As in many industries, fastenings and fixings often get taken for granted and yet they have a major role to play in the successful construction of many items, including plastic windows and doors.
One company that has specialised in these fastenings and fixings since 1992 is Rapierstar Limited of Congleton, Cheshire. Founded by the present managing director, David Furness, as Architectural Supplies Limited, the aim was to get into the window industry and to create strong working partnerships based upon the ability to offer specialist screws and fasteners.
This the company has certainly achieved, assisting numerous customers to become more efficient and profitable. North Lincolnshire based Howarth Timber Windows and Doors, for instance, is one of the largest manufacturers of Timber Windows and Doors in the UK and Rapierstar helped it to increased production by over 30% in 2010.
When looking for a way to increase their productivity and reduce assembly time, Howarth turned to the Rapierstar StarTurn Universal Woodscrew. The patented design of the StarTurn woodscrew allows the screw to be inserted into most types of timber and board products without the need for pre-drilling, thus eliminating one of the major timber manufacturing processes.
After extensive factory trials, Purchasing Manager Marion Wright commented that “the StarTurn woodscrews are very cost effective and speed up our assembly process as they remove the need for pilot drilling.”
Rapierstar’s strength lies very much within the technical knowledge and expertise of the team that it has assembled; all of them have an engineering background in the window industry and came from that sector. Within a plastic window, it is necessary to use aluminium reinforcement and so you need a special screw to fix it. With this in mind, Rapierstar has built up a huge database of all of the profiles used by the different window and door manufacturers, which allows it to advise immediately as to what fixings are required.
Rapierstar has developed special screws for added corrosion resistance – they may be stainless steel or bimetallic screws with a stainless steel drill point and a carbon steel body. The company has also widened its range over the years to include StarPVCU, the leading choice for all window, door and conservatory applications, the StarTurn range of woodscrews, StarFix direct frame anchors, StarPins – stainless steel, high impact polypins and nails – StarDeck decking screws and StarLok fixings for large pre-treated timbers and beams.
Rapierstar offer experience and quality; its products are manufactured to the company’s own design and to the very highest quality standards. Every product that comes into Congleton is checked in the company’s own in-house quality control laboratory for test corrosion resistance, pull-out strength and impart strength, among many other properties. The industry demands high standards and Rapierstar set out to both match and to exceed these in terms of product quality and service offered.
