Designfax – Technology for OEM Design Engineers was launched as an exclusive eMagazine in October 2005 following 25 successful years in print. Subscribers to the weekly publication (48 issues a year) are high-level OEM product design engineers and engineering managers who operate in a broad range of manufacturing industries, including automotive, aerospace, appliances, medical equipment, transportation, computer process controls, industrial equipment, and more. Primary content focuses on the latest exciting applications and products for Electrical/Electronic, Mechanical, Motion Control, Fluid Power, and Materials engineering, including articles on powerful software programs that serve as a primary engineering tool. Take a look at what Designfax offers and then subscribe.
| July 22, 2014 | Volume 10 Issue 28 |
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 | Molded Nylon Special Standard Round Spacers
Micro Plastics announces a new product line of Special Standard Round Spacers. The new line of molded nylon round spacers includes over 250 sizes, with diameters of 1/8" through 1 1/2" and lengths from 1/8" to 2 3/4". These tough, resilient spacers can be used in a variety of assemblies. Useful in electronic and electrical applications, they may also be used as bushings, bearings, rollers, gliders, and bumpers. They are resistant to vibration, abrasion, and corrosion; are electrically insulating; and have a high strength-to-weight ratio.
Click here to learn more. |
 | IMPORTANT message for gmail users -- both personal and corporate email accounts
If you have logged into your gmail account lately directly through gmail.com, you have probably noticed that gmail is pre-sorting your email into three folders, which they call labels or tabs: Primary, Social, and Promotions. If you use a corporate gmail account with a mail management program, you may not know that your gmail is being pre-sorted -- and you may not be receiving all of your email. We would love for Designfax to always be found in your Primary email and hope that making that designation in your gmail account will make finding our issues easier for you.
Find out how to move Designfax to your Primary email tab. |
 | Wheels:
Exhaust recirculation tech and the road to 54.5 mpg
A new engine design that improves fuel economy and lowers exhaust emissions has received a prestigious 2014 R&D 100 Award. R&D Magazine selected Southwest Research Institute's Dedicated Exhaust Gas Recirculation (D-EGR) engine technology as one of the 100 most significant technological achievements introduced in the past year.
Read the full article. |
 | Mike Likes:
Ruggedized aerospace+ locking coupling
Cannon's twist-and-lock K-Lock Ultra-High-Vibration Locking Coupling System protects critical connections and drastically reduces risk of decoupling in extreme vibration and exposure environments. The system offers superior resilience to shock, vibration, and harsh environmental exposure with a design that can withstand more than 100 g of shock, 2,000 Hz of vibration, and up to 2,000 hours of exposure to salt spray. Great for space launch vehicles and aircraft -- and even ships and land vehicles.
Click here to see a video and learn more. |
 | Engineer's Toolbox:
World's smallest production V8 optimized with precision honing
Gary Conley's 30-year quest to manufacture a true production V8 engine in quarter-scale almost went up in smoke twice: once in 2001 when a foundry fire claimed all his critical molds, and later when oil smoke proved a stubborn problem during run-offs of the engine. Conley overcame the first setback with years of sheer determination. The second issue required a Sunnen MB 1660 honing machine, abrasives, and some Sunnen know-how.
Read the full article. |
 | Six key design factors critical to the semiconductor and UHV market
Purity and reliability are paramount within the semiconductor and ultra-high vacuum (UHV) industries. While few product suppliers can meet the stringent requirements of this rapidly changing environment, Servometer® and its sister company BellowsTech, LLC have developed superior engineered electrodeposited and edge welded metal bellows to meet the demanding performance specifications for these applications. This paper describes in-depth the six key bellows design factors critical to the semi and UHV market.
View the white paper. |
 | Self-clinching flush nuts for stainless steel sheets
New PEMSERT Type F4 self-clinching flush nuts from PennEngineering provide ideal attachment solutions for stainless steel assemblies by providing load-bearing threads in thin stainless sheets without creating any protrusions on either side. Upon their permanent installation into 300 Series stainless steel sheets as thin as .060 in./1.53 mm, both the top and bottom of the sheet will remain flat for enhanced functional and/or cosmetic qualities of an entire assembly.
Click here to learn more. |
 | igus offers Chainflex Guarantee Program
When it comes to cables, energy supply system specialist igus® is the first and only manufacturer to provide a guarantee program for continuous-flexing cables. In the newly dubbed "Chainflex Guarantee Program," machine designers and manufacturers can receive a guarantee that goes far beyond just the basic legal conditions. igus guarantees the durability and functional safety of its cables to give machine manufacturers and plants added reliability. The aim is to provide binding statements about the durability of igus' Chainflex cables when used inside Energy Chain® cable carriers. The new guarantee club is applicable to all cataloged cables from igus.
Click here to learn more. |
| | Most popular last issue |
 | Engineers try to tackle how to track a football in 3D space
Referees may soon have a new way of determining whether a football team has scored a touchdown or gotten a first down. Researchers from North Carolina State University and Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Disney Research, have developed a system that can track a football in three-dimensional space using low-frequency magnetic fields.
Read the full article. |
 | 3D-printed honeycombs challenge material performance of balsa wood
Harvard researchers are giving balsa wood a run for its money. The low-tech but expensive material is used as a core material in giant wind turbine blades, among many other applications. Using a cocktail of fiber-reinforced epoxy-based thermosetting resins and 3D extrusion printing techniques, materials scientists at Harvard have developed cellular composite materials of unprecedented light weight and stiffness.
Read the full article. |
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| | Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action | Gems Sensors & Controls aims to help British Bloodhound break world land speed record
Gems Sensors & Controls is a proud sponsor of Bloodhound SSC, a high-technology project to design and build a car that will break the 1,000-mph barrier and set a new world land speed record. Designed and constructed in the UK, Bloodhound SSC includes three power plants -- a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet from a Eurofighter Typhoon, a cluster of NAMMO hybrid rockets, and a 650-bhp racecar engine that drives the rocket oxidizer pump -- and pressure sensors from Gems Sensors, among its many components. Gems Sensors' John Summerfield talks about how the company's products are helping to make history. The vehicle will be officially tested in 2015 and go for the record attempt in 2016 on a dry lakebed in the South African desert.
View the video. |
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Neat and novel: Paper models come to 3D printing
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014 earlier this year, 3D-printing entrepreneur Dr. Conor MacCormack, Co-founder & CEO of Ireland-based Mcor Technologies, showed off the company's clever paper-based 3D-printing technology. That's right, the 3D phone and head models at right are made of paper! How does that work? 1. Each layer of a design is printed on a sheet of paper using high-saturation inks. 2. The stack of paper is put into the "printer," where each piece is carefully edge-glued with special adhesives and cut. 3. The model stack grows. 4. Pop your finished color model out of the precision-glued and cut stack. MacCormack says that paper-based 3D models are serious prototyping contenders, because the model cost is so low: often around 10 bucks or less a pop. Neat and novel. (Video by ElectricTV)
View the video. |
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