Product Watch
Load Bearing Tests Complete, Kwicker-Kickers Exceed Expectations
By Kevin Connoly
Thu, 7 Sep 2006, 09:36 PST

For those of you in the concrete industry that use bracing/aligning products, brace yourself, the results although preliminary exceeded everyones expectations.

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.

Once the tests began they were completed in a very timely and proffesional manner.

Mr.Bruno from Bruno B.-A.-S. highly reccomended the testing opportunities available at Cal-Poly University San Luis Obispo,California.

Contact Dr. Charles Chadwell directly at chadwell@calpoly.edu for lab scheduling,fees and any questions.

For more on Kwicker-Kicker pat. pending retractable form alignment braces go to www.kwickerkicker.com

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