The braces were mounted to an 80k lb. actuator ram that traveled 4" in 20 minutes.Strain gauges that were attached to the Kwicker-Kickers then ran to their own data gathering jacks which sent all data to a computer that analyzed and stored the data as each test was conducted.
Retrofitting the labs actuator ram was a test itself. A swivel mount bracket that had to be able to travel yet not falter in any way had to be designed developed and tested for absolute accuracy. This alone took 6 weeks and 4 tries at it before the fith modification and test yielded perfect results.Yes I said perfect.
Geoff Davidson owner of Harmony Machine and Fabrication in Atascadero,California was called uponto fabricate the device once the design was finalized. Truly a perfectionist when it comes to machining and welding Mr. Davidsons work was beyond amazing.
