West Australian Chris Dicker has built his own Limited Sprint- car, following his successful 2012 debut season with the small-but-powerful machines—he ended up 3rd on points for the Perth Motorplex Limited Sprintcar Fast Friday series, and was 9th on seasons points of 32 drivers.

“Limited Sprintcars are so called as we are a budget conscious class that are limited to having steel heads and a carburetor, as opposed the next class up 360 Sprintcars, with aluminum heads and fuel injection,” Chris explains. “We also are limited to 361 cubic inches engine capacity. My engine is 360 in size and has just on 600HP and weighs 780kgs with me in it, on dirt, sideways…”

Chris is sponsored by Sidchrome Tools, Milwaukee Power Tools, Construction Supply Specialists, Flatout Karts, Fiddy Customs, Allstar Signs, Higgys Mechanical and Stainless Alloy Manufacturing.

He’s also Vice President of the West Australian Limited Sprintcar Association, a club is comprised of approximately 120 members consisting of over 45 drivers with the remain- der of the members being family, support crew and club associates.

Check out the Limited Sprintcar Website http://www.limited- sprintcars.com.au/ for a calendar of events, driver profiles and previous years photos.

The CTME is being run by N.T Fasteners, a leading Industrial Supply house in Darwin, in conjunction with The Construction Supply Specialists Group. It is a fully interactive tradeshow, with exhibitors demonstrating their products providing the attendee with a hands-on experience.

Darwin was chosen as the ideal location for the exhibition because it’s both Australia’s front door to Asia, and is also the gate way to the mining boom and the enormous proposed development of the far north and presents unique and immediate opportunities, both long and short term, for everyone connected to and working within the structure of the Building, Mining and Industrial market segments.

Because of the nature and structure of the event, the whole of Darwin’s industrial sector will benefit. This is about quality attendance at all levels throughout the industry.

CTME is on at Darwin Convention Centre, April 17th 2013.

It’s been nearly a year since Stanley Black & Decker’s Construction Do- It-Yourself (CDIY) division acquired Powers Fasteners, in a move both companies described as being designed to provide customers with
a comprehensive range of tools and related products. While Powers had
a reputation as a family-run business, and Stanley Black & Decker as a large multinational, the past year has shown the Powers brand has continued on as strong as ever, with new advantages available from the new owners.

In Australia, Powers had been co- owned by the family and local directors for the previous 20 years, says national business development manager Charles Krivaci. “I think there was
some trepidation in the marketplace—a family business being taken over by
a large corporate. At the same time, some people saw the potential for more enhancements particularly with new products and systems, so that’s more of a positive,” he says.

“Stanley Black & Decker saw an opportunity and had been conducting due diligence on Powers for some time. Powers had a broad range of fastening products but were scarce on tools. Stanley Black & Decker have a proven reputation with tools, especially rotary hammers, combination hammers, angle grinders, reciprocating saws, screw- drivers, impacts drivers and impact wrenches—so a lot of their products complemented our product range.

“Another key strength for Powers
is its commitment to distribution-only businesses. Stanley Black & Decker see this as an opportunity to increase their exposure to the distributor market under the Powers model.”

Powers Fasteners has been a worldwide pioneer in the fastening industry for over 90 years and today is the leading supplier of concrete and masonry anchors and fastening systems in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Powers has extensive engineering and manufacturing expertise in several product groups, including mechanical anchors, adhesive anchoring systems, screws and rivets, driving, drilling, cutting and powered forced-en- try systems such as powder-actuated and gas fastening systems.

The company was founded in 1921 by Frederic Booth Powers Sr as Rawlplug Co. Up until the takeover, the company was owned and run by the fourth generation of Powers sons.

When the acquisition of Powers was announced, Stanley Black & Decker’s intention was to keep the business flowing with no changes on its commercial side. As a separate operating group embedded within the Professional Power Tools Group, Powers will remain as a key brand.

“It’s certainly business as usual. The whole approach from everyone involved has just been let the business run. It was already dynamic and responsive to customers’ needs, and that has not been tampered with. And there has been no focus on pulling back what we do logistically; in fact we’ve just had a new warehouse open in the Northern Territory, and plans for another one in Townsville later this year, and a focus on extracting back end efficiencies. And we’ve learnt
a lot from Stanley Black & Decker too.” The Powers tradition of focussing on their end-user and diect customer, then has only gotten stronger under the new Stanley Black & Decker family.

Stanley Black & Decker have a proven reputation with tools, especially rotary hammers, combination hammers, angle grinders, reciprocating saws, screwdrivers, impacts drivers and impact wrenches—so a lot of their products complemented our product range.

