Blind fasteners secure world record

The sculpture, inspired by the tomato red Ford Gran Torino used in the hit 70s TV show ‘Starsky & Hutch’ proved to be the ideal platform for top video games publisher Empire Interactive to launch its new video game based on the programme. A team of ten artists and painters took three days to build the 30m long by 8m high sculpture in East London’s Spitafields Market. It was constructed using 5,000 40cm square corrugated cardboard boxes stacked four layers deep. For the most effective method of fastening the boxes together, the designers turned to Textron who recommended its high strength, aluminium alloy TLR fastener. These feature a split tail that folds back to form a very large blind side bearing area, thereby spreading the clamp load and making it ideal for use in thin sheet metal as well as brittle or soft material such as cardboard. More than 30,000 fasteners were used on the sculpture, installed quickly and accurately using Textron’s lightweight Genesis pneumatic tools. The Guinness World Record breaking piece of art was seen by more than 10,000 people before being dismantled. DP Pointers * The TLR blind fastener has a split tail that folds back to form a very large blind side bearing area, thus spreading the clamp load * This makes it ideal for use in thin sheet metal or other soft, brittle materials such as cardboard * More than 30,000 fasteners were used on the record-breaking cardboard box sculpture