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Siemens Meet at the Machine: Be productive from day one of new CNC machine delivery

Traditionally, many programming, validation, and training activities begin only after a machine is installed. Not anymore. Meet at the Machine is Siemens' new initiative uniting machine builders, software, and automation for next-level CNC through a continuous digital thread across engineering, programming, virtual validation, and execution. By pairing a Digital Twin with Digital CNC powered by SINUMERIK, manufacturers can prepare, validate, train, and optimize workflows before your specialized machine's physical delivery! TRAK Machine Tools is the launch partner -- see what they are doing.
Learn more.

How to master metal powder management in 3D printing

What's the real cost of "good enough" powder tracking for powder-bed fusion 3D-printing machines? According to Tim Wischeropp, CEO and Co-Founder of amsight, the technology is rife with hidden costs. Every cycle, every handling step, every exposure, and every mixing decision plays a part. Surprisingly, though, with the right strategy, users can turn their losses into a competitive edge. Learn how.
Read the full article.

Aluminum oxide filament for FDM printers

Virtual Foundry, the company that brought us 3D-printable lunar regolith simulant, has a new product called Aluminum Oxide Filamet™, giving users the power to print alumina parts using the FDM printers they already own. This composite 3D-printing material allows researchers, engineers, and makers to bypass expensive ceramic tooling and produce pure ceramic components in-house. Print using a 0.6-mm hardened-steel, standard-flow nozzle on virtually any open-architecture printer.
Get all the material specs.

New metal extrusion retrofit system helps manufacturers get into ShAPE

A new invention from the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory could soon help manufacturers more easily adopt the lab's patented Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion (ShAPE™) technology, enabling faster manufacturing of superior extrusion products while reducing costs and energy use.
Read the full article.

Pneumatics: Dual guide rod cylinders and exhaust silencers

Automation-Direct has expanded its guided actuator lineup with compact 12-mm dual guide rod cylinders from Metal Work. Ideal for packaging and material handling, these double-acting cylinders feature 10-mm to 250-mm strokes, magnetic pistons, and integral sensor slots. Additionally, new durable acetal plastic silencers are now available in multiple NPT/BSPP sizes to reduce pneumatic exhaust noise.
Learn more.

Expanded injection molding capabilities

Pexco LLC has acquired Recto Molded Products and Legacy Extrusions, expanding its capabilities in complex injection molding, tooling, assembly, and engineered thermoplastic solutions for OEM manufacturers. The Cincinnati-based companies bring more than a century of manufacturing expertise, advanced production technologies, and value-added services that strengthen Pexco's ability to support customers from product design through full-scale production. Injection molding presses ranging from 55 to 500 tons.
Learn about Pexco and its value-added manufacturing services.

Custom 3D-printed steering wheel for jet dragster

Jet dragsters use General Electric J85 engines -- the same turbines pulled from U.S. military F5 Freedom Fighters -- mounted to a custom 26-ft chassis. The racers achieve quarter-miles in 5.5 sec, but standard metal parts can fail custom ergonomic needs. Traditional manufacturing of low-volume aluminum steering wheels demands long, 8-day lead times, high costs, and multi-piece assemblies. Larsen Motorsports solved this by replacing metal with continuous fiber 3D printing using the Markforged X7. Embedding continuous carbon fiber into an Onyx nylon matrix allowed them to target specific load paths, delivering a custom steering wheel that is stiffer, lighter, and faster to produce than aluminum.
View the video.

Application Spotlight: Light-duty ring in an air vent nozzle

Explore how a light-duty Spirolox^® retaining ring is used in an airplane air vent nozzle to regulate airflow. This application spotlight shows how the ring fits into a groove in the plastic housing, securing the nozzle during rotation. Designed for light loads and axial positioning, it offers a simple, economical solution that is easy to install and remove.
View this informative Smalley video.

Fasteners for automotive and agricultural equipment

Norm Fasteners has acquired an automotive fastener manufacturing plant in Plymouth, MI, expanding its North American footprint beyond sales, engineering, and logistics. The local facility produces metric fasteners (M4-M24) and engine bolts. Norm’s portfolio includes wheel bolts, studs, custom fasteners, and licensed MAThread^® and TAPTITE^® products, serving diverse automotive and industrial assembly needs.
Learn more or contact Belgin Tunce for more information.

3M Cooling Film for vehicle roofs launched

New 3M Cooling Film is a roof-applied heat-management solution designed to help keep vehicle cabins cooler, reduce cooling demand, and improve operational efficiency. The aftermarket product uses advanced thermal management technology to reflect more than 85% of solar radiation. Interior vehicle temperatures can be reduced by up to 10 degrees F with this product. Installs like graphics by professional installers using 3M adhesive technologies. Initially designed for fleet and rail operators.
Learn more.

Test your knowledge: High-temp adhesives

Put your knowledge to the test by trying to answer these key questions on how to choose the right high-temperature-resistant adhesive. The technical experts from Master Bond cover critical information necessary for the selection process, including questions on glass transition temperature and service temperature range. Some of the answers may surprise even the savviest of engineers.
Take the quiz.

New Air Holster Safety Air Gun Mount

EXAIR's new Model 5930 Air Holster provides a simple and convenient way to keep Safety Air Guns secure and within easy reach at workstations throughout a facility. Designed to give operators a designated location for their air gun when not in use, the Air Holster helps prevent misplaced tools while keeping work areas organized and efficient. Its practical design makes it an ideal addition to manufacturing, assembly, maintenance, and other industrial workstations where Safety Air Guns are frequently used.
Learn more.