Charles Krivaci, National Business Development Manager

The focus of Proactive Technology is to create technologically advanced, innovative insulation products that are remarkably energy efficient, cost effective and environmentally responsible.
Proactive Technology’s investment lies largely in designing and manufacturing Australian Made building products that practically and successfully address the critical and often-costly consequences brought about by changes in the way we build in contrast with Australia’s vastly differing climate zones and ever-spiralling energy costs.

In attempts to combat the rising prices and ever-increasing dependency on electricity, Australian building regulations were amended in May 2010 requiring mandatory installation of insulation in all new buildings.

In addition to achieving thermal efficiency, Proactive Technology asserts that aiding in the prevention of condensation must be a key consideration to the way we build and how we insulate.

Until now, common solutions include the use of multiple layers of insulation or application of additional products. For example, a commercial roof can generally specify at least three separate products—including anti con, batts and roof raisers—to achieve an R3.2.

Polastic Insulation System is unique as it efficiently addresses all building considerations, including aiding in the prevention of condensation, achieving the same R3.2 with just a single application of the 12mm continuous roll product.

Polastic Insulation System provides a smart, total insulation solution in a single, slim profile product that is quick and easy to install, saving considerably on materials and labour.

Polastic’s Innovation, design and creation
Firstly, the insulation product had to
be made entirely from non-conductive materials. The safety considerations and hazards to homeowners and installers alike automatically discounted all conductive materials including glass and metal foils.

It also had to effectively reduce all three types of heat transfer including conduction, convection and radiant heat. Polastic Insulation System takes full advantage of ‘next generation’ developments and dramatic advances in building science and technology. By contrast, fibreglass insulation (which accounts for a whopping 85 per cent share of the insulation industry) was developed in 1938, before the invention of ball point pens, microwaves, credit cards, mobile phones, the internet and email!

In an endless pursuit for ‘exactly the right product’, Proactive Technology embarked upon years of significant research and development on an inter- national scale. Benchmarking world’s best practice was key in the creation of Polastic Insulation System. Seeking out industry experts from countries where mandatory insulation has been the norm for decades and severe climates were a day-to-day experience, allowed Proactive Technology to comprehensively select two tested and proven insulation materials that would meet our stringent performance criteria.

The key to Polastic Insulation System’s superior insulation properties lies in an innovative combination of two, highly advanced, materials working together to keep the heat outside in summer and inside in winter.

Component 1. Expanded Polystyrene Core
The interior or core of Polastic Insulation System comprises a highly flexible, specially engineered Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) core that harnesses the potential of dead air—nature’s best insulator.

Consider how a polystyrene cup which, with only two millimetres of thickness, is able to prevent your hands from serious burns from boiling liquid by reducing the outer surface temperature of the cup from 95°C to approximately 50°C. The polystyrene used in Polastic Insulation System is a proprietary formula designed to make it a highly flexible, durable and stable insulator that does not degrade over time.

Being a solid surfaced material, poly- styrene can effectively reduce convective and conductive heat transfer.
But what about radiant heat transfer?

Component 2. Reflective Plastic
The outer layer of Polastic Insulation System comprises an entirely non-conductive, ultra-thin reflective plastic facer similar to Mylar used and developed by NASA to insulate space suits. Where the use of Mylar would result in Polastic Insulation System being cost-prohibitive for most applications, Proactive Technology worked with laboratories in the creation of a cost effective, radiant-reflective laminate.

Able to prevent extremes in both hot and cold temperatures, while effectively reducing radiant heat, it has all the reflective benefits of a foil without the conductive or corrosive drawbacks.

The shielding properties of the EPS foam core together with the thermal blocking power of the reflective plastic facer make Polastic Insulation System an incredibly effective insulation system.

Three-in-One Application
Polastic Insulation System provides a 3-in-1 application when installed including a thermal break, vapour barrier and slim-profile insulation. This allows for fast installation and the replacement of multiple insulation products. The avail- ability in both sheet and roll form allows

Polastic Insulation System is unique
as it efficiently addresses all building considerations, including aiding in the prevention of condensation, achieving the same R3.2 with just a single application of the 12mm continuous roll.

for unlimited applications and building configurations. Polastic Insulation System can be installed anywhere hot and cold need to be regulated. The most common applications include:
- Cavity Brick and Veneer
- External Claddng
- Commercial Roofing
- Concrete / Thermal Mass
- Transportable Homes.

