Established in 1966 by founder Ken Stanley, the original ‘bigHead’ solved a common problem – how to securely, reliably and consistently fix and position plastic moulded components in an aesthetic and economic way without unsightly fixings that protruded through the material.
Since then, the design versatility of the bigHead has migrated beyond its original concept and, following advances in materials technology, with its use expanding across numerous product manufacturing techniques.
bigHeads can now be found not just as discrete embedded fixings in moulded composites, such as GRP, but also surface mounted with super-strength adhesives to advanced automotive carbon composite panels on supercars. Its fasteners are the assembly components for a whole host of applications – from glass-fibre reinforced concrete (GRC) panels for fascia cladding in the construction industry to discrete fixings for modular ‘pods’ used in rail carriages and buses, or from boat building and leisure vehicle fit-outs to furniture and sports equipment fastening.
The fact that installed bigHeads are not visible means that many engineers are unaware of their important role as a time- and money-saving fastening solution. The distinctive large and flat perforated head design spreads the load and allows for the generous flow of bonding material, whether embedded in a moulded panel or surface mounted with adhesives.
bigHead’s unique weld technology firmly secures a wide variety of threaded studs, nuts, collars, pins and other custom fixings in a choice of mild steel BZP or 316 stainless steel. The result is a strong, safe and reliable fastener that requires no expensive drilling or rework and is completely hidden – offering uncompromised structural design with straightforward, cost-effective and rapid panel or component installation.
Managing director Matthew Stevens summed up the past fifty years thus: “bigHead’s continued success since 1966 can be found in our passion for all things fastening and a desire to work closely with customers from the earliest stages of a project on an engineer to engineer basis. In this way, the fastener can be specified or even custom designed around the customers’ application to ensure the security, quality, performance and assembly requirements of each panel or component fixed is exactly as required.”
In 2014, bigHead joined the Bossard Group, the international fastening solutions company headquartered in Switzerland with a global head count of over 2,000 employees. Looking to the future, developments in production of composite materials in the automotive industry, which lead to faster production throughput, has stimulated new assembly techniques to precision-fix surface mount bigHeads using specialist dry adhesives and induction heating processes.
A new Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) funding with Cranfield University will help strengthen and expand bighead’s capabilities for fastening solutions related to this emerging demand. The fully scalable technology can be applied to prototyping, small and large batch quantities where robot assisted production times with automated adhesive delivery can yield throughput to less than 6 seconds per fixing.