Southco access hardware in rail applications

Discover how Southco's rail access hardware solutions help improve safety, reliability, and operational efficiency across modern rail networks. The video showcases a range of rail applications where Southco's access hardware plays a critical role, including driver cabins, lighting systems, tray tables, headrests, armrests, and other passenger and operator touchpoints. Designed to support dependable performance in demanding moving environments, Southco's solutions help operators streamline maintenance processes, minimize downtime, and enable more proactive asset management.
View the video.

Multi-zone tension leveler for hard-to-flatten alloys

Redex USA's Levelflex^® is a modular, multi-zone tension leveler engineered for continuous processing lines, including coating and heat treatment of aluminum alloys and where flatness is critical to coating adhesion and downstream formability. By stretching material within 95% of its yield strength, it corrects stubborn flatness defects in fewer passes. It comes in open-loop pure stretch or closed-loop tension measurement modes to optimize surface integrity and eliminate crossbow.
Learn more.

Hold any shape with ID and OD Form Holding Clamps

These simple OD and ID clamping solutions from Fixtureworks clamp onto your part in one easy operation, eliminating the need for custom fixtures. They allow users to clamp onto the inner or outer diameter of small-size, irregularly shaped work parts fast. Lots of options.
Learn more.

Modified stainless steel kills bacteria without antibiotics or chemicals

Researchers etch nano-sized textures and add copper ions to create a naturally antibacterial material for hospitals and other shared settings.

By Joshua Stewart, Georgia Tech University

An electrochemical process developed at Georgia Tech could offer new protection against bacterial infections without contributing to growing antibiotic resistance.

The approach capitalizes on the natural antibacterial properties of copper and creates incredibly small needle-like structures on the surface of stainless steel to kill harmful bacteria like E. coli and Staphylococcus. It's convenient and inexpensive, and it could reduce the need for chemicals and antibiotics in hospitals, kitchens, and other settings where surface contamination can lead to serious illness.

It also could save lives: A global study of drug-resistant infections found they directly killed 1.27 million people in 2019 and contributed to nearly 5 million other deaths -- making these infections one of the leading causes of death for every age group.

Postdoctoral scholar Anuja Tripathi examines a small sample of stainless steel after an electrochemical etching process she designed to create nano-scale needle-like structures on its surface. A second process deposits copper ions on the surface to create a dual antibacterial material. [Credit: Photo by Candler Hobbs, Georgia Tech]

 

 

 

 

Researchers described the copper-stainless steel and its effectiveness May 20 in the journal Small.

"Killing Gram-positive bacteria without chemicals is comparatively easy, but tackling Gram-negative bacteria poses a significant challenge, due to their thick, multilayered cell membrane. And if these bacteria persist on surfaces, they can grow rapidly," said Anuja Tripathi, the study's lead author and a postdoctoral scholar in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. "I aimed to develop an antibiotic-free bactericidal surface effective against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria."

Tripathi and her colleagues -- William R. McLain Professor Julie Champion and former Ph.D. students Jaeyoung Park and Thomas Pho -- produced a one-two punch that overcomes those challenges and doesn't help bacteria develop resistance to drugs.

The team first developed an electrochemical method to etch the surface of stainless steel, creating nano-sized, needle-like structures on the surface that can puncture bacteria's cell membranes. Then, with a second electrochemical process, the researchers deposited copper ions on the steel's surface.

The different stages of Tripathi's process: At top, an unmodified sample and at bottom a sample after the electrochemical etching process. [Credit: Photo by Candler Hobbs, Georgia Tech]

 

 

 

 

The different stages of Tripathi's process: Two samples after copper ion deposition -- four minutes for the top piece and 15 minutes for the bottom piece. [Credit: Photo by Candler Hobbs, Georgia Tech]

 

 

 

 

Copper interacts with the cell membranes and ultimately compromises them.

"The nanotextured stainless steel can kill both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, but we wanted to enhance the antibacterial activity for surfaces that can be highly contaminated," Tripathi said. "The copper coating on the nanotextured stainless steel gave us very high antibacterial activity."

Despite copper's known antibacterial properties, it's not widely used to fight surface contamination because it's expensive. Tripathi's approach deposits only a thin layer of copper ions on the stainless steel, so it's cost effective without compromising the material's antibacterial activity.

Together, the dual attacks resulted in 97% reduction of Gram-negative E. coli and 99% reduction in Gram-positive Staphylococcus epidermis bacteria in the group's study.

Tripathi said the stainless steel could be used for common tools in medical settings that are easily fouled, such as scissors or tweezers. It could be used for door handles, stair railings, and perhaps even sinks -- places where stainless steel is often the material of choice and surface bacteria are common, especially in hospitals or other shared settings.

The process she and her colleagues developed also could be useful in food service. Tripathi said the approach could be fairly easily incorporated into existing industrial processes, where different electrochemical coating methods already are used for stainless steel food storage containers.

Atomic force microscope images show a stainless steel sample before electrochemical etching (top) and after the process (bottom). Tripathi's process creates needle-like protrusions at the nanometer scale that are capable of killing bacteria cells. [Credit: Images Courtesy Anuja Tripathi, Georgia Tech]

 

 

 

 

Tripathi said future work will investigate if the copper-coated, nanotextured stainless steel is effective against other kinds of cells harmful to human health. She's also interested in exploring whether the steel could be used for medical implants to help ward off infections.

Since it proved effective against troublesome E. coli, she's hopeful.

"Reflecting on a recent E. coli outbreak in grocery stores in Calgary, Canada, I was particularly driven in my research, recognizing the urgent relevance and significance of combating such resilient bacteria on surfaces," Tripathi said. "They can be difficult to eliminate. So, if we can effectively eliminate E. coli, we stand a good chance of eradicating many bacteria on surfaces."

Published June 2024

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