Fastener Fair 2023 is in the books! Mark your calendars for a return to Cleveland next year, May 22-23, 2024.
With live music on the show floor and more than 200 exhibitors, Fastener Fair 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee, did not disappoint. The event took place May 16th and 17th at the Music City Center, representing the Fair’s largest event to date. The atmosphere on the exhibition floor was one of connection, celebration, and quality leads.
“This event included some of the largest booths we’ve ever offered, with more domestic and international companies exhibiting than ever before,” shared Bob Chiricosta, event director with RX Global, an international B2B trade exhibition organizer.
There were specific sections for exhibitors from India and Taiwan, as well as a Learning Theater with insightful panels on supply chains, marketing strategies, and getting data-driven results.
Below are a few notable finds from this year’s Fastener Fair USA. But first…
ZAGO Manufacturing celebrated its 30th anniversary with a celebration toast on the show floor.
A shout out to ZAGO Manufacturing, a sustainable sealing fastener manufacturer, which celebrated 30 years as a woman-owned business, with a champagne toast at the Fair.
The company is one of the world’s largest global producers of custom, high-tech, and inherently green sealing solutions. It proudly employs 35 women and men hailing from different backgrounds, cultures, and ethnicities. Out of eight management-level positions, women occupy six of them.
Congratulations also to master distributor Continental-Aero, celebrating 75 years in business. Since 1948, Continental-Aero has been famous for stocking one of the largest locknut inventories in the country — including the company’s press-closed nylon locknuts and trademarked Royal Purple Tork-Lok nylon inserts. The fastener’s branded purple color is a stamp of the company’s quality.
The Fastener Fair finds…
Greenslade presented its LengthChek device at Fastener Fair, and says it measures fasteners up to four times faster than conventional methods.
1. Streamlined workflow. Looking for a full-featured, easy-to-use ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) distribution software service? Consider INxQL, which offers a comprehensive solution for streamlining workflow that’s optimized for the fastener industry. The company ensures expert installation, reliable data transfer, and personalized, hands-on training.
Features include vendor-managed inventory with inventory control and purchasing, wireless warehouse management, item fabrication and manufacturing, order automation, a fully integrated CRM, and dashboard analytics with cloud-based solutions.
2. Measurement matters. Greenslade & Company is a specialty provider of dimensional calibration services, offering one of the widest ranges of fastener-inspection equipment available. The company showcased its LengthChek at Fastener Fair, which makes measuring the lengths of fasteners fast, easy, and accurate.
In fact, when time is a factor, LengthChek measures various fasteners up to four times faster than conventional methods. These gages offer improvements over the practices of measuring fastener lengths with the back end of calipers, scales, or rulers. Currently, the most popular LengthChek is the electronic, digital model LG-006E that has a 6″ (150mm) capacity with .0005″ resolution.
Dörken MKS’ zinc flake coating acts as a barrier to protect fasteners from corrosion.
3. Clamping options. There’s little a master fastener distributor, Brighton-Best International, doesn’t offer its customers. It’s continually expanding its product family and recently launched new stainless worm-drive hose clamps. Hose clamps are designed to secure a hose or tube over a fitting, acting as a seal to prevent air, gas, or fluids from leaking at the connection.
The latest offering is available in different materials, including stainless steel, carbon steel, zinc plated, and nickel plated. They’re also available in mini or regular versions, meeting SAE J1508 Type M (mini) and F (regular) standards.
4. Corrosion protection. Electrochemical reactions alter the properties of metal and can impair the functionality of steel fasteners. Dörken MKS’ cathodic corrosion protection offers a reliable solution whereby a zinc flake coating acts as a barrier. In the event of a corrosion attack, the low electrochemical potential essentially eliminates the zinc, which, in turn, protects the steel component.
Zinc flake coating is a metallic “lacquer,” consisting of numerous small flakes bound together through an inorganic matrix that provides active cathodic corrosion protection. Learn more here. Also note: Dörken will be adding to its eco-friendly coating options later this year.
A brand-new offering from The Bradley Group: bulk, pre-applied Loctite threadlocker.
5. Bulk threadlocker. The Bradley Group, a provider of sealants and threadlocker, is offering specialized small bulk containers of pre-applied Loctite Dri-Loc materials. Loctite Dri-Loc is a dry coating adhesive that contains a micro-encapsulated activator suspended in a water-based resin.
Once applied to a bolt, the Dri-Loc remains inert and dry to touch until the bolt is used. The shearing forces caused by the insertion of the fastener crushes the micro-spheres and releases the activator to mix with the resin. The resultant anaerobic chemical reaction forms a polymer dispersion that rapidly bonds the fastener and its mating part, locking the parts together.
6. Automated inspections. Today’s stringent quality-control standards for fasteners mean high-level inspections are a must. Attica Automation brings precision and efficiency to inspection and material-handling challenges. The company is well-known for its original AV-B100-G3, which provides standard bolt and screw inspections. Now, it’s added a new inspection machine to its line-up with the AV-D50-GT, specifically for nails.
