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

hyperMILL 2024 CAD/CAM software suite

OPEN MIND Technologies has introduced its latest hyperMILL 2024 CAD/CAM software suite, which includes a range of powerful enhancements to its core toolpath capabilities, as well as new functionality for increased NC programming efficiency in applications ranging from 2.5D machining to 5-axis milling. New and enhanced capabilities include: Optimized Deep Hole Drilling, a new algorithm for 3- and 5-axis Rest Machining, an enhanced path layout for the 3D Plane Machining cycle, better error detection, and much more.
Learn more.

One-part epoxy changes from red to clear under UV

Master Bond UV15RCL is a low-viscosity, cationic-type UV-curing system with a special color-changing feature. The red material changes to clear once exposed to UV light, indicating that there is UV light access across the adhesive material. Although this change in color from red to clear does not indicate a full cure, it does confirm that the UV light has reached the polymer. This epoxy is an excellent electrical insulator. UV15RCL adheres well to metals, glass, ceramics, and many plastics, including acrylics and polycarbonates.
Learn more.

SPIROL Press-N-Lok™ Pin for plastic housings

The Press-N-Lok™ Pin was designed to permanently retain two plastic components to each other. As the pin is inserted, the plastic backfills into the area around the two opposing barbs, resulting in maximum retention. Assembly time is quicker, and it requires lower assembly equipment costs compared to screws and adhesives -- just Press-N-Lok™!
Learn more about the new Press-N-Lok™ Pin.

Why hybrid bearings are becoming the new industry standard

A combination of steel outer and inner rings with ceramic balls or rollers is giving hybrid bearings unique properties, making them suitable for use in a wide range of modern applications. SKF hybrid bearings make use of silicon nitride (twice as hard as bearing steel) rolling elements and are available as ball bearings, cylindrical roller bearings, and in custom designs. From electric erosion prevention to friction reduction and extended maintenance intervals, learn all about next-gen hybrid bearings.
Read the SKF technical article.

3M and Ansys train engineers on simulating adhesives

Ansys and 3M have created an advanced simulation training program enabling engineers to enhance the design and sustainability of their products when using tapes and adhesives as part of the design. Simulation enables engineers to validate engineering decisions when analyzing advanced polymeric materials -- especially when bonding components made of different materials. Understand the behavior of adhesives under real-world conditions for accurate modeling and design.
Read this informative Ansys blog.

New FATH T-slotted rail components in black from AutomationDirect

Automation-Direct has added a wide assortment of black-colored FATH T-slotted hardware components to match their SureFrame black anodized T-slotted rails, including: cube connectors (2D and 3D) and angle connectors, joining plates of many types, brackets, and pivot joints. Also included are foot consoles, linear bearings in silver and black, cam lever brakes, and L-handle brakes. FATH T-slotted hardware components are easy to install, allow for numerous T-slotted structure configurations, and have a 1-year warranty against defects.
Learn more.

Weird stuff: Moon dust simulant for 3D printing

Crafted from a lunar regolith simulant, Basalt Moon Dust Filamet™ (not a typo) available from The Virtual Foundry closely mirrors the makeup of lunar regolith found in mare regions of the Moon. It enables users with standard fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printers to print with unparalleled realism. Try out your ideas before you go for that big space contract, or help your kid get an A on that special science project.
Learn more.

Break the mold with custom injection molding by Rogan

With 90 years of industry experience, Rogan Corporation possesses the expertise to deliver custom injection molding solutions that set businesses apart. As a low-cost, high-volume solution, injection molding is the most widely used plastics manufacturing process. Rogan processes include single-shot, two-shot, overmolding, and assembly. Elevate your parts with secondary operations: drilling and tapping, hot stamping, special finishes, punch press, gluing, painting, and more.
Learn more.

World's first current-carrying fastening technology

PEM^® eConnect™ current-carrying pins from Penn-Engineering provide superior electrical connections in applications that demand high performance from internal components, such as automotive electronics. This first-to-market tech provides repeatable, consistent electrical joints and superior installation unmatched by traditional fastening methods. Features include quick and secure automated installation, no hot spots or poor conductivity, and captivation options that include self-clinching and broaching styles.
Learn more about eConnect pins.

New interactive digital catalog from EXAIR

EXAIR's latest catalog offers readers an incredible source of innovative solutions for common industrial problems like conveying, cooling, cleaning, blowoff, drying, coating, and static buildup. This fully digital and interactive version of Catalog 35 is designed for easy browsing and added accessibility. Customers can view, download, print, and save either the full catalog or specific pages and sections. EXAIR products are designed to conserve compressed air and increase personnel safety in the process. Loaded with useful information.
Check out EXAIR's online catalog.

5 cost-saving design tips for CNC machining

Make sure your parts meet expectations the first time around. Xometry's director of application engineering, Greg Paulsen, presents five expert tips for cutting costs when designing custom CNC machined parts. This video covers corners and radii, designing for deep pockets, thread depths, thin walls, and more. Always excellent info from Paulsen at Xometry.
View the video.

