Calculating Force

Custom Products of Litchfield’s second quarterly contest featured a full 16-gallon beer keg being smashed in our ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited ROPS test lab. Guesses of force were as little as 875 and as much as 485,000.

 We wondered what calculations if any were involved in making those guesses. Jim Schmitt, Director of Engineering at Custom Products offered this example of how the amount of force could be calculated:

1. If you know the size of the keg you can calculate the diameter in square inches.
2. If you know the keg has a warning of “60 PSI max” you can multiply the diameter by the psi.
3. Then multiplying that number by a predetermined safety factor, a term used to describe structural capacity beyond expected or actual loads might get you in the ball park.

“Similar predictions can be developed prior to ROPS testing,” said Schmitt. “Because we have conducted in excess of 750 destructive ROPS/FOPS evaluations we frequently have a benchmark observation prior to testing if the submitted specimen is a test worthy candidate.”

Smashing Success!

Custom Products of Litchfield’s  first quarterly contest featuring a helmet being smashed in our ISO/IEC 17025:2005  accredited ROPS test lab was a smashing success. Guess submissions for the pounds of force used to smash the helmet went as high as 43,000 pounds with the closest winning guess of 888 pounds. The final weight of force to crush the helmet  was 780 pounds.

We asked for ideas of what to smash next and the suggestions submitted were as far ranging as a bowling ball, a heavy duty vehicle jack and the winning idea of a beer keg.  Visit SMASHit.info  to submit your best guess  by June 30, 2011 and if you’re closest, you’ll win.

How many pounds of force will it take to crush the 16 gallon keg like a can of your favorite beer?

SMASHit is an ongoing contest with two chances for you to win every quarter. Prizes include iPods, Kindle reader, a pair of Red Wing Boots, $300 in Snap-On Tools and other great gear.

Find out more about the Leader in Operator Protection.

Behind the scenes in our ROPS and FOPS test lab

Our 1500 square foot, state-of-the-art, zero- degree OPS (Operator Protective Structure) test facility

We’ve been asking you to submit ideas for things we can smash in our ROPS test lab. But before you tell us what to smash, we want you to know a little more about our lab and what it can do.

In our lab, our engineers help Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) define certification needs and apply appropriate test standards for Operator Protective Structures (OPS) for off-highway vehicles. We help ensure safety standards are met. Correct testing of OPS is critical to risk management and operator safety, so in our lab we focus on ensuring our customers’ products meet and exceed all relevant safety standards.

Custom Products Testing Capabilities

• Rollover Protective Structures (ROPS), Falling Object Protective Structures (FOPS), Operator Protective Structures (OPS) testing
• Testing for industry standards:
  • ANSI: American National Standards Institute
  • ASABE: American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
  • BS: British Standards
  • CEN: European Committee for Standardization
  • ISO: International Organization for Standardization
  • MSHA: Mine Safety and Health Administration
  • OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
  • OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration
  • SAE: Society of Automotive Engineers
  • CSA: Canadian Standards Association
• Testing for various company-specific proprietary standards
• Zero-degree testing
• Vertical forces up to one million pounds
• Horizontal forces up to 200,000 pounds
• Vehicles up to 500,000 pounds GVW

Facility Specifications

Set foot in our 1,500 square foot state-of-the-art facility, and you might be surprised what you find. We’re ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited and we feature three 46,000 BTU cooling compressors, high pressure hydraulic pump station, a roof drop hatch for FOPS testing, and our computerized instrumentation for plotting load and deflection information. Our test lab also has and 18-foot vertically lifted door, 5-ton overhead bridge crane, 34-foot observation deck, and of course, equipment capable of inflicting vertical forces up to one million pounds on the test object.

Keep an eye on this blog and our Custom Products YouTube channel to see our lab in action. Want to know more about how we can use our test lab to help your company? Contact us.

See SMASHIT at ConExpo in Las Vegas

The Custom Products ConExpo Experience: March 22-26, Las Vegas NV, Booth C-4327 Central Hall.  Bring something to smash—an old cell phone, an old laptop, something off the new guy’s desk—and we’ll SMASHIT live!

Not going to ConExpo?

Get your stuff smashed anyway

If you can’t make it to ConExpo to watch us SMASHIT live, you can still enter the quarterly contest online for your chance to watch us SMASHIT and Win.

To kickoff our SMASHIT contest:

1. Guess before March 31^st the pounds of force it took to smash a helmet. If you’re closest, you win an iPad!
2. Starting April 4, tell us what you want us to smash. If we like it, we’ll SMASHIT, and you’ll win.
3. After we pick our SMASHIT item from your ideas, you can guess the pounds of force it takes to smash the item, and if you’re closest, you’ll win.
4. When we feel really generous, we’ll pick you to win just because we can.

We will continue this contest quarterly, so you have many opportunities to win!

Prizes include iPads and iPods, Kindle reader, a pair of Red Wing Boots, $300 in Snap-On Tools and other great gear.

Will you be at ConExpo? What would you like us to smash? Please bring it.

Register for ConExpo

Find out more about the Leader in Operator Protection