Lamello Zeta P2: Klevr Case Study

Lamello’s 2017 contest for real-world Zeta P2 uses spurred a robust
response and many pleasant surprises. “There are many standard
applications the product was designed for, but the system is so
innovative when creative people get ahold of it they come up with
applications that the manufacturer hadn’t thought of,” said Chris
Hofmann, Lamello’s eastern U.S. product manager.

Hofmann and a Lamello representative were wowed by the entries,
with Klevr Furniture in Fort Worth, Texas, taking top prize in the end.
Klevr crafts residential and commercial furniture with a focus on
unique, functional solutions. Brock Brandenberg, Owner, shared their
experience with us.

SITUATION

“A Dallas-based dotcom news site came to us with a need for large
workspaces for their writers and editors. Because they were a designoriented
group of people, they came to me with an existing look they
liked, a wooden desk with waterfall ends that incorporated cable
management. But they couldn’t find it in commercially available
products or in hand-built products through sites like Etsy. They asked
us to design and fabricate a desk that could meet their needs with that
design aesthetic.”

DESIGN

“We envisioned butcher block desks crafted in pairs facing each other
with a cable storage enclosure between them. We engineered the desks completely in-house and fabricated ten desks which attach back to back in pairs with a central cable chase to make a single unit.”

CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGES

“The biggest challenge was to produce a 45 degree mitered joint that
could be disassembled but would still be strong enough to withstand
heavy use without any cracking or breakage. We needed a very clean
visual design, so added reinforcements and fasteners on the inside
of the miter joint were not an option. Secondly, because of their size,
transportation of fully assembled desks would be an issue. We opted
to change to a knock-down design to make moving and storage easier
and cheaper.”

SOLUTION

“The Lamello Zeta P2 and Clamex P-14 fasteners provided several
really significant benefits for us. First, the Clamex P cam locks have a
very short engagement distance, so aligning and bringing two panels
together requires very little movement of each panel which gave us a lot
of flexibility in the knock-down construction and panel assembly order.
Second, we didn’t need to do any costly multi-axis CNC machining or
need to fabricate any drill jigs. We did all of the machining with the Zeta
P2. We just aligned the tool to measured marks with simple stop-blocks
to reference the end or edge of a panel for accurate placement. The
Clamex fasteners themselves can tolerate quite a bit of misalignment
along their length, so even if we didn’t get two mating fasteners in
exactly matching positions, the panels would still lock together solidly.
Third, we didn’t need to drill pilot holes and use screws to hold the
Clamex Ps in place because the unique slot cut by the Zeta holds them
securely in place. That saved a bit of time as well as risk of mistakes
and stripped screws. Lastly, the only visual clue as to the presence of
the fasteners is a tiny 6 mm hole on the underside and inside of some
panels. With zero visible fasteners or brackets, the design is very clean
with almost no way to tell how the desk is put together.”

RESULT

“A space-saving, easy-to-transport desk that can be assembled on site
with a single 4mm allen wrench. Because we could flat-pack the desks,
it only took two people to load a small box truck with stacked flat panels
for one trip, and they were easy to wrap so we weren’t worried about
chipping the miter edge. Additionally, the customer didn’t have a loading
dock so we had to off-load in the parking lot. The knock-down design
made that easy with a short bucket brigade of people moving individual
panels out of the truck and into the office. In addition, we now offer
the design to other customers, and, thanks to the list of advantages, we
have used the Clamex P fasteners on another job of six large standing
workstations.

“Klevr’s desks were a beautiful application that highlighted some of the
best features of the P2 and Clamex system. Each Clamex fastener pulls
together with 200 pounds of clamping force – there’s really no other
connector on the market that can do that, especially in miters” Hofmann
added.

Lamello will be sharing some other contest stories in future newsletters
so you can see the interesting applications your colleagues have come
up with.