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October 06, 2015Volume 11 Issue 37


Image - ID/OD Retaining Ring Lock
ID/OD Retaining Ring Lock
Spirolox Retaining Rings can operate in an internal and external groove at the same time. Install the ring in one groove and then compress the ring with the mating component into the second groove. When the grooves meet, the ring snaps into place creating a low-cost, hidden, high-strength, tamper-proof rotating joint. Over 6,000 rings are stocked from 1/4" to 16" diameters in carbon and stainless steel, customs up to 120".

Click here to learn more.


In this issue of Designfax

  • High-speed 3D printing takes on injection molding
  • Design Tip: The ins and outs of proper threading
  • World first: Rectenna converts light to DC current
  • Wheels: Ford F-150 features aluminum super alloy
  • Mike Likes: Let's make a knurl
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Plastic replaces aluminum in Airbus bracket
  • IoT: Over 100 million ZigBee chips delivered
  • Bellows: New line of E-style cuff flange
  • Switches: Micro, limit, and trim for agricultural equip
  • Motion: Z-theta system capability
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • Universal Robots turn on the lights at Betacom
    • Can your designs withstand a shark attack?
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Wings: Adaptive robotic helicopter landing gear
    • High-volume aluminum joining
    • 3-ton digital camera
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion
    Cover Image: Georgia Tech researchers create first optical rectenna

News

NASA-developed 'super app' aims to save commercial airlines fuel and time

Virginia Tech chemical engineers outline new approach to faster materials design

U.S. Army evaluating special remote-control weapon towers

IMPORTANT message for gmail users -- both personal and corporate email accounts



Image - New BLDC Servo Motor Packs a Punch
New BLDC Servo Motor Packs a Punch
The new 3274 BP4 brushless dc motor series from FAULHABER is overload?resistant and operates without wear?prone mechanical commutation. As a result, its operational lifetime is many times longer than that of conventional DC micro motors, making the 3274 BP4 ideal for applications in advanced robotics, electric grippers, and process automation.

Learn more and view data sheets now.


Feature articles
High-speed 3D printing aims to take on injection molding
The world's first additive manufacturing (3D-printing) machine that can make plastic parts as fast and cheaply as traditional manufacturing is being built by the University of Sheffield in the U.K. The machine will build parts up to three times larger and 100 times faster than current comparable additive manufacturing (AM) machines, making it capable of challenging conventional injection molding for high-volume production.
Read the full article.
Image -
Click here to request your
2016 Proto Labs Cool Parts calendar.
It's a great resource.


Image - Design Tip: <br>The ins and outs of proper threading
Design Tip:
The ins and outs of proper threading

Gus Breiland, Customer Service Engineering Manager, Proto Labs, runs through all the details about how you can add threaded holes to your machined parts at Proto Labs, including tips and specs for machining internal threads, external threads, coil inserts, and designing threads in CAD.
Read the full article.

Image - World first for solar: Optical rectenna converts light to DC current
World first for solar: Optical rectenna converts light to DC current
Georgia Tech researchers have demonstrated the first optical rectenna, a device that combines the functions of an antenna and a rectifier diode to convert light directly into DC current. The device could provide a new technology for photodetectors, energy harvesters, and solar energy capture.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels: <br>Ford F-150 features super alloy and mega-fast aluminum processing
Wheels:
Ford F-150 features super alloy and mega-fast aluminum processing

Ford is using Alcoa's Micromill material in multiple components on the 2016 F-150, becoming the first automaker to use the advanced automotive aluminum, which has 40% greater formability and 30% greater strength than the incumbent aluminum used today, commercially. On the process side, a traditional rolling mill takes around 20 days to turn molten metal into coil; Micromill does it in just 20 minutes.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: Let's make a knurl
Mike Likes: Let's make a knurl
Veteran CAD user Cody Armstrong runs through how to create a knurled surface, common in parts that are gripped, using Onshape software. Armstrong does a nice job presenting this simple and informative mini tutorial. Onshape is the first and only full-cloud 3D CAD system that lets everyone on a design team simultaneously work together using a Web browser, phone, or tablet.
Learn how to create the knurl.

Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>Plastic replaces aluminum in new Airbus door bracket
Engineer's Toolbox:
Plastic replaces aluminum in new Airbus door bracket

Airbus Helicopters is replacing aluminum in a fitting in the aircraft door of the Airbus A350-900 wide-body, long-haul passenger jet with a high-modulus, carbon fiber-reinforced high-performance polymer. The successful substitution of metal with the injection-molded polymer solution has resulted in a 40% reduction in weight and costs.
Read the full article.