What can you secure with a retaining ring? 20 examples

From the watch dial on your wrist to a wind turbine, no application is too small or too big for a Smalley retaining ring to secure. Light to heavy-duty loads? Carbon steel to exotic materials? No problem. See how retaining rings are used in slip clutches, bike locks, hip replacements, and even the Louvre Pyramid.
See the Smalley design applications.

Load fasteners with integrated RFID

A crane, rope, or chain may be required when something needs lifting -- plus anchoring points on the load. JW Winco offers a wide range of solutions to fasten the load securely, including: lifting eye bolts and rings (with or without rotation), eye rings with ball bearings, threaded lifting pins, shackles, lifting points for welding, and more. Some, such as the GN 581 Safety Swivel Lifting Eye Bolts, even have integrated RFID tags to clearly identify specific lifting points during wear and safety inspections and manage them digitally and without system interruption.
Learn more.

Couplings solve misalignments more precisely with targeted center designs

ALS Couplings from Miki Pulley feature a simplistic, three-piece construction and are available in three different types for more precisely handling parallel, angular, or axial misalignment applications. The key feature of this coupling design is its center element. Each of the three models has a center member that has a unique and durable material and shape. Also called a "spider," the center is designed to address and resolve the type of misalignment targeted. Ideal for unidirectional continuous movement or rapid bidirectional motion.
Learn more.

What is 3D-MID? Molded parts with integrated electronics from HARTING

3D-MID (three-dimensional mechatronic integrated devices) technology combines electronic and mechanical functionalities into a single, 3D component. It replaces the traditional printed circuit board and opens up many new opportunities. It takes injection-molded parts and uses laser-direct structuring to etch areas of conductor structures, which are filled with a copper plating process to create very precise electronic circuits. HARTING, the technology's developer, says it's "Like a PCB, but 3D." Tons of possibilities.
View the video.

Drive-thru tent proves to be simpler, cheaper way to test heavy-duty truck emissions

University of Denver scientists have developed a new highway emissions test for trucks that is far more reliable and less costly than the present test. If used, it could save the trucking industry millions of dollars and ensure that truck emissions are measured accurately.

"We have invented a drive-thru Streamlined Heavy-duty Emissions Test (SHED) which measures all the pollutants of importance in mass emissions units -- the current government standard," says Donald Stedman, John Evans Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Denver. "The test allows the truck to simply accelerate in its normal way with its normal load."

Developed by researchers at the University of Denver, the new SHED test for truck emissions is more accurate and less costly.

 

 

The SHED technique measures realistic truck exhaust emissions in 20 sec or less -- and the truck does not even have to stop. The system basically places a 50-ft long tent roof over the roadway, which captures some of the exhaust. "Under the roof," says Stedman, "is a perforated sampling tube with suction provided by an in-line blower. The perforations are designed to accelerate the air sample down the tube at about the same speed as the truck accelerates under the roof."

The result is a measurement that is closely comparable to federal emissions standards.

That is an upgrade to existing testing practices in two ways. First, the current method tests only for how much or little light (opacity) a truck's exhaust lets in. This actually has little correlation with the government standard for pollution, which is measured in units of smoke mass. Oxides of nitrogen, an important part of diesel exhaust, are not measured at all.

Second, the test now in place is time-consuming, which drives up transportation costs. The truck must be pulled over and stopped with the engine idling. The tester mounts an opacity monitor on the hot exhaust pipe, then has the driver floor the accelerator to allow the motor to go to its maximum RPM. "This is something that never occurs under normal circumstances," Stedman says.

The SHED testing technique has undergone two successful tests. The first was done in collaboration with researchers at Texas A&M University. The second took place in Vancouver, British Columbia. In the latter test, more than 1,000 heavy-duty truck emissions were measured. The results were presented in April at the Coordinating Research Council On-Road Mobile Source Emissions Conference.

Stedman says that practical applications of the SHED test include "improved estimates of the impact of truck emissions on air quality and fast emission screening at selected drive-thru locations, such as weigh stations, transit terminals, and border crossings."

The SHED test could also help The United States fulfill an unmet part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), he notes. NAFTA allows trucks from Mexico to deliver directly to destinations in the U.S. But in practice that doesn't happen, in part because of fears that the Mexican trucks might be more polluting than the better-regulated U.S. fleet.

"Border crossing loads now are emptied from one truck and refilled into another," says Stedman, "significantly increasing the cost and time of transportation."

Earlier work by Stedman and his University of Denver colleagues resulted in a technique that enabled an emissions test for cars that, by using remote sensing, could be carried out in about 1 sec as the car drove by. That resulted in on-road emission monitoring being made a part of the 1990 U.S. Clean Air Act Amendments, although that mandate has been more or less ignored, except in Colorado. In Colorado, almost 300,000 drivers each year get a postcard from Air Care Colorado stating that they have passed their emission test by means of remote sensing during the course of their normal driving and thus do not have to report for their biennial emission test.

Stedman is hopeful that his new truck test will take off nationwide as successfully as his car test has been accepted in Colorado.

Source: University of Denver/Newswise

Published May 2013

Rate this article