Few materials influence our daily lives more than plastic. As consumers, we don't often stop to think about how a huge percent of the objects we use are made from plastic. In my office alone I count 32 individual plastic objects - and that's not counting my pencils, pens and binders. Plastic manufacturers, however, must be acutely aware of the vast range of plastic materials and applications, as they are constantly designing and fine tuning new products with specific shape, strength, transparency and chemical properties. With the countless number of products - from disposable packaging to critical automotive parts - that can be made from plastic, it's no wonder there are such a wide range of plastic materials, all with a very distinct set of properties. Understanding the difference between, say, polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride is crucial for engineering products that will withstand their environments. Acrylic could never provide the strength and structural support of PVC, but polyvinyl chloride would be a clumsy and unattractive replacement to acrylic point of purchase displays. Let's take a look at the most important polymer types and their properties. [Continue Reading Article]

Proper brush selection allows manufacturers to reduce cycle time, automate intricate surface finishing operations and deliver consistent quality Small parts requiring deburring, edge blending or other surface finishing operations can present particular production challenges to manufacturers. Often production is taken off-stream where hand-held tools are necessary to perform the intricate secondary finishing operations many of these components require. This action frequently results in reduced productivity and inconsistent product quality. Even in instances where the process is fully automated, specifying the appropriate finishing brush for the application plays an integral role in improving the tool’s overall performance and life span. A miniature deburring brush can solve both the productivity and quality challenges involved when manufacturing parts of various small sizes, contours and materials. These tools are generally best suited to address tight tolerances, edge blending, deburring and other finishing requirements that have a direct impact on overall functionality. [Continue Reading Article]

For the last several months, we’ve been slowly but steadily fostering a “Green Ideas for Industry” category here on the IQS Newsroom. Not only do we want to keep track of some of the vital shifts the US manufacturing industry is making towards sustainable production, but we would also like to extend kudos to the companies listed on our directory who are making that shift possible. Many of our advertisers have been making strides in sustainable manufacturing, recycling and environmentally responsible construction despite economic difficulties and an overall resistance to change within the industry. Today we’re going to take a look at Ohio Gratings’ environmentally friendly grating products – and how you can earn LEED points by building with them. [Continue Reading Article]

As industrial manufacturing standards evolve, tried-and-true mass finishing processes must keep in lockstep with end-user demands. Mass media finishing processes have gained widespread acceptance in many industries, primarily as a technology for reducing the costs of producing edge and surface finishes. This is particularly true when manual deburring and finishing procedures can be minimized or eliminated. There are a number of different mass finishing processes in common use throughout industry. Among these are barrel, centrifugal, vibratory, and spindle finishing. Vibratory systems have become the predominant method due to advantages inherent to the method in terms of ease of use, automation, and material handling. When first developed in the 1950s, these systems were typically modest in size, and were used for deburring and finish processing of smaller components. Being able to process larger batch lots of modestly sized parts was important to competitiveness. [Continue Reading Article]

Architects and building contractors are often faced with many challenging decisions when choosing the right materials for a job. Different types of metals, materials and fabrication methods affect the performance of a structure or facility hugely, and structural sheet metal is no exception. While perforated metals and expanded metals are similar and have some overlapping applications, engineers understand that their capabilities are very different. Not only are perforated and expanded metals separated by their application industries, but by their fabrication methods and cost as well. Perforated metal seems to be the industry standard for architectural applications such as building facades, fences and partitions. Because perforated metals are punched and cut, dies can be designed to cut patterned shapes into sheet metal for a variety of purposes, both decorative and functional. The shape of metal perforations can determine a material's usefulness for blocking microwaves, sound waves or light; perforated metals are used in all these industries. Next time you warm up some leftovers, take a look at your microwave door. See that filter in the glass? That's a piece of perforated metal blocking microwaves from coming through the door. [Continue Reading Article]

