Anchor plate: Secure fixings for outdoor applications
Anchor plates are more than an inconspicuous architectural detail. You can marvel at the most impressive of them in Munich. Screwed into meter-high concrete blocks, they hold the rope nets of the glass roof in the Olympic Park. Without these massive and robust anchor plates, the award-winning, world-famous roof landscape would be unthinkable. They hold the cables, which in turn support the pylons. The steel nets with the acrylic glass plates are suspended from them.
Anchor plates like ours also hold impressive constructions: Large tents and flying constructions for example!
If a big circus comes to town, convoys of trucks or even freight trains are on the way. Twenty, thirty or more vehicles have to be instructed and coordinated on the site. In the middle of it all, metre by metre, a big circus tent for thousands of spectators stretches upwards. Skilled hands tension the ropes and fix them with hammers and pegs in anchor plates on the ground.
What are anchor plates needed for?
Tensioned structures, awnings, open-air stages or masts: Whatever needs to be tensioned against storm, wind and weather can be securely fixed to the ground with our anchor plates. Smaller plates also serve as wall brackets.
Special anchor plates can also be used in steel construction. For example, they can be used to fix brackets, railings, steel supports, scaffolding, posts, brackets or handrails. Further areas of application for holders of all types are ropes, securing with snap hooks or other sail tensioners.
In which designs are steel anchor plates available?
The size: 500 by 500 millimetres. A 10 millimetre thick steel plate. Four drill holes with a diameter of 40 millimetres each. Plus a welded-on steel plate into which solid shackles can be screwed. These are our anchor plates: break-proof, robust and durable!
What do they have to do? Secure a tent structure or a sun sail against static loads such as a wind load of almost 6 kN. The shackles can hold over 3,000 kg payload.
To secure bracings against such forces, ground nails are required. We recommend our ground nails with a diameter of 35 or 40 millimeters. We are happy to supply them on request.
In addition to our rectangular anchor plates, there are also round plates. Smaller designs can be used primarily as wall plates or washers. Square or round anchor plates can be found in steel or scaffolding construction. Tubes or supports can be welded to them, for example.
Igel GmbH offers anchor plates made of steel. In our online shop you will find our standard base plate with four holes for ground anchors and the possibility of fastening shackles. We are also happy to manufacture floor brackets and foot plates according to your individual requirements. Alternatively, our ground anchors are also available for many applications.
In addition to anchor plates made of steel, floor plates made of stainless steel can often be found on the market. The designations VA and V2A are common for these. What do they mean? The designations are historical and date back to the time when experiments were made to obtain high-quality stainless steel from iron. V stands for experimental melt, A for austenite, i.e. mixed crystals for iron alloys. The number 2 represents the elements chrome and nickel. In short: VA or anchor plate V2A stands for stainless steel, stainless steel or inox.
Classical mixtures such as the experimental melts described above are no longer produced today. But the terms are still used today. Modern stainless steel is poorer in carbon, but richer in nickel.
How are anchor plates fixed?
The principle of the anchor plate for outdoor use: It is similar to that of the ground anchor. However, unlike the ground anchor, the plate does not consist of two or three steel rods that are spread apart: It is a rectangular, solid steel plate.
The anchor plate is used for temporary fixings on dense, non-cohesive soils. Non-cohesive soils are soils whose load-bearing capacity is not significantly lost through water ingress. The ideal load attack angle is 45 degrees. According to the DIN EN standard 13782 "Tent" the minimum distances must be observed when mounting the mounting plates.
What the pegs are for a camping tent, the anchor plates with the pegs are for circus tents and similarly large structures. The pegs are driven vertically through the holes drilled into the ground. This is done, for example, with a hammer. We recommend our strongest models with a diameter of 40 millimetres.
Should the construction be dismantled again? It is best to remove the pegs with one of our pegs pullers. Attach the clamping jaws to the head of the nail. Loosen the nail in the soil by moving the lever slightly. To pull all four pegs cleanly and without bending
