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December 11, 2012Volume 08 Issue 46


Image - New Full Line Catalog -- Full of New Fasteners
New Full Line Catalog -- Full of New Fasteners
Micro Plastics introduces its new catalog #39. With 290 pages of nylon fastener items, 12 new product lines, and over 500 new items added. Contents include: standard and metric machine screws, cap screws, nuts, washers, spacers, insulators, grommets, bushings, rivets, hole plugs, clamps, printed circuit board accessories, suspended ceiling hooks, and wire routing kits. FREE samples are available upon request.

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In this issue of Designfax

  • Robotic laser system strips paint from aircraft
  • All about vacuum brazing
  • World's smallest chain robot
  • Wheels (and wings): Rotors on space capsules?
  • Mike Likes: Bond metals and plastics in seconds
  • Engineer's Toolbox: Reverse-engineering cupcake icer
  • Mini flush-mount switches are sleek alternative
  • Advantages of copper foam
  • World's first single-chip motor controller
  • Turbomachinery design, the easy way
  • Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
    • 3D Printing: World's largest 3D-printed wrench
    • Reverse-engineer an impeller
  • Most Popular Last Issue
    • Wheels: Police cars of the future
    • Engineer's Toolbox: Huge coupling repair
    • Navy looks at rotating detonation engines
  • New Products
    • Electrical, Mechanical, Motion, Special: Software
    Cover Image: Carnegie Mellon researchers develop robotic paint strippers

News

Inspired by squirrel behavior, deceptive robots aim to psych out the enemy

Ford and U-M researchers team up to fight microbes in new cars and trucks

'Vortex surfing' could prove revolutionary for long-haul U.S. Air Force fliers

Maple helps engineers design propulsion systems for world's biggest ships



Image - Humanoid joints simplify robot design
Humanoid joints simplify robot design
igus has applied its plastics expertise to develop multiple-axis robot joints. No more sourcing complex custom solutions -- robolink® is a simple, easy-to-use system. The corrosion-resistant joints are controlled by cable tension -- just as the human body guides bones and tendons. Data cables are routed through the jointed arms, which act as the robot's skeleton. These same cables convey images, acoustics and forces -- the artificial senses of humanoid robots.

Find out more.


Feature articles

Image - Robotic laser system strips paint from aircraft
Robotic laser system strips paint from aircraft
A new autonomous robotic system uses high-powered lasers to remove coatings from fighter aircraft and can detect, classify, and record the condition of the aircraft surfaces as stripping proceeds.
Read the full article.
Vacuum brazing: A way to manufacture heat exchangers for the 21st century
Vacuum brazing is an attractive manufacturing method to produce lightweight and reliable assemblies and thermal products, such as heat exchangers and liquid cold plates. Learn all about the benefits of this joining technology.
Read the full article.

Image - World's smallest chain robot has Swiss-army-knife qualities
World's smallest chain robot has Swiss-army-knife qualities
The little device called a milli-motein may be a harbinger of future bots that can fold themselves into almost any shape imaginable.
Read the full article.

Image - Wheels (and wings):<br>Engineers investigate rotor landing technology for space capsules
Wheels (and wings):
Engineers investigate rotor landing technology for space capsules

A team of researchers recently brought a pair of scale-model space capsules to the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to try out a rotor system that could be used in place of parachutes on returning spacecraft.
Read the full article.

Image - Mike Likes: <br>Bond metals and plastics in seconds
Mike Likes:
Bond metals and plastics in seconds

Ultra Light-Weld 3013 from Dymax is a resilient, low-viscosity, moisture-resistant adhesive designed for rapid bonding to a wide variety of plastic and metal substrates. This solvent-free, worker-friendly product forms high-strength, environmentally resistant bonds for appliance assembly, bond joint and sealing, plastic window bonding, and plastic assembly. It fluoresces blue under low-intensity "black light," allowing for in-line quality control using optical scanners. Cures in seconds when exposed to ultraviolet and visible light -- even through UV-blocked plastics.
Click here to learn more.
Engineer's Toolbox:
Reverse-engineering cupcake icing tool spells sweet success

Sometimes productivity gains lurk in unexpected places. That was the case recently when 3-Dimensional Services Group found a way to dramatically increase uptime while improving quality and decreasing costs for Freed's Bakery with one elegant and innovative new design.
Read the full article.