For those requiring diverse features and capabilities, consider the AV-D100, Attica’s most highly customizable machine. It covers the largest variety of parts.
7. Wave springs. You likely know them for their retaining rings, but global manufacturer Rotor Clip also provides wave springs in single and multi-turn designs. The components offer up to 50% space savings compared to coil springs. They also improve bearing and application life.
A sample of Rotor Clip’s Wave Spring on display at the Fastener Fair.
Rotor Clips wave springs are available in plain, shim, and patented flat ends, as well as in different materials and finishes, including special alloys.
8. Smarter riveting. Industrial Rivet & Fastener‘s RivetKing FreeSet series of cordless riveters are a first of their kind, designed to operate on par with pneumatic tools in a manufacturing environment. In many cases, FreeSet tools are faster, delivering enhanced versatility without air connections.
The FreeSet riveters also offer smart-tool technology for real-time data processing. This means they’re smart enough to know when a rivet is set. They also don’t have to complete the entire cycle before resetting — as soon as a rivet has broken, the tool automatically returns for the next cycle.
9. Digital certs. Want to save up to 70% on labor costs? Look no further than SmartCert, a universal cloud-based network that simplifies every aspect of cert management. SmartCert has developed an efficient way to receive, manage, create, and share quality certifications via an automated platform.
The process is simple: grab your documents, create a SmartCert, and send them to your customers. This digital process saves on paper costs and labor costs by ensuring staff spends less time on administrative paperwork, freeing them up for more high-value tasks.
The Rivet King FreeSet riveters offer smart-tool technology for real-time data processing and rivet setting.
10. Base coat. Meet Zintek ONE HP, an inorganic silver zinc-flake base coat that provides reliable corrosion protection with just one coating layer. This innovation from MKS’ Atotech, a global specialty chemicals company, offers a cost-effective alternative to standard zinc-flake applications, hot-dip galvanizing, and electroplating finishes.
Atotech’s Zintek ONE HP ensures fasteners are protected from corrosion with just one coat.
Atotech’s one-coat system can achieve 720 hours of salt-spray testing without base metal corrosion in NSST. The base coat is applied in a single dip-spin coating that achieves a layer thickness of 6 to 8μm and is comparable to the thickness of common two-layer zinc flake coatings.
11. Magnetic conveyor. You can reduce downtime by up to 18% using Bunting‘s MagSlide conveyors. Offering virtually maintenance-free operation, the MagSlide uses a magnetic conveying system to hold and transport even the most abrasive materials. It’s ideal for moving metal chips, scrap parts, or other such debris that could damage equipment, such as stamping or mill-turn machines.
The MagSlide has no external moving parts or belts, eliminating the risk of such parts failing and compromising productivity and worker safety. It’s available in horizontal, incline, and angled models.
12. Process monitor. With more than 60 years of experience developing monitors and control systems for manufacturers, Helm showcased one of its newest products: the ThreadGard. Developed in conjunction with fastener manufacturers, ThreadGard delivers the functionality of a modern process monitor for virtually any new or used thread-rolling machine currently in operation.
Helm’s ThreadGard process monitor for use with virtually any new or used thread-rolling machine.
The new monitor offers industry-standard features, including job recipe storage (with quick recall and searchable perimeters), history tracking (stores more than 40,000 strokes of tonnage for analysis), intelligent diverter control (with an automatic fault tracker), and a color touchscreen. Manufactured in the USA with NEMA 12 enclosures.
Bunting’s magnetic conveyor
13. Testing bolts. HEICO Fastening Systems is committed to solving bolt loosening issues. To this end, it offers a high-quality Junker Vibration Test, which simulates load cycles, ensuring that bolts properly meet their preload. This mobile device offers quick and easy readings for on the go, including for nylon and hex nuts, as well as spring washers.
It offers a standardized test set-up (DIN 65151), comparative testing of locking performance, and denotes the differentiation between effective and ineffective locking products. To see the Junker Vibration Test in action, click here to watch a demonstration video.
14. Combined header. Buckeye Fasteners Company, a supplier of fasteners and custom components, is continually enhancing its production capabilities. It will be adding to its equipment this fall with the Sacma SP38 Combined Header.
This advanced machine can manufacture weld fasteners and levelers from 1/4-20 (M6) up to 1/2-13 (M12) — at speeds up to 200 pieces per minute. The new technology offers quick-change features with increased quality, thanks to the thorough tool design process and tolerance capabilities.
15. Sustainable storage. Plastic Pallet Pros is committed to promoting sustainability and reducing waste in the supply chain industry. This means providing eco-friendly pallets for storing or shipping parts — including fasteners. Plastic pallets also offer longevity and can last up to 30 times longer than wood pallets.
HEICO’s portable Junker Vibration Test.
You can already mark your calendars for next year as Fastener Fair USA will be returning to Cleveland, Ohio, May 22nd and 23rd.
“Ohio is somewhat of a hub for the fastener world in the United States. Sometimes I’m surprised how many international companies have a branch in the state,” said Chiricosta. “So, we’ll always be excited for the Fastener Fair to return to Cleveland.”
We look forward to seeing you then!
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