Mechanically jointed door aces ten-year test

Halo fabricator Aztec Windows (Coventry) has created a fully mechanically jointed door that was put through its paces at Veka’s Burnley test centre.

Director Michael Hagan said: “We’ve created an exceptional quality door that will withstand the hard knocks of real-life, regular use.We created an oversized prototype of the door complete with laminated glass, in order to test it at its most extreme and challenging dimensions. We then sent it up to Veka HQ, and the ever-helpful technical team put it through its paces in the lab.

“Veka’s mechanical testing rig put the door through 63,000 cycles, which is the equivalent of it being opened and closed for just over 10 years, and it kept going. Nothing moved, nothing shifted, no joints parted. It performed absolutely perfectly. This means our customers can be confident in the immense strength of the joints, especially if they want to glaze on site, which is necessary for a door, due to the weights involved.

“We have also developed a deep midrail at 174mm and a deep bottom rail at 164mm. Both of these features are geared towards making the doors look as traditional as possible.

“We know that it’s now ready to bring to market for prestigious projects that require the look of timber, with the many performance benefits of PVCU with no tell-tale mitred corners.”

Veka UK sales director Neil Evans said: “It’s great to see [Aztec]using the same tooling and machinery to meet rising market demand for a mechanically jointed door. This would seem to be the next logical step in timber-look PVCU and I suspect they’ll soon be inundated with enquiries.”