Image - Mini flush-mount switches are sleek alternative
Mini flush-mount switches are sleek alternative
With a choice of metal or plastic bezels and various sizes (8 mm to 30 mm), contact ratings, and mounting options, IDEC LB switches add style and safety to any application. These switches project only 2 mm when mounted on a panel and are perfect for applications requiring a smooth, clean surface appearance. IDEC switches have a powerful 5-A operating current plus an available 3PDT contact configuration for more flexibility within a small package.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Discover the design and functional advantages of copper foam
Discover the design and functional advantages of copper foam
Copper foam, now available 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. The matrix of cells and ligaments is completely repeatable, regular, and uniform throughout the material. Characteristics of copper foam include: optimal heat transfer, high strength-to-weight and surface-area-to-volume ratio, controlled stress-strain characteristics, isotropic load response, and can be brazed, coated, and plated.
Click here to learn more.

Image - World's first single-chip motor controller
World's first single-chip motor controller
Precision movement and positioning systems can be quieter, smaller, lighter, simpler, and more efficient using the advanced single-chip digital motion controllers unveiled in November by STMicroelectronics. cSPIN controllers can be designed into precision machines such as robotic systems, industrial automation, and general positioning and rotation equipment. The small size and low weight of the cSPIN solution enables lower-cost and more responsive equipment. cSPIN also allows precise control over rotation speed, which is particularly important for many applications.
Click here to learn more.

Image - Turbomachinery design, the easy way
Turbomachinery design, the easy way
TURBOdesign Suite v. 5.2 is a unique aerodynamic and hydrodynamic 3D design software package that allows users to design, analyze, and optimize all types of turbomachinery, such as axial, mixed-flow, or centrifugal pumps, compressors, fans, turbines, and torque converters. Using the software, designers evaluate turbomachinery package size and performance predictions, perform detailed 3D blade design with 3D inverse design capabilities, analyze flow information per component, stage performances with turbomachinery-specific 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and automate exploration of the design space with automatic optimization capabilities.
Click here to learn more.

Most popular last issue

Image - Wheels: <br>Police cars of the future showcased at L.A. Auto Show
Wheels:
Police cars of the future showcased at L.A. Auto Show

The future of law enforcement vehicle design was on display at the L.A. Auto Show this week (Nov. 30 - Dec. 9) in the form of the show's ninth Design Challenge competition. "Highway Patrol Vehicle 2025" was the theme this year, and way-out-there concepts were the norm.
Read the full article.

Image - Engineer's Toolbox: <br>Clever engineering repairs huge, wrecked steel mill coupling
Engineer's Toolbox:
Clever engineering repairs huge, wrecked steel mill coupling

When the bore on the rigid half of a high-torque steel mill coupling was badly galled during a maintenance teardown, the East Chicago, IN, mill put the damaged part in the plant's bone yard. But some clever engineering eventually repaired the part that would have cost $112,000 to replace.
Read the full article.
Navy researchers look to rotating detonation engines to power the future
With its strong dependence on gas-turbine engines for propulsion, the U.S. Navy is always looking for ways to improve fuel consumption.
Read the full article.

Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action
3D Printing: World's largest 3D-printed wrench
Looking to fabricate your own 1:1-scale, really large prototype parts? Objet has you covered. Unveiled at Euromold early this month, the company's new Objet1000 system features a climb-aboard-size build tray (39.3 in. x 31.4 in. x 19.6 in.) and is able to print up to 14 different material properties within a single model. Wow. Fourteen in one model! It can also handle big jobs that you could only dream about in the past, like the world's largest 3D-printed wrench, which Objet's Sam Green says took a few days to print.
View the video.

Video Image
Reverse-engineer an impeller using Rapidform XOR
See how Rapidform XOR creates CAD models from 3D scan data. This short intro shows how you can convert a 3D scan of an impeller into a parametric CAD model, which is then transferred into CAD software as a native, editable model. Built-in wizards and a magic-wand tool make precise reverse-engineering from a scanned model a snap.
View the video.

Video Image

New products

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