Delivering saline solution to a clinic for medical needs … sounds simple enough, right? Not when that clinic is on the International Space Station, the moon or even Mars. Transporting medical fluids that are manufactured on Earth into space is expensive and logistically challenging. NASA Johnson Space Center knew there had to be a way to manufacture medical fluids in space to alleviate the transportation problems and to make spacecraft more self sufficient, so they called on the microgravity science expertise and spaceflight hardware development know-how of Cleveland, OH based NASA Glenn Research Center and ZIN Technologies, Inc. ZIN Technologies engaged Brooks Instrument to help solve this unique flow challenge. V-F Controls, Brooks Instrument’s sales representative in Mentor, OH, recommended the Quantim Coriolis mass flow controller. This device would be ideal to measure the water flow through a purification system to a standard IV bag that was prefilled with salt crystals and a magnetic lab stirrer. [Continue Reading Article]

Piqua, OH – July 15, 2009 – Hartzell Fan, a leading manufacturer of industrial air moving equipment, has launched an e-commerce website featuring a select group of general ventilation fans from their HRS stock program. The FansInStock website allows a customer to receive a customized quote for the products they select and the ability to purchase these products online all within a very short period of time. Go to www.FansInStock.com to review product availability or select the “Links” navigation to find your local sales rep to receive more information. You can also contact Hartzell Fan at 800-336-3267 for more information. [Continue Reading Article]

Vibratory bowl feeders are considered the oldest yet still most used automated industrial parts feeding solution. The basic design of the machine is a feeder bowl configured with a spiral track and equipped with a vibrating drive unit. As parts are fed into the bowl, the vibrating motion facilitates the sorting. Parts are vibrated onto the track and only correctly oriented ones leave the bowl. The track is designed to ensure consistent, repeatable positions, according to specified requirements. Incorrectly positioned parts are pushed back into the bowl to be redistributed. Vibratory bowls are great solutions for small parts handling. For example, washers, being small in diameter and quite thin, could have a tendency to overlap on top of each other. Not with the right vibratory feeder! The specially configured track will feed in a single row every time. There is no double-feeding because the parts that try to override others are pushed back into the bowl. [Continue Reading Article]

Environmentalists have raised concerns over the short lifespan of wooden pallets, noting that wood is perhaps TOO convenient for manufacturers and distributors to use, as many wooden pallets only make 5 trips before being reprocessed, recycled or, most commonly, tossed in a landfill. Manufacturers and distributors can afford wooden pallets’ short lifespan because the material is so inexpensive. Enter plastic pallets. Costing several times as much per unit as wooden pallets, plastic pallets offer several advantages over their organic counterparts, including longer lifespan, sanitation and recyclability. Let’s take a comparative look at wooden and plastic pallets’ performance. [Continue Reading Article]

Compact DC-DC converters have made their way into millions of electronic products and systems. The vast majority of these depend upon an AC-DC power supply (metal box or chassis-mount) to convert the AC into a DC voltage from which the converters can operate. In addition, regulations have mandated that these power supplies include Power Factor & Harmonic Correction (PFHC) to maximize the available power from the power grid. Add to this the need to be as small as possible and to operate with in harsh ambient temperatures and the designer is faced with a problem that is not easily solved. [Continue Reading Article]

Montreal, Quebec, July 2, 2009 - Proceco is pleased to announce the acquisition of all blasting technologies previously owned by Metal Processing Technologies Inc. (MP Tech) of Cambridge, Ontario. On June 11th 2009, Proceco Ltd. acquired certain assets from Deloitte & Touche Inc., the Receiver and Trustee in Bankruptcy of MP Tech Inc. These assets included patents, engineering data and process test equipment. Proceco will apply its know-how in application and design engineering, project management and quality manufacturing to further develop the patented Slurry Blast Technology, thereby expanding its parts cleaning and surface treatment offerings to its global customer base. The patented Slurry Blast Process is the ultimate metal component surface finishing process designed to degrease, blast clean, surface profile, shot peen and rust inhibit in one footprint. [Continue Reading Article]

This white paper presents the operational characteristics of infra-red heaters. Data presented represents an in-depth analysis of industry practices and theoretical principals. Introduction Infrared energy is a unique and efficient means of heating. It combines the benefits of low cost operation, silent performance, and environmentally friendly emissions in a variety of applications. Utilizing the same principles as the sun, infrared warms people, structures and flooring to provide comfortable heat where needed, replacing the more traditional forced air heaters that generate hot drafty blasts of air. This efficient heat source is often advantageous for use in difficult-to-heat applications with high air infiltration. [Continue Reading Article]