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June 25, 2013Volume 09 Issue 24


Image - New Line of Phillips Pan Machine Screws
New Line of Phillips Pan Machine Screws
Micro Plastics has added a new line to their inventory of 250 million parts! The Phillips Pan Machine Screws are molded in tough, resilient, and corrosion-resistant Nylon 6/6 material. Thread sizes included are: 4-40, 6-32, 8-32, 10-32, 1/4-20 and 1/4-28. Available in 25 standard lengths ranging from 3/32 in. up to 3 in., Micro Plastics also offers an extensive line of machine screws, including head styles such as Binder, Binder Combination, Fillister, Hex, Pan, Round, Socket, Flat, Oval, and Thumb Screws, as well as Studs, Grubs, and Flat Head Wing Screws.

Click here for more information.


In this issue of Designfax

  • CMOS cameras help fill coffee pods
  • Cool Idea! winners get free prototyping
  • World's smallest vacuum pumps demonstrated
  • Wheels (and keels): Giant ship engine simulation
  • Mike Likes: Rogan's SoftTouch clamping knobs
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Frameless motors in CHIMP robot
  • Enable Internet of Things
  • New locknut design
  • World's most effective wedge-locking washer?
  • 3D sheet metal software
  • Hardened and ground racks
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • 3D-printed jet engine parts
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Sulfur-based battery outperforms lithium-ion
    • Can 'dark lightning' zap you on a plane?
    • NASA tests ice formation in jet fans
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion
    Cover Image: Kollmorgen motors drive new joint designs in CMU's human-size CHIMP robot

News

Solar mobile phone charging comes to rural Africa

Boeing and Alcoa create 'closed-loop' program for recycling aluminum aerospace alloys

NASA's Orion Spacecraft proves sound under pressure

Army Ground Combat Systems adopts Sandia tool for choosing future warfighting vehicles



Feature articles

Image - CMOS cameras help fill coffee pods perfectly
CMOS cameras help fill coffee pods perfectly
How popular is pre-portioned coffee? Just last year, 1.6 billion K-Cups were sold, containing 250 different kinds of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. All this convenience, however, requires that the highest quality standards be met by coffee capsule producers.
Read the full article.

Image - Prototyping: <br>Tantrum electric screwdriver receives Cool Idea! Award; prosthetic knee and maze toy are winners too
Prototyping:
Tantrum electric screwdriver receives Cool Idea! Award; prosthetic knee and maze toy are winners too

Designed especially for tight spaces, an electric screwdriver called Tantrum by Flipout Screwdrivers has received a Proto Labs Cool Idea! Award. Cool Idea! is an award program offered by Proto Labs that gives designers the opportunity to bring innovative products to life by granting them a hefty helping of free prototyping and production services.
Read the full article.

Image - Mighty powerful, mighty tiny: <br>World's smallest vacuum pumps demonstrated
Mighty powerful, mighty tiny:
World's smallest vacuum pumps demonstrated

Researchers at the University of Michigan, Honeywell, and MIT recently demonstrated a handful of different devices that qualify as the world's smallest vacuum pumps. These breakthrough technologies may create new national security applications for electronics and sensors that require a vacuum.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels (and keels): <br>Realistic engine simulation down to the last detail
Wheels (and keels):
Realistic engine simulation down to the last detail

Ship engines that can weigh up to 2,800 metric tons and tower 16 m high are built to perform over 30 years, roughly 6,000 hr a year, at a constant speed of about 100 rpm. Engineers at MAN Diesel & Turbo used Abaqus FEA and XFEM for a weld redesign against fatigue cracks in an engine compensator, a large rotating component that dampens engine vibration for greater crew comfort.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: <br>Rogan's SoftTouch clamping knobs
Mike Likes:
Rogan's SoftTouch clamping knobs

Are you looking for a stylistic alternative to standard off-the-shelf fasteners such as nuts, bolts, or knobs? Look no further. Rogan Corporation's extensive line of "SoftTouch" Clamping Knobs has what you're looking for with award-winning designs offering a wide variety of options.
Read the full article.

Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>Frameless motor tech enables advanced mobility and manipulation for CHIMP humanoid robot
Engineer's Toolbox:
Frameless motor tech enables advanced mobility and manipulation for CHIMP humanoid robot

A team from Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) is building a new class of robot to compete in the upcoming Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) Robotics Challenge. It's a human-size robot that moves, not by walking, but on rubberized tracks on the extremities of each of its four limbs. Forty-nine frameless motors from Kollmorgen are one of the keys to this unique robot's all-important drive joints.
Read the full article.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>Enable Internet of Things via simple serial connection
Product Spotlight:
Enable Internet of Things via simple serial connection

Design engineers can easily add Wi-Fi connectivity to their products using new Microchip Technology Wi-Fi modules based on Roving Networks technology. These solutions use a simple serial interface to connect with any PIC microcontroller, and expand Microchip's wireless portfolio with the industry's lowest power consumption along with an integrated TCP/IP stack in a certified Wi-Fi solution. The Wi-Fi modules support all of Microchip's 8-, 16-, and 32-bit PIC microcontrollers.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>New locknut design
Product Spotlight:
New locknut design

Advanced Machine & Engineering (AME) announces the new Spieth Type MSF Locknut designed for limited-space applications. The new MSF series features a reduced width made possible by a design based on Spieth's diaphragm principle, where the load and locking parts are constructed from one piece. The locknuts are produced with common pitches and are available in metric sizes ranging from M25 to M100. The "vise-like" locking feature also allows the locknut to remain locked without additional components such as pins and keys to hold it in place. During the locking procedure, the thread flanks are loaded in the direction of the load, providing a connection with high axial rigidity.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>Could this be the world's most effective wedge-locking washer?
Product Spotlight:
Could this be the world's most effective wedge-locking washer?

You can count on one solution to meet all your bolt-securing needs using the just-introduced Nord-Lock X-series washers. They combine Nord-Lock's unrivaled wedge-effect solution (to prevent spontaneous loosening) with an exceptional spring effect (to compensate for loss of preload due to slackening). When used in pairs, each washer duo has cams on one side and radial teeth on the opposite side to secure the bolted joint with tension instead of friction. Quick and easy to install and remove with standard tools, this is a great solution for handling vibration and dynamic loads, painted or powder-coated surfaces, soft metals, and composites and polymers.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>Sheet metal software is powerful 3D origami tool
Product Spotlight:
Sheet metal software is powerful 3D origami tool

BlankWorks v5.0 from Forming Technologies provides SolidWorks 2013 users with a fully integrated add-in application for developing optimal flat patterns from complex 3D designs. It's 3D metal origami on steroids. BlankWorks is most commonly used for flattening complex 3D sheet metal components but has also been employed for flattening a wide variety of other SolidWorks designs ranging from vinyl decals, canvas tents, boat hulls, aircraft and helicopter parts, insulation, and thermoform packaging. New features include feature line mapping, which allows users to map lines and edges from part to flat pattern or curved surface -- extremely important for precisely locating manufacturing details such as surface edges, holes, bend lines, or paint lines on the 2D blank prior to stamping.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Product Spotlight: <br>Expanded range of hardened and ground racks
Product Spotlight:
Expanded range of hardened and ground racks

Rack-and-pinion drive technology specialist ATLANTA Drive Systems has expanded its range of hardened and ground racks, and added High-Precision (HPR) DIN 7 and 8 quality levels to provide more competitive price points to meet customer accuracy needs. These racks offer a convenient and economical alternative to the popular DIN 6 racks currently on the market and are dimensionally interchangeable for a drop-in replacement. The new StrongLine Ultra-High Precision (UHPR) gear racks utilize an innovative carburized case-hardening process to increase the strength of the rack, including the tooth flanks and root, which maximizes its power density, stiffness, and performance.
Click here to learn more.

Most popular last issue
ORNL says its new all-solid sulfur-based battery outperforms lithium-ion technology
Scientists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tenn., have designed and tested an all-solid lithium-sulfur battery with approximately four times the energy density of conventional lithium-ion technologies that power today's electronics.
Read the full article.
Can 'dark lightning' zap you on a plane? NRL researchers aim to shed light on the phenomenon
Thunderstorms, working as powerful natural terrestrial particle accelerators, produce intense flashes of ionizing radiation called "dark lightning." Researchers at the Naval Research Laboratory's Space Science Division are working to quantify the radiation exposure it may present to the crew and passengers of aircraft.
Read the full article.
Engineer's Toolbox:
How can ice menace a hot turbofan jet engine? NASA tries to find out

How does ice accumulate inside hot turbofan jet engines during flight? NASA scientists, working with engine manufacturers, are closer to answering that question.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
Is casting, brazing, and welding out for making GE jet engine parts? Well, not yet, but ...
"Even in the lofty world of aerospace components, GE's new 3D-printed jet engine fuel nozzle is a rare bird," according to GE Reports. "Workers build it as a single piece by welding together bits of super-alloy dust with lasers. The new nozzle is 25 percent lighter and as much as five times more durable than the current nozzle made from 20 different parts." But 3D printing is so new that the GE engineers have to develop new quality-control methods before jumping into mass production. "Every cubic millimeter is a chance for a defect," says Todd Rockstroh, a mechanical engineer at GE Aviation. Big data and sophisticated algorithms can help.
View the video.

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