Image - Internet of Things: Over 100 million ZigBee chips delivered
Internet of Things: Over 100 million ZigBee chips delivered
GreenPeak Technologies has shipped well over 100 million IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee chips into the Smart Home/Internet of Things market. GreenPeak RF chips are used in a wide range of consumer products, including set-top boxes and gateways, remote controls, home monitoring devices for security, energy-efficiency, and lifestyle applications. This low-power version of WiFi is ideally suited for connecting sentrollers (sensors, actuators, and controllers) to the Internet with extremely long battery-life requirements. For example, remote controls using ZigBee can operate for over a decade without recharging or battery replacement.
Click here to learn more about GreenPeak.

Image - Bellows: New line of E-style cuff flange
Bellows: New line of E-style cuff flange
BellowsTech has expanded its line of edge-welded bellows offered on their online Web store. The new series of E-style Cuff Flange metal bellows is available in 18 sizes with diameters from 0.40 to 5.45 in. Products can be easily ordered in specific segment lengths from 10 to 200 convolutions. A built-in configurator automatically calculates spring rate and stroke length based on input values of convolutions. Products are all specified with a minimum of 100,000 cycles. This new line of machined, 316L Stainless Steel E-style flange bellows is designed to be leak tight and is ideal in vacuum applications. They can be easily connected or secured to a CF or KF flange by providing the space necessary for installation without interfering with the bellow's function.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Switches: Micro, limit, and trim for agricultural equip
Switches: Micro, limit, and trim for agricultural equip
Crouzet Switches' micro, limit, and trim switches and sensors are designed to meet and withstand the harsh conditions typically found in agricultural and forestry applications, such as: break and clutch pedal position detection, instrument panel grips controls, hopper-arm opening detection, driver-presence detection in seats, and more.
Click here to learn more. A flyer for these applications is also available in PDF form for download.

Image - Motion: Z-theta system capability provides linear and rotary movements
Motion: Z-theta system capability provides linear and rotary movements
Catalyst Motion Group, a Haydon Kerk motion system integrator, has created a Z-theta system capability utilizing in-house branded products. Z-theta systems offer a compact and effective package to achieve a rotary axis and a linear axis in a single unit, that when operated in coordinated motion can effectively create a helical motion path. Z-Theta systems also can be used to move to defined linear positions and then perform independent rotary moves. The Kerk brand ScrewRail is the centerpiece of this development, with the linear and rotary power being supplied by Haydon and Pittman motor technology. These systems lend themselves well to picker-type applications in automated kiosks, data storage libraries, and other repetitive-motion tasks. Loads to 100 lb and speeds in excess of 10 in./sec are possible.
Click here to learn more.

Most popular last issue

Image - Wings: <br>DARPA gives sneak peek of adaptive robotic helicopter landing gear prototype
Wings:
DARPA gives sneak peek of adaptive robotic helicopter landing gear prototype

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has conducted an experimental demonstration of a novel robotic landing gear system for helicopters. The adaptive system replaces standard landing gear with four articulated, jointed legs that are able to fold up next to the helicopter's fuselage while in flight and are equipped with force-sensitive contact sensors in their feet.
Read the full article.

Image - Vastly improved high-volume joining process expands use of aluminum in autos
Vastly improved high-volume joining process expands use of aluminum in autos
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory researchers have demonstrated a new process for the expanded use of lightweight aluminum in cars and trucks at the speed, scale, quality, and consistency required by the auto industry. The process reduces production time and costs while yielding strong and lightweight parts, for example delivering a car door that is 62 percent lighter and 25 percent cheaper than that produced with today's manufacturing methods.
Read the full article.

Image - 3-ton digital camera gets construction green light
3-ton digital camera gets construction green light
The Department of Energy has approved the start of construction for a 3.2-gigapixel digital camera -- the world's largest -- at the heart of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. Assembled at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (Stanford, CA), the car-size camera will be aimed to reveal unprecedented details of the universe.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
Universal Robots turn on the lights at Betacom
The new UR10 robot now allows Betacom to take on new, higher-volume jobs with incomparable precision. Watch how the easy-to-program, collaborative robotic arm picks and places a circuit board from a rack, then handles six LED lenses, locating them onto the board. Final step is to pick up a pneumatic screwdriver that fastens the lenses.
View the video and read more about this application.

Video Image
Can your designs withstand a shark attack?
Watch this video to see Jacques use SOLIDWORKS Simulation to ensure his anti-shark cage will protect him against high-velocity impacts and crushing jaw strength from "Bruce" the shark. To cover his bases, Jacques will venture to answer the ultimate question: Will the cage hold up to a shark propelled at tornado speed?
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
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Mechanical
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