Upgrading Your Friction/Peel Tester? Your Load Cells and Fixtures Carry Over
If you are planning a friction peel tester upgrade, the tooling you already own matters more than you might think. When a lab replaces a testing instrument, the price of the instrument is rarely the whole cost. There are the load cells sized for each test, the peel fixtures, the seal strength clamps and the specialty tooling added one purchase at a time as new materials and test methods came along. Switching platforms usually means buying all of it again.
For labs running a Thwing-Albert FP-2250, FP-2255 or FP-2260, that isn’t the case. The new FP-2265 Friction/Peel Tester was designed so that the tooling you already own comes with you.
What carries over to the FP-2265
The FP-2265 accepts fixtures, clamps and load cells from the FP-2260, FP-2255 and FP-2250. That includes the tooling most labs rely on every day:
Load cells in the capacities you already use for COF, peel and seal testing
Peel fixtures, including 90° and T-peel fixtures
Heated peel fixtures for testing at elevated temperatures
Blocking fixtures for testing to ASTM D3354
Seal strength and test clamps, including manual clamps and vise grips
Your operators keep working with tooling they know, and your validated setups don’t have to be rebuilt around unfamiliar hardware.
What that investment is worth
Load cells and fixtures are precision components, and they add up. For a typical lab with two load cells and one fixture, replacing that tooling at today’s prices would cost more than $5,000. Labs with several fixtures, or with heated tooling, often have considerably more invested.
That is money a lab upgrading to the FP-2265 doesn’t need to spend again. It can go toward the capabilities you have been waiting to add instead, such as a new fixture, MAP4 software or a service agreement.
We leave COF sleds out of that figure on purpose. Sleds are wear items, and their surfaces need periodic replacement to keep friction results consistent. When you plan an upgrade, it’s a good time to check their condition, and our applications team can help you decide whether yours are due.
What you gain with the FP-2265
Keeping your tooling is only part of the story. The FP-2265 is the next generation of the Friction/Peel platform, built on the same proven design with meaningful improvements for today’s labs:
A color touchscreen in place of the membrane keypad, so selecting, configuring and running a test takes fewer steps and new operators learn it quickly.
Built-in pneumatic controls, so there is no separate pneumatic controller to set up for pneumatic grips and fixtures.
Four test modes on one benchtop instrument: coefficient of friction, peel adhesion, seal strength and light tensile testing up to 10 kg (22 lb).
Standalone operation, with no PC required, and optional MAP4 Materials Testing Software for advanced analysis when you need it.
An optional Universal Instrument Remote that puts test control at the operator’s fingertips.
The FP-2265 supports testing to ASTM, ISO, TAPPI, FINAT, PSTC and TLMI methods, including ASTM D1894, ISO 8295, ASTM F88 and PSTC-101.
How to plan your upgrade
A little preparation makes the move to the FP-2265 straightforward:
Take inventory of your tooling. List the load cells, fixtures and clamps your lab uses, and note any you have added over the years.
Find your instrument’s serial number. It is on the label on the back of your Friction/Peel tester.
Check your sleds. Plan to replace any that show wear on the testing surface.
Think about what you would add. If there are tests you have been sending out or postponing, this is a good time to include the fixture or software for them.
Your service coverage comes with you. If your lab has an annual Preventive Maintenance Inspection, your coverage carries over to the FP-2265 at installation, so there’s no need to wait for your next visit.
Your tooling, and the team behind it
Thwing-Albert has manufactured testing instruments for more than 125 years, and many of our Friction/Peel instruments have been in daily use for well over a decade. Designing the FP-2265 to work with the tooling you already own is part of the same commitment: when you invest in our instruments, that investment should keep paying off.
Find out exactly which of your load cells and fixtures carry over to the FP-2265.
Send your instrument’s serial number to our applications team for a personalized upgrade assessment. We’ll confirm which of your load cells and fixtures carry over to the FP-2265 and recommend the right configuration for your lab.