For more information please visit: www.proactivetechnology.com.au/pages/applications.php

On Victoria’s Mornington Pen- insula, near the town of Rye, is a stretch of coastline with the underwhelming name of 16th Beach. It faces the open water of Bass Strait and the surf breaks on a half-kilometer long reef. You can drive south-east from Melbourne to 16th Beach in one and a half hours, making it a popular spot for holiday homes. While these weekenders range from old beach shacks to veritable mansions, there is one that stands apart from all the others. The Klein Bottle house, located on tea-tree covered sand hills, is one of the most intriguing—and architecturally inspired—buildings in Australia. The 258-square-metre residence is based on a mind-bending mathematical concept—a topographical shape known as a Klein bottle,
a model of a surface developed by the German 19th-century mathematician, Felix Klein. Whereas a Möbius strip is a one-sided shape, it has edges. A Klein bottle is a three-dimensional shape that not only has no discernible inner or outer surfaces, but notions of left and right cannot be consistently defined. If that’s not enough, a true Klein bottle can only exist in four dimensions.

This abstract, theoretical shape was the starting point for architect Rob McBride and
his partner, interior designer Debbie Ryan, of Melbourne-based McBride Charles Ryan Architecture + Interior Design (MCR).

“The surfaces that mathematicians have developed hold intrigue for architects as they hold a promise of new spatial relationships and configurations,” said McBride to an online architectural site.

“Technology [CAD] has played an import- ant part in all this; it is now more possible to efficiently describe more complex shapes and spaces and communicate these to the build. Previously the more orthogonal means of com- munication—plans, sections and elevations— naturally encourage buildings which are more easily described in these terms—i.e. boxes.”

Using advanced CAD-CAM technology, the MCR team designed a spiral house twisting around an internal courtyard. This design evolved until the spiral passed back through the house, elegantly reflecting the Klein bottle mathematical concept.

The outside of the building plays with space and shape. Walls seem to simultaneously recede and leap forward. At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be a right angle anywhere

Completed in 2008, it took the architecture world by storm, winning a number of high profile awards… including World’s Best House

in the building. There is, however, nothing haphazard about this dramatic home. It nestles serenely in its surroundings, as much a part of the landscape as the tea-trees that encircle the structure. The owners “chose the site for the building because it’s where you would want to camp,” says Debbie Ryan.

“In principal, it’s like a doughnut,” explains Rob McBride in Stephen Crafti’s book, A Pocketful of Beach Houses. “You can twist and distort it but it will only change topographically if it’s cut. In a sense, there’s no beginning or end.”

The exterior is mainly constructed of cement sheeting—a nod to the great Aussie fibro shacks that still dot many coastal communities—while the building is sup- ported on a traditional timber stud frame. McBride emphasises: “We wanted to evoke a sense of the fibre cement beach shack in the area. We didn’t want to make the house feel too precious.”

While staying true to the Klein bottle form, the MCR team evoke folded origami and tents in the interplay of surfaces and angles. “Origami folds are accentuated
by many shades of white,” says Ryan. While the building is boldly ultra-modern, it almost goes with- out saying that the structure is a modestly sized holiday home for a couple with three children.

The exterior base and roof are painted black which highlights the daring architecture while framing the white balcony off the large living area. The black serves double duty by anchoring the house in the landscape, giving a solidity to this whimsical structure.

An untreated wooden boardwalk leads to the entrance to the house where the warm red of the interior draws in both guest and resident. Once inside a rising red staircase wraps around the internal court- yard. Angles, walls and surfaces seem to jut every which way, yet there is a rationale to it all. It is ran- domness tempered by logic.

“What began as a spiral or shell- like building developed into a more complex spiral, the Klein bottle,” McBride told the World Architecture News site. The spiraling staircase brings to mind the whorl of a dissected shell. Once past the three bedrooms, the hallway opens into an impressive living/dining space. Two large irregularly shaped balconies blur the boundary between inside and out, without obstructing the coastal bush and ocean views.

It’s easy to overlook all the practicalities of such an unusual home, but the Klein Bottle house ticks all the right boxes.

Panoramic windows throughout the house are anything but square. Surrounded by black perimeters, they frame the wild coastland and are more beautiful than any piece of hanging art.

The building is undoubtedly
on the cutting edge of Australian architecture while remaining a functional, warm and inviting place to live. Completed in 2008, it took the architecture world by storm, winning a number of high profile awards—the Australian Institute
of Architects Robyn Boyd Award and the Harold Desbrowe-Annear Award for New Residential Architecture; as well the Dulux Colour Awards and The Grand Designs Best International Home. Perhaps its most notable accolade was at the World Architecture Festival in 2009 where the Klein Bottle house was awarded World’s Best House. “We are definitely interested in form,” said McBride to Architecture Australia magazine, adding that their interest was driven by “how it can enrich its urban location, what we call the urban experience”. And Ryan continues: “When a building goes up, people [might] say ‘whoa’, but then two years later, it’s just part of a place.”

