| May 06, 2014 | Volume 10 Issue 17 |
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 | Noisy Bearings?
Single turn wave springs are ideal for bearing preload. The single turn wave spring preloads the bearing through its outer race, taking up play in the bearing. Preloading will reduce bearing damage, wear, noise and vibration. The wave spring prevents sliding between the rolling elements. Smalley has stock parts from 1/4" to 16". Customs are available from .200" to 120".
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 | Stepper Motors See Space Flight
The interaction between solar wind and the Earth's magnetic field not only creates the impressive natural spectacle of the Northern Lights, it has also paralyzed whole electricity and telephone networks in northern countries. In order to research the influence of the Earth's magnetosphere, NASA is sending four measurement probes into space. Each of the satellites contains four FAULHABER stepper motor gear units from MICROMO. They are responsible for winding and unwinding 60-m-long measurement cables in space.
Read the full article. |
 | Mike Likes:
World's first wireless 3D mouse
The new 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse Wireless provides precise 3D navigation in a sleek, wireless design. This tool combines 3Dconnexion's 6-degrees-of-freedom (6DoF) sensor with 2.4-GHz wireless technology to deliver the reliability of a wired device without the clutter of cords. Gently manipulate the SpaceMouse Wireless' controller cap to simultaneously pan, zoom, and rotate digital models or viewports. You should get about a month's use out of the unit's lithium-ion battery before recharging.
Click here to learn more. |
 | Connector withstands harsh environs
Amphenol Industrial Products Group now offers a connector family with 1.5-mm socket contacts featuring Amphenol's RADSOK technology. Tru-Loc's rugged, compact, thermoplastic construction makes it ideal for use in harsh environments where high vibration and caustic fluids are present. Offered in a 2-way, 4-way, or 6-way plug and receptacle in-line system, Tru-Loc is rated to 13 Amps continuous (with 16-gauge cable). It is designed to perform in demanding environments such as under valve covers on diesel engines to mate to fuel injectors. Operating temp range is -40 deg C to 125 deg C, with higher temps rated to 150 deg C available upon request.
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 | Miniature fittings, valves, quick disconnects, pressure regulators, orifices, and more
Beswick Engineering has released its 2014 catalog (#112) containing over 150 new product items. This expansive line of miniature fittings (compression, barb, and push to connect), valves, quick disconnects, pressure regulators, and orifices are ideal for fluid power assemblies requiring durable products machined in 303 and 316 stainless steel or brass. Pioneers in utilizing a captured O-ring face seal in miniature fluid power products, Beswick products are an excellent choice when space is limited and leakage cannot be tolerated. Other materials, such as aluminum and titanium, are available.
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 | High-precision XY nanopositioning piezo stage
PI's P-763 XY nanopositioning stage is a new, lower-cost addition to PI's wide range of piezo stage positioners. The compact P-763 flexure-guided stage has a footprint of less than 3 x 3 in. (70 x 70 mm), while providing a 30- x 30-mm aperture. With a large travel range of 200 x 200 microns, this piezo positioning system is ideal for demanding applications such as image-stabilization, micro-lithography, nano-alignment, surface metrology, super-resolution microscopy, and bio-nanotechnology and photonics and datacomm.
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| | Most popular last issue |
 | NASA researchers team up to tackle sonic boom
Since the Concorde's final landing at London's Heathrow Airport nearly a decade ago, commercial supersonic air travel has been as elusive as a piece of lost luggage. However, this hasn't stopped NASA from continuing the quest to develop solutions that will help get supersonic passenger travel off the ground once more.
Read the full article. |
 | Navy's laser weapon is ready for summer deployment
Navy engineers in Arlington, VA, are making final adjustments to a laser weapon prototype that will be the first of its kind to deploy aboard a ship late this summer. The prototype, an improved version of the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), will be installed on USS Ponce for at-sea testing in the Persian Gulf.
Read the full article. |
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| | Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action | Researchers create 50-cent powerful paper microscope
The Foldscope is a fully functional microscope created by Stanford researchers that can be laser- or die-cut from paper for around half a dollar. This bookmark-size tool (originally developed for diagnosing malaria) can be assembled origami-style in minutes, includes no mechanical moving parts, packs in a flat configuration, is extremely rugged, and can be incinerated after use to safely dispose of infectious biological samples. With minor optics modifications, the microscope can be designed for brightfield, multi-fluorescence, or projection microscopy -- or specialized to identify specific pathogens. Some incredibly clever engineering.
View the video. |
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Fly using Rockwell Collins head-up display
Rockwell Collins' Senior Manager of Head-up Guidance Systems (HGS) Flight Operations, Dean Schwab, demonstrates how easy and intuitive it is to operate HGS. The demonstration was completed in the company's Portland, OR-based simulator. The simulated approach was into the mountainous region of Innsbruck, Austria, demonstrating how synthetic vision greatly enhances situational awareness. Rockwell Collins is the only company that has certified synthetic vision on a head-up display. The company has a newer video about this technology, featuring the EVS-3000 enhanced vision sensor along with the capability to display both synthetic vision and enhanced vision in a head-up display, but this video does the best job of explaining using the technology. Remember, keep the little circle inside the slightly bigger circle ...
View the video. |
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Honda Research and Development's styling design department has become an early adopter of NVIDIA's Iray VCA rendering appliance to refine styling designs on future cars. 
The unassuming but super-powerful $50,000 graphics processing unit (GPU) helps Honda engineers replace physical prototypes with interactive, photorealistic digital models that can be sliced and diced to fantastic effect.
