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Test your knowledge: High-temp adhesives

Put your knowledge to the test by trying to answer these key questions on how to choose the right high-temperature-resistant adhesive. The technical experts from Master Bond cover critical information necessary for the selection process, including questions on glass transition temperature and service temperature range. Some of the answers may surprise even the savviest of engineers.
Take the quiz.

New Air Holster Safety Air Gun Mount

EXAIR's new Model 5930 Air Holster provides a simple and convenient way to keep Safety Air Guns secure and within easy reach at workstations throughout a facility. Designed to give operators a designated location for their air gun when not in use, the Air Holster helps prevent misplaced tools while keeping work areas organized and efficient. Its practical design makes it an ideal addition to manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, and other industrial workstations where Safety Air Guns are frequently used.
Learn more.

Southco access hardware in rail applications

Discover how Southco's rail access hardware solutions help improve safety, reliability, and operational efficiency across modern rail networks. The video showcases a range of rail applications where Southco's access hardware plays a critical role, including driver cabins, lighting systems, tray tables, headrests, armrests, and other passenger and operator touchpoints. Designed to support dependable performance in demanding moving environments, Southco's solutions help operators streamline maintenance processes, minimize downtime, and enable more proactive asset management.
View the video.

Multi-zone tension leveler for hard-to-flatten alloys

Redex USA's Levelflex^® is a modular, multi-zone tension leveler engineered for continuous processing lines, including coating and heat treatment of aluminum alloys and where flatness is critical to coating adhesion and downstream formability. By stretching material within 95% of its yield strength, it corrects stubborn flatness defects in fewer passes. It comes in open-loop pure stretch or closed-loop tension measurement modes to optimize surface integrity and eliminate crossbow.
Learn more.

Hold any shape with ID and OD Form Holding Clamps

These simple OD and ID clamping solutions from Fixtureworks clamp onto your part in one easy operation, eliminating the need for custom fixtures. They allow users to clamp onto the inner or outer diameter of small-size, irregularly shaped work parts fast. Lots of options.
Learn more.

Need inserts? We make it E-Z.

Founded in 1956, E-Z LOK allows users to repair damaged or worn-out threads without the need for special taps or installation tools. Our line of threaded locking inserts is used in metal, plastic, wood, composite, and additive industries. Extensive inventories are maintained in four warehouses across the U.S., and all products are sold through industrial distributors. One source for all your needs!
Learn more
or contact Kyle Lindsly-Roach for free samples at 310.323.5613 x221.

Stop paying the 'assembly tax': Why your next design should be one part not 10

"As metal additive manufacturing (AM) moves from the prototyping lab to mainline production, the most significant ROI isn't found in making parts faster, it's found in making fewer of them." So says Erica Manzella of Go Engineer. Learn about the hidden costs of traditional assembly, the DfAM toolset native to SOLIDWORKS, and the advanced 3DEXPERIENCE optimization tools and industrial metal AM hardware that are making monolithic design a physical reality.
Read the GoEngineer blog.

Best-seller: Copper filament for 3D printing

Virtual Foundry, the company that brought us 3D-printable lunar regolith simulant, says Copper Filamet™ (not a typo) is its best-selling metal filament. This material is compatible with any open-architecture FDM/FFF 3D printer. After sintering, final parts are 100% pure copper. The company says this is one of the easiest materials to print and sinter. Stainless steel, porcelain, aluminum, and titanium available too.
Learn more and get all the specs.

What can replace a coil spring? You've got better options!

Traditional coil springs can limit mechanical designs. Wave springs offer a space-saving alternative, providing equivalent force and deflection in up to half the operating height while reducing assembly size and weight. There are four wave spring types that can replace a coil spring. Learn how each variant delivers unique performance capabilities to optimize space, efficiency, and reliability.
Read this informative NEW Smalley technical article.

Next-gen metal bonding: 3M Scotch-Weld 8500 Series

Replace traditional fasteners and streamline assembly with 3M Scotch-Weld Acrylic Adhesive DP8507NS. Engineered for direct bonding to bare or slightly oily metals with minimal surface prep, this high-performance adhesive withstands paint bake cycles up to 200 C (392 F), resists corrosion, and holds strong down to -40 C. Upgrade durability, aesthetics, and design flexibility. Bonds many plastics too!
View the video.

3 things you need to get right when 3D printing gears

When businesses decide to 3D print their own gears, they can reduce lead times and costs associated with replacements, prototypes, and small-batch production runs significantly. According to the experts at igus, however, "achieving industrial-grade reliability requires more than just a digital file; there are several fundamental technical basics you must master first to ensure your gears can withstand the rigors of real-world use."
Read this informative igus tech tip.

