TechArchive

Original article date: February 2000 Are you considering using robotics for the first time, but don’t know where to start? Tommy Miller suggests one possibility: Edubot Taking the first steps towards using robotics can be a very daunting prospect for many people. The fear of the unknown, along with the possibility of spending thousands of [...]

Original article date: October 1999 The Government’s Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme says that tagging saves money. Tommy Miller reports on how it can Essentially, the tagging of products can reduce waste for companies through automation, distribution, production/product quality, recycling/ disposal, security and warehousing. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that tagging is now becoming more [...]

This article was originally written in the period 1995-2000 How much torque should be put into a joint? This value is often not defined, so a design engineer often has to base the value on experience and values which the fastener manufacturer may recommend. It is also possible to establish the approximate optimum torque by [...]

Original article date: June 2000 Keeping the weight down has long been a recipe for success for Lotus. On two new models the company is taking advantage of bonded aluminium space frames Lotus, the legendary sports car manufacturer, is building on the successful Elise model. Three new models incorporating a bonded aluminium space frame chassis [...]

Original article date: January 1998 Today, for the first time, anyone with an Internet connection can access details of over three million patents. Derwent Information, the international provider of patent information has launched Patent Explorer. This innovative new product, developed in co-operation with Microsoft, is the first Internet service to provide both full text searching [...]

Original article date: September 1998 MTE Turck has introduced the R55 colour mark sensor for print verification label detection and web cutoff registration. The Banner R55 colour mark sensor operating at extraordinary speeds of up to 10 000 operations per second is designed for printing presses and all types of labelling and sensing registration marks [...]

Original article date: January 2000 Alan Quinn reviews Flender Power Transmission’s new technical handbook. Will it become an industry benchmark? Covering a wide variety of calculations and useful data through 12 sections running over 150 detailed pages, the Flender Power Transmission technical handbook has a place on any design engineer’s bookshelf. The pages cover almost [...]

Original article date: February 2000 Audi is now well placed to record real-time corrosion effects, thanks to Weiss Technik’s all-plastic environmental testing chamber Asked by Audi to build an all-plastic corrosion test chamber, Weiss Technik’s construction is a two-chamber facility which can record corrosion patterns of car suspensions under mechanical stress (with temperature, torsion, vibration [...]

Original article date: November 1999 Advertising feature: The speed of a Festo Premier Stockist’s new cylinder delivery service is going to cause shock waves. Festo Premier Stockists exclusively offer a SURCHARGE FREE same day and next day emergency breakdown manufacture service on ISO and VDMA cylinders on any stroke length from 8mm to 125mm bore. [...]

Original article date: September 1998 An innovative approach to sealing or potting electromechanical components comes from US company Multi-Seals – solid pre-forms that melt when heated to form a seal Precision epoxy preforms are one-part resins that offer a no mix no mess solution to the problem of sealing and potting small parts such as [...]