It’s easy to overlook all the practicalities of such an unusual home, but the Klein Bottle house ticks all the right boxes. There is a steel frame
at the heart of the building and the cement and metal sheeting of the exterior meet stringent bushfire bench- marks. For all intents and purposes, this is an incombustible house.

Environmental efficiencies are built into the design. All the windows are double glazed and the cavities in the walls are full of insulation. The internal courtyard and sliding glass doors allow for plentiful cross-ventilation.

Water is harvested and collected from the roof while the flooring is constructed of one of the most environmentally friendly materials available–bamboo. The lights throughout the house were chosen for the long life and efficiency.

McBride and Ryan created some- thing unique with the Klein Bottle house, and they are undoubtedly not afraid to push ideas of design and construction to the limit. “When we started out, it was harder to convince people to go with our vision,” Ryan said in last year’s TV documentary on their work, Life Architecturally. “These days people come to us because they expect us to give them something unexpected.”

According to Shawn
Sumner, the managing director of PFERD (pronounced ‘furd’) in Australia, one of his company’s greatest strengths has turned out to be a mixed blessing. “We are the manufacturer of almost all of our products. The business started
in Germany in 1799, and is still family-owned, but it’s very much driven by innovation and product development. As a European manufacturer primarily—we’ve got two factories in Germany and production facilities in Spain, South Africa and the United States—with the products slightly more expensive and more based on the high-end of the quality and performance scale,” he ex- plains. “Because we work with our end user, we see where there’s a need for change and innovation with the products. And it’s a strategic direction within the company to drive for innovation and product developments.”

But innovation isn’t limited to the tools themselves—one of the ways PFERD sets itself apart from others
in the market is the onsite services
and training it offers companies “We currently have three tool vans. They’re a moving catalogue of our products, and their role is to go to work sites and solve problems. They’re all technical guys, and while they’re there solving problems people can trial our products,” Sumner explains.

When that service is working in concert with two full-time safety trainers employed by the business, you’ve got a powerful reason to do business with PFERD. “One area we’re working
hard on is around occupational health and safety,” explains Sumner. “We
do training for safe use of abrasives, and through that, a foreman or someone on site will say, ‘we’re grinding and having trouble with vibration and noise’. In those cases, we may say, ‘we’ve got a product that will address those OH&S issues’. Because a lot of these companies know we’re selling a commodity, and the real cost is not the commodity but the person / operator, so if you can speed up the process by addressing those human problems, you don’t have to be the cheapest, but the most efficient.” “We have also found that in many cases business that choose to use our products end up making substantial savings”.

The offer to freely demonstrate our products, which in-turn helps us better understand the clients business and identify and compare areas in their process where we can help. In Australia PFERD is mainly a warehouse and distribution operation—“We have
a small coated production capacity,” Sumner adds, “but we also pick
and choose the new products annually based on our knowledge of the market here, so we’re involved continually in the new product launches and in development here.” The PFERD brand was developed in Germany several hundred years ago: “The company’s name is German for ‘horse’,” Sumner says. “The first product we made was a file for horses hooves, and so people would recognize the brand back then, they stamped a horse logo on the file.”

More than 200 years ago, everything started with the manufacturing of files and rasps in a small forge in the Westphalian town Voerde. In search of skilled workers and favorable trans- portation conditions, the factory was relocated in 1897 to Marienheide, near Cologne where the company August Rüggeberg was founded.

Since then, the family business developed into one of the leading manufacturers in the tool industry. Innovative ideas and products are the key to success. In the tool industry, the PFERD brand is intrinsically tied to Au- gust Rüggeberg and synonymous with outstanding quality tools and abrasives, high performance and productivity.

“Because we work with our end user, we see where there’s a need for change and innovation
with the products. And it’s a strategic direction within
the company to drive for innovation and product developments.”
Shawn Sumner, PFERD Australia

Of course, the company has developed significantly, while retaining its focus on responding to the users of their products through decentralised warehousing too. “People will often run out of stock and need goods straight away. We’ve got warehouses in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney as well as the head office in Melbourne, so we have national coverage in terms of sales team and stock,” Sumner adds.

To find out more, go to www.pferd.com, or contact 1300 0 PFERD.