DURACON polymer with 30% recycled content

Daicel Corporation's High Performance Polymers SBU has launched four new DURACON^® POM grades featuring 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) content. Unveiled at CHINAPLAS 2026, the lineup includes Standard, Low VOC, Sliding, and Tough options. Leveraging advanced compounding expertise, Daicel maintains quality and mechanical performance comparable to standard virgin resin grades for demanding global industrial and automotive components.
Learn more.

Renishaw unveils revolutionary LIBERTAS™ 3DP tech

Renishaw's new LIBERTAS software technology addresses two of the most persistent challenges in metal AM: poor downskin surface finish and the need for support structures. Users have greater freedom to manufacture complex geometries.
Read the full article.

Innovate like a PRO: Protolabs' new AI-enabled manufacturing platform

ProDesk by Protolabs accelerates innovation for product development and procurement teams. It features real-time, AI-powered quoting with design for manufacturability (DFM) analysis across injection molding, CNC machining, and 3D printing. The platform enables seamless team collaboration and customizes quotes with instant feedback on materials, lead times, secondary operations, and finishes prior to production.
Learn more.

SDP/SI Shaftloc Fastening System

Shaftloc is a unique, reusable locking device for securely mounting mechanical components like gears and sprockets onto shafts without the need for keyways, set screws, or adhesives. Its simple, two-piece design offers a cost-effective alternative to traditional fasteners, providing high clamping force and vibration resistance. Installed with standard tools, Shaftloc is perfect for designers seeking flexible, hubless mounting solutions. Available in four styles.
Learn more from SDP/SI.

Scary! SwRI engineers come up with ways to trick object detection systems

Many of today's vehicles use object detection systems to help avoid collisions. SwRI engineers developed unique patterns that can trick these systems. In this photo, the object detection system sees a person rather than a vehicle. This research will allow engineers to thoroughly test object detection systems and improve the security of the deep-learning algorithms they use. [Credit: Southwest Research Institute]

 

 

 

 

New adversarial techniques developed by engineers at Southwest Research Institute can make objects "invisible" to image detection systems that use deep-learning algorithms. These techniques can also trick systems into thinking they see another object or can change the location of objects. The technique mitigates the risk for compromise in automated image-processing systems.

"Deep-learning neural networks are highly effective at many tasks," says Research Engineer Abe Garza of the SwRI Intelligent Systems Division. "However, deep learning was adopted so quickly that the security implications of these algorithms weren't fully considered."

Deep-learning algorithms excel at using shapes and color to recognize the differences between humans and animals or cars and trucks, for example. These systems reliably detect objects under an array of conditions and, as such, are used in myriad applications and industries, often for safety-critical uses. The automotive industry uses deep-learning object detection systems on roadways for lane-assist, lane-departure and collision-avoidance technologies. These vehicles rely on cameras to detect potentially hazardous objects around them. While the image processing systems are vital for protecting lives and property, the algorithms can be deceived by parties intent on causing harm.

Security researchers working in "adversarial learning" are finding and documenting vulnerabilities in deep- and other machine-learning algorithms. Using SwRI internal research funds, Garza and Senior Research Engineer David Chambers developed what look like futuristic, Bohemian-style patterns. When worn by a person or mounted on a vehicle, the patterns trick object detection cameras into thinking the objects aren't there, that they're something else or that they're in another location. Malicious parties could place these patterns near roadways, potentially creating chaos for vehicles equipped with object detectors.

"These patterns cause the algorithms in the camera to either misclassify or mislocate objects, creating a vulnerability," said Garza. "We call these patterns 'perception invariant' adversarial examples because they don't need to cover the entire object or be parallel to the camera to trick the algorithm. The algorithms can misclassify the object as long as they sense some part of the pattern."

What looks like a colorful pattern to the human eye looks like a bicycle to an object detection system. While deep-learning algorithms used in these systems are reliable, they can be deceived with special imagery. SwRI researchers are developing techniques to mitigate the risk of compromise in these systems. [Credit: Southwest Research Institute]

 

 

 

 

While they might look like unique and colorful displays of art to the human eye, these patterns are designed in such a way that object-detection camera systems see them very specifically. A pattern disguised as an advertisement on the back of a stopped bus could make a collision-avoidance system think it sees a harmless shopping bag instead of the bus. If the vehicle's camera fails to detect the true object, it could continue moving forward and hit the bus, causing a potentially serious collision.

"The first step to resolving these exploits is to test the deep-learning algorithms," said Garza. The team has created a framework capable of repeatedly testing these attacks against a variety of deep-learning detection programs, which will be extremely useful for testing solutions.

VIDEO: Adversarial Learning: SwRI engineers developed unique patterns that can trick these systems into seeing something else, seeing the objects in another location, or not seeing the objects at all.

SwRI researchers continue to evaluate how much, or how little, of the pattern is needed to misclassify or mislocate an object. Working with clients, this research will allow the team to test object detection systems and ultimately improve the security of deep-learning algorithms.

Source: SwRI

Published April 2019

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