In order to produce the highest quality product, it is necessary to use fully valuable materials and to apply a suitably designed technological process. Owing to the inspection conducted at each stage of production, we produce rock climbing anchors that meet the required EN 959:2007 norm but also ones that feature much greater durability.

1. Materials

In the production austenitic stainless steel rods in two grades are used: 0H18N9 (304 due to AISI) and 0H17N12M2T (316 due to AISI). Naturally in the case of climbing anchors consisting of multiple parts (eg. belay-rappel station), all component parts are made of the same steel grade. This eliminates the possibility of galvanic corrosion.Rods come from reputable Spanish steelworks and are purchased through authorized importers. During the welding process filler metals of the leading manufacturer of welding materials – ESAB matching the grade of welded steel, are used. TIG welding technique requires the use of suitable shielding gases; in the case of austenitic steel the use of argon (Ar) with a small dopant (0.03%) of nitric oxide (NO) gives the best results.

 

2. Devices

The condition of obtaining the correct welded connections is the use of modern devices, which guarantee the stability of all preset parameters of the electric current, according to the technological manual. In order to meet such requirements, the JLT inverter welding devices are used. They enable working with TIG PULSE and fully programmable course of welding current parameters.

3. Modelling

Cutting, knurling and bending of steel bars is made only in the cold with the use of high-performance mechanical presses. The instrumentation, produced during production implementation ensures the control and repetitive shape of the individual elements of anchors. .

4. Preparation for welding

Prior to the welding process, it is necessary to clean the steel parts of the lubricating materials used during the modelling process. For this purpose, etching baths and then baths with strong alkaline washing agents are used. After rinsing in water it is necessary to dry the welded surfaces.

5. Welding

All parts are welded by hand using TIG PULSE technique in Argon shield, according to the developed instruction manual. This allows obtaining precise welds that do not require additional mechanical processing.

6. Etching

During the welding process a layer of colored oxides is formed. It is pre-removed in etching baths. This makes it possible to completely clean the weld and the metal surface in its immediate vicinity very easily by brushing it. Removal of discoloration created by oxides is essential for subsequent passivation process of the anchorage surface.

7. Brushing

Final and complete removal of surface impurities from the welded components is achieved by mechanical machining with stainless steel brushes of different wire gradations.

8. Surface passivation

The final stage of the technological process is a passive bath, which causes a passive layer to form on the surface of the anchors, greatly increasing the corrosion resistance. Once immersed in acidic solution, a neutralizing rinse is necessary..

9. Marking

Laser marking allows permanent marking of individual models of anchors in accordance with the requirements of EN 959 norm.