| October 22, 2019 | Volume 15 Issue 40 |
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 | Save Integration Time and Simplify Deployment with OnRobot's One-System Solution
OnRobot is the one-stop shop for light industrial collaborative automation. Its product range features an array of robot equipment: electric grippers, force/torque sensors, gecko grippers, and tool changers. This combination of offerings makes it easier to automate tasks such as machine operation, assembly, welding, quality control, materials handling, and more.
OnRobot continues to simplify automation, enabling fast and cost-effective robotic deployment. All OnRobot tools now have a unified mechanical and communications interface. This new one-system solution makes a full range of tools and robot compatibility with a single platform for programming and training easily accessible. With OnRobot, manufacturers can get all the End-of-Arm-Tooling (EoAT) they need to get productive quickly and cost-effectively -- in one place.
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 | Best-kept secret in the circuit breaker industry
When STELPRO, a Quebec-based manufacturer of integrated heating solutions for the HVAC industry, asked partners all along its supply chain to identify cost-saving opportunities, installing NOARK miniature circuit breakers in panels on all their equipment was one solution that provided long-term quality and savings (typically 30 to 50 percent in price). NOARK's five-year warranty was a huge added bonus.
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 | Pirates of the Caribbean and the metric system in the United States
To save his own life, Joseph Dombey had an idea. As two pirate ships surrounded the ship he was on in the Caribbean Sea in 1794, he appropriated the outfit of one of the ship's many Spanish sailors and prayed. Dombey's fate that day arguably delayed the adoption of the metric system in the United States by almost a century and left us as one of the few countries in the world still using non-metric units for our everyday measurements. By Keith Martin, NIST
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 | Researchers invent world's strongest silver
A team of scientists from U.S. university and national labs has made the strongest silver ever -- 42 percent stronger than the previous world record. But that's not the most important point. Their fundamental breakthrough promises a new category of materials that can overcome a traditional tradeoff in industrial and commercial materials between strength and ability to carry electrical current.
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 | Top Product: Linear motion guide with built-in encoder
New from THK, the Type SHS-LE integrates the global standard THK Type SHS LM Guide with a THK linear encoder (linear position sensor). This combined model allows for compact machine designs that require less assembly time. THK's Type SHS Caged Ball LM Guide performs with high speed and precision. Each row of balls is arranged at a contact angle of 45°, enabling the SHS to be used in all directions. Its patented THK Caged Technology employs a synthetic resin cage with a patented curvature that cradles each ball and separates it from the next. The spaces between the rolling elements retain grease and act as a lubrication system for long-term, maintenance-free operation. Other benefits include increased speed and accuracy, decreased noise levels, low dust generation, and long life.
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 | Hard Materials: Designer's guide to technical ceramics
Modern technical ceramics offer amazing material properties and features when compared to conventional steels, plastics, or other non-ferrous materials. Ceramics typically offer very high hardness, wear resistance, compression strength, and electrical resistance -- as well as minimal susceptibility to acids or caustics. But there are many challenges when working with these materials, like tolerance considerations, shrinkage, finishing, and costs. Engineers at hard-materials specialist Insaco run through the basics.
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 | New PLC handbook chock full of must-know information
AutomationDirect's Practical Guide to Programmable Logic Controllers Handbook has been improved with tons of new need-to-know info, making it a more comprehensive guide to the world of PLCs. Besides covering the basics of PLC history, PLC hardware, and PLC software, this guide takes you deeper into the ever-changing world of PLC communication, the importance of feedback loops, cyber security, and many other areas that are a must-know for any PLC novice or seasoned automation professional.
Get this great resource today. |
 | Specialty hinges expand design possibilities for opening and closing
You might think that when it comes to opening and closing, all the possibilities of hinges have already been exhausted. Not even close. From the simplest designs to multi-joint hinges with complex kinematics, the Winco selection has everything needed for superior door and flap solutions -- including extra functions. Examples include hinges with 180° range of motion for heavy-duty applications, multiple-joint hinges, hinges with variable friction, locking and adjustable hinges, and units with an integrated spring that ensures independent return of the hinge. Huge selection available.
