Click this link if you cannot read the issue below: Designfax - Tech for OEM Design Engineers
April 03, 2012Volume 08 Issue 13


Image - Unit Conversion Tool
Unit Conversion Tool
Convert popular spring units such as force, or retaining ring thrust capacities, into metric units with Smalley's new engineering tool. A simple conversion tool allows for units to be converted such as mass and weight, angular measurements, velocities, temperatures, pressures and densities and more. Additional engineering tools allow engineers to design custom wave springs and Spirolox® retaining rings. Custom designs can be manufactured from .200" to 120".
Click here for the Smalley conversion tool.

In this issue of Designfax

  • World first: 3D printing + printed electronics
  • 12 key factors in bellows design
  • Plastic bags converted to carbon fiber
  • Wheels: Formula One design using CADdoctor
  • Mike Likes: Bond metals and plastics in seconds
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Rexroth CNC simulator
  • Quick Look: Extreme high-temp accelerometers
  • Quick Look: Metric O-rings chart
  • Quick Look: SIMOTICS servomotors
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • How Deepsea Challenger submarine works
    • Full airplane sim uses NI HIL tools
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Wheels (and wings): Supersonic biplane
    • Engineer's Toolbox: When clients want a discount
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion
    Cover Image: 2012 Lotus F1 team uses Elysium’s CADdoctor for reverse-engineering design work.

News

Bosch's gasoline system technology featured on nine of Ward's 10 Best Engines for 2012

Some flame retardants make fires more deadly, according to American Chemical Society

Army puts four throwable robots through their paces at Fort Benning

Iowa State engineer discovers spider silk conducts heat as well as metals



Image - Hot Wheels goes military!
Hot Wheels goes military!
Mechanical Mobile Platforms (MMPs), a family of simplified, man-portable robots from Machine Lab Inc., can perform a range of surveillance and bomb-disposal tasks at a price point low enough for wide deployment. The Machine Lab engineering team started out with one overarching design principle: Keep it simple. Powered by compact, economical, high-torque motors from MICROMO, these robots are making an important difference around the world.
Click here to learn about the design of these IED-busting machines.

Feature articles
World first: 3D printing merges with printed electronics
What goes together better than peanut butter and jelly?

Well if you are a design engineer hungry for the future of additive manufacturing, mixing 3D printed materials and printed electronics just might come close.

Stratasys and Optomec announced last week that the companies have successfully completed a joint development project to merge 3D printing and printed electronics to create the world's first fully printed hybrid structure.
Read the full article.

Image -
Upload a 3D CAD model to get an online quote for the fastest plastic and metal machined prototype parts around. Firstcut CNC Machining Service from Proto Labs.

12 key factors in bellows design
What do you need to know to design your own custom bellows? The specialists at Servometer have prepared this handy resource for you. Typical bellows applications include: volume compensators, actuators, electrical spring contacts, pressure switches and transducers, flexible shaft couplings, and more.
Read the full article.
New process converts plastic bags into carbon fiber
Plastic grocery bags could be turned into something far more valuable through a process being developed at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Read the full article.
Wheels: Running Formula One means running by the numbers
Lotus F1 Team designers rely on Elysium CADdoctor for data transfer, software interoperability, reverse engineering, and, of course, speed. Take a behind-the-scenes look at the Lotus design process.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: Bond metals and plastics in seconds
Mike Likes: Bond metals and plastics in seconds
Ultra Light-Weld 3013 from Dymax is a resilient, low-viscosity, moisture-resistant adhesive designed for rapid bonding to a wide variety of plastic and metal substrates. This solvent-free, worker-friendly product forms high-strength, environmentally resistant bonds for appliance assembly, bond joint and sealing, plastic window bonding, and plastic assembly. It fluoresces blue under low-intensity "black" light, allowing for in-line quality control using optical scanners. Cures in seconds when exposed to ultraviolet and visible light – even through UV-blocked plastics.
Learn more about Dymax Ultra Light-Weld 3013.
Engineer's Toolbox:
Rexroth CNC sim is useful training and testing tool

The IndraMotion MTX micro Trainer from Bosch Rexroth gives machine builders and operators the ability to simulate, develop, test, and transfer CNC programs – all from a personal computer without disrupting production.
Read the full article.

Image - Quick Look: Extreme high-temp accelerometers
Quick Look: Extreme high-temp accelerometers
The Endevco model 6240M10 is a hermetically sealed high-temperature piezoelectric charge output accelerometer with continuous operation to +649°C (+1,200°F) and intermittent operation to +760°C (+1400°F). The high reliability of this transducer within such extreme environments makes it ideally suited for aircraft and ground gas-turbine engine vibration monitoring, as well as for exhaust and compression systems and high-temp machinery and equipment.
Learn more about this accelerometer.

Image - Quick Look: Metric O-rings quick reference chart
Quick Look: Metric O-rings quick reference chart
Apple Rubber Products has produced an ISO 3601 Metric Size O-Rings Quick Reference Chart that lists every ISO 3601 metric size O-ring the company supplies. Listed in millimeters, with inside diameters (I.D.) from 0.74 mm to 658.88 mm and cross sections (widths) from 1.02 mm to 6.99 mm, Apple O-Rings are available in six basic materials: Buna-N, Ethylene-Propylene, Silicone, Neoprene, Fluorocarbon, and Fluorosilicone, with other materials available. The company stocks over 300,000,000 O-rings.
Download the chart (pdf).

Image - Quick Look: SIMOTICS servomotors with three-week lead time
Quick Look: SIMOTICS servomotors with three-week lead time
Siemens Industry is manufacturing and delivering its popular line of SIMOTICS 1FK7 servomotors faster. Using a configurable options menu to build the exact motor required, customers can now place an order for any first-generation 1FK7 servomotor and have it drop-shipped in three weeks. This new service applies to over 100,000 possible configurations. All compact (CT) and high-dynamic (HD) servomotors in the 1FK7 family are included. Options include stall torque and RPM rating, encoder style and bit resolution, holding brake functionality, shaft style, IP rating, AC line supply voltage and electronic nameplate recognition via Drive-Cliq.
Learn more about SIMOTICS servomotors.

Most popular last issue
Wheels (and wings):
Can a supersonic biplane be the new Concorde?

Cheaper, quieter, and fuel-efficient biplanes could put supersonic travel on the horizon, according to MIT engineers.
Read the full article.
Engineer's Toolbox:
9 power questions to use when clients ask for a discount

When one of your customers calls and says, "I need a discount," author Andrew Sobel suggests that rather than respond with a yes or no, you should transform the conversation – and possibly the relationship – by asking a few power questions.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
How James Cameron's Deepsea Challenger submarine works
Now that the Titanic and Avatar director has made his 7-mile-deep dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, you may be wondering how the one-man submarine he captained works. Well the BBC's Rebecca Morelle and Simon Hancock interviewed project manager David Wotherspoon to find out.
View the video.

Video Image
Embraer performs full airplane simulation using NI hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) tools
Learn how Embraer used NI VeriStand software to develop an iron-bird simulator in which the complete electrical system of the aircraft was connected to a simulation of the rest of the plane to perform simulated flight tests that accurately exercised the electronics and software.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

Electrical/Electronics
View Products…
Mechanical
View Products…
Motion
View Products…


Subscribe to DesignFax

For advertising opportunities contact:

John Holmes

jholmes@nelsonpub.com
(847) 364-7441

Dan Beck

danbeck58@gmail.com
(518) 852-9624

Questions or comments about the eMagazine or articles? Contact us at: Designfax

www.designfax.net
PO Box 424, Alto, MI 49302

webteam@designfax.net
Privacy Statement