Designfax weekly eMagazine

Subscribe Today!

Archives

View Archives

Partners

Manufacturing Center
Product Spotlight

Modern Applications News
Metalworking Ideas For
Today's Job Shops

Tooling and Production
Strategies for large
metalworking plants

Engineer's Toolbox: How to design the optimum hinge

Although many pin styles are available, Coiled Spring Pins are particularly well suited for use in both friction- and free-fit hinges. To achieve optimum long-term hinge performance, designers should observe these helpful design guidelines from SPIROL.
Read the full article.

Innovative new robo welding gun

Comau's newest N-WG welding gun is designed for high-speed spot welding for traditional, hybrid, and electric vehicles, in addition to general industry sectors. It features a patented, single-body architecture that enables rapid reconfiguration between welding types and forces, and it delivers consistent performance across a broad range of applications, including steel and (soon) aluminum welding. It supports both X and C standard gun configurations, has fast arm exchange, and universal mounting options. It is fully compatible with major robot brands and represents a significant advancement in spot welding performance and cost efficiency.
Learn more.

What's a SLIC Pin^®? Pin and cotter all in one!

The SLIC Pin (Self-Locking Implanted Cotter Pin) from Pivot Point is a pin and cotter all in one. This one-piece locking clevis pin is cost saving, fast, and secure. It functions as a quick locking pin wherever you need a fast-lock function. It features a spring-loaded plunger that functions as an easy insertion ramp. This revolutionary fastening pin is very popular and used successfully in a wide range of applications.
Learn more.

Engineering challenge: Which 3D-printed parts will fade?

How does prolonged exposure to intense UV light impact 3D-printed plastics? Will they fade? This is what Xometry's Director of Application Engineering, Greg Paulsen, set to find out. In this video, Paulsen performs comprehensive tests on samples manufactured using various additive processes, including FDM, SLS, SLA, PolyJet, DLS, and LSPc, to determine their UV resistance. Very informative. Some results may surprise you.
View the video.

Copper filament for 3D printing

Virtual Foundry, the company that brought us 3D-printable lunar regolith simulant, says its popular Copper Filamet™ (not a typo) is "back in stock and ready for your next project." This material is compatible with any open-architecture FDM/FFF 3D printer. After sintering, final parts are 100% pure copper. Also available as pellets. The company says this is one of the easiest materials to print and sinter. New Porcelain Filamet™ available too.
Learn more and get all the specs.

Copper foam -- so many advantages

Copper foam from Goodfellow combines the outstanding thermal conductivity of copper with the structural benefits of a metal foam. These features are of particular interest to design engineers working in the fields of medical products and devices, defense systems and manned flight, power generation, and the manufacture of semiconductor devices. This product has a true skeletal structure with no voids, inclusions, or entrapments. A perennial favorite of Designfax readers.
Learn more.

Full-color 3D-printing Design Guide from Xometry

With Xometry's PolyJet 3D-printing service, you can order full-color 3D prints easily. Their no-cost design guide will help you learn about different aspects of 3D printing colorful parts, how to create and add color to your models, and best practices to keep in mind when printing in full color. Learn how to take full advantage of the 600,000 unique colors available in this flexible additive process.
Get the Xometry guide.

Tech Tip: How to create high-quality STL files for 3D prints

Have you ever 3D printed a part that had flat spots or faceted surfaces where smooth curves were supposed to be? You are not alone, and it's not your 3D printer's fault. According to Markforged, the culprit is likely a lack of resolution in the STL file used to create the part.
Read this detailed and informative Markforged blog.

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.

Engineer's Toolbox: How to pin a shaft and hub assembly properly

One of the primary benefits of using a coiled spring pin to affix a hub or gear to a shaft is the coiled pin's ability to prevent hole damage. Another is the coiled pin absorbs wider hole tolerances than any other press-fit pin. This translates to lower total manufacturing costs of the assembly. However, there are a few design guidelines that must be adhered to in order to achieve the maximum strength of the pinned system and prevent damage to the assembly.
Read this very informative SPIROL article.

What's new in Creo Parametric 11.0?

Creo Parametric 11.0 is packed with productivity-enhancing updates, and sometimes the smallest changes make the biggest impact in your daily workflows. Mark Potrzebowski, Technical Training Engineer, Rand 3D, runs through the newest functionality -- from improved surface modeling tools to smarter file management and model tree navigation. Videos provide extra instruction.
Read the full article.