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 | Speed up design of bearing arrangements
Designers can now design complex bearing arrangements more quickly and easily, thanks to simplified software called SimPro Quick. This in-house software from SKF has the same core as more advanced products such as SimPro Expert and SimPro Spindle -- and retains many of their advanced features -- but is far easier to use. SimPro Quick is a single-shaft bearing simulation tool that was developed to quickly evaluate the design of bearing arrangements and their field performance based on relevant application requirements and conditions. This software also ties in with SKF's new online Roller Bearing Catalog, which is a live database of products.
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 | Cool Tools: Videoscopes with tons of options
A new line of industrial videoscopes from Titian Tool Supply features interchangeable video probes that allow for the use of different insertion tube lengths and diameters with one video unit. There are 5 different models with 3 diameter sizes and 3 lengths available. TVG-PRO Series videoscopes feature a 5-in. LCD monitor and have either 180° or full 360° articulation. They are designed for on-site inspections and maintenance on a wide range of transportation equipment, including aviation, locomotive, and gas and diesel engines; machinery, manufacturing, and metalworking, including inspections of castings and cavities; pipeline and container manufacturing; as well as power generation.
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 | Multi-axis gimbal system for defense
Cobham Advanced Electronic Solutions has just introduced a new multi-axis gimbal system for military applications such as counter unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and air defense operations that offers a great combination of reliability, precision, and affordability. The SPS-1000 is a next-gen sensor positioning system (SPS) that accurately acquires, tracks, and points a variety of sensor payloads in harsh land, sea, and airborne environments. Two key benefits of the modular design approach are integral field-replaceable control electronics (which eliminates all external cables without any sacrifice in performance) and a reconfigurable design allowing for utmost payload flexibility.
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| | Most popular last issue |
 | Skunk Works begins assembling NASA supersonic plane
In the high desert of California, where some of the most important aircraft in aviation history have been built and flown, the next airplane destined to take its place among those aeronautical icons -- NASA's X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology -- starts to take shape on a legendary factory floor.
Read the full article. |
 | Chevy lifts lid on first-ever Corvette hard-top convertible
When the Corvette debuted in 1953, it was available only as a convertible. But that was a traditional soft top, and wow how times have changed. Chevrolet has just unveiled the line's first-ever hard top, which caps a totally redesigned Stingray full of firsts, including the first mid-engine car for the brand. It took special engineering to accommodate the new retractable top into such a tight design.
Read the full article. |
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| | Videos+: Technologies and inspiration in action | Electric actuator synchronization keeps platform company rising
Spika Design and Manufacturing is a Montana-based provider of commercial and custom industrial work platforms suitable for a wide variety of assembly and maintenance operations. See how the synchronization feature available with Thomson Industries' Electrak HD electromechanical linear actuators helped Spika address growing customer demand. Prior to adopting electromechanical actuators, height variability for Spika's work platforms relied on manual screw jacks and hydraulics, which carried many drawbacks. With Thomson's synchronization feature, the speed of actuation remains constant -- even in the presence of uneven loads on the actuator. This was particularly important in applications where different actuators in sync on the same platform experience different types of loads such as small or large, compression or tension, while still delivering stable movement.
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Tiltrotor aircraft: Army pushes for higher speeds
The U.S. Army is developing a new wind-tunnel testbed that will help future tiltrotor aircraft attain higher speeds, improved stability, and enhanced safety. At a massive wind tunnel at NASA Langley Research Center, Army researchers are readying a unique tiltrotor model to support analysis and design of advanced tiltrotor aircraft, a possible key to achieving Army modernization goals for Future Vertical Lift. The wind tunnel lets researchers push the envelope in dynamic testing by producing winds of Mach 1.2, or 1.2 times the speed of sound.
View the video. |
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