What's so special about wave springs?

Don't settle for ordinary springs. Opt for Rotor Clip wave springs. A wave spring is a type of flat wire compression spring characterized by its unique waveform-like structure. Unlike traditional coil springs, wave springs offer an innovative solution to complex engineering challenges, producing forces from bending, not torsion. Their standout feature lies in their ability to compress and expand efficiently while occupying up to 50% less axial space than traditional compression springs. Experience the difference Rotor Clip wave springs can make in your applications today!
View the video.

New Standard Parts Handbook from JW Winco

JW Winco's printed Standard Parts Handbook is a comprehensive 2,184-page reference that supports designers and engineers with the largest selection of standard parts categorized into three main groups: operating, clamping, and machine parts. More than 75,000 standard parts can be found in this valuable resource, including toggle clamps, shaft collars, concealed multiple-joint hinges, and hygienically designed components.
Get your Standard Parts Handbook today.

Looking to save space in your designs?

Watch Smalley's quick explainer video to see how engineer Frank improved his product designs by switching from traditional coil springs to compact, efficient wave springs. Tasked with making his products smaller while keeping costs down, Frank found wave springs were the perfect solution.
View the video.

Top die casting design tips

You can improve the design and cost of your die cast parts with these top tips from Xometry's Joel Schadegg. Topics include: Fillets and Radii, Wall Thicknesses, Ribs and Metal Savers, Holes and Windows, Parting Lines, and more. Follow these recommendations so you have the highest chance of success with your project.
Read the full Xometry article.

In bid to hush the flush, researchers invent quieter airplane toilet

Airplane toilets are loud. For some, they are downright terrifying. But chin up, frequent flyers, because a group of Brigham Young University (BYU) physicists have figured out how to make them quieter.

After two years of trial and error, three academic publications, and thousands of flushes, the BYU researchers have invented a vacuum-assisted toilet that is about half as loud as the regular airplane commode.

"People have told us they don't want their kids to be scared to use the bathroom on a flight," said lead researcher Kent Gee, BYU professor of physics. "So, we've used good physics to solve the problem."

It's been a really hard problem to solve, given the industry hasn't been able to improve vacuum-assisted toilets over the last 25 years. That's because getting airplane toilets to flush with very little water requires a partial vacuum, which at 38,000 ft, pulls air at nearly half the speed of sound. (According to research done in Gee and Scott Sommerfeldt's lab, an air-water mix in vacuum-assisted toilets travels more than 300 mph.) When things move at that speed, any disturbance at all to the flow -- like the bend of a pipe or a valve -- generates significant noise.

And now that newer airplanes come with much quieter interiors, toilet flushes reverberate much more throughout the cabin. It can make for very patchy sleep on a red-eye flight on a plane like the Airbus A380 that can have as many as 20 toilets.

"Airline companies have always had standards for the toilet noise, but they've never met those and there has never been much pressure to do so," Sommerfeldt said. "Now with the reduced cabin sound levels, the sound of the toilet flushing is more noticeable and customers are pushing back."

To solve the problem, the BYU team focused on three valve conditions during the flush cycle: the initial noise level peak associated with the flush valve opening, an intermediate noise level plateau associated with the valve being fully opened, and the final noise level peak associated with the flush valve closing. The researchers added additional piping to increase the distance between the toilet bowl and the flush valve and made the pipe attachment at the bowl more of a gradual bend as opposed to a sharp 90-degree angle. Tests of the new contraption show aeroacoustically generated noise dropped up to 16 decibels during the flush valve opening and about 5 to 10 decibels when the valve is fully opened.

"It's a great mix between physics and engineering," said grad student Michael Rose, lead author on the team's most recent vacuum-assisted tech publication in Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics. "The toilet is much quieter, and now kids won't think they're going to get sucked out." Along with Scott Thomson, professor of mechanical engineering, the researchers have already filed three patents on the new toilet and are now working with an industry partner to bring it to market. Part of the lure of the BYU invention is that it works with existing airplane toilets -- only the elbow needs to be removed during a retrofit, while the valve and the bowl stay where they are.

The vacuum-assisted tech could also be used for toilets on cruise ships and trains and even in some new green building projects where housing units are looking at more and more ways to reduce water usage.

"At the end of the day, this is about using science to improve a user experience," Gee said. "It's an important part of making flights more comfortable for customers."

Source: Brigham Young University

Published April 2019

Rate this article