Auxiliary Equipment (March 01, 2007)

Enhanced material testing system

Instron Corporation has updated its 5800 Series materials testing package to better evaluate mechanical properties of materials and components.

Configurable with 32-bit LabVIEW software drivers, the 5800 system allows the user to develop complex testing sequences beyond the scope of standard software packages. Enhancements include a faster setup time and response to test control events.

Additionally, users can select Bluehill software for static and cyclic tests, and FastTrack software for complex sequence loading applications.

Load frame capacities are available from 500 N to 600 N, while specialty load frames, such as the 5848 micro tester, provide nanometer range motion control for microelectronics, nanomaterials and biomedical applications.

Instron Canada Inc. (Burlington, Ont.);

www.instron.com; 800-461-9123

Automatic contact marking system eliminates ink handling

The new TiteSpot automatic marking system from Dell Marking Systems Inc. comes equipped with replaceable, reloadable and disposable marker cartridges in an air operated spring assembly that eliminates handling inks or refills.

At a length of just five inches, a TiteSpot assembly can be mounted virtually anywhere, in any position, and the cycle time is adjustable up to 25 milliseconds per spot.

No skilled trades or tools are required to replace the empty, disposable cartridge, and a new cartridge can be installed in seconds.

Cartridges come in standard size of 0.65 ml., and are available in “six-pack” cartons. Standard colours are yellow, red, green, blue and white. Custom colours are also available.

Dell Marking Systems Inc. (Ferndale, Mich.);

www.dellid.com; 248-547-7750

Custom designed spin trimmer

Heins PCM Machinery Ltd. has custom designed a spin trimmer for a customer in Japan to handle a new approach to packaging.

In order to produce a small, round container with a lid, the customer wanted to blow mold the top and the bottom of the container in a single shot; each container coming out of the blow molding machine has a top and a bottom, connected to each other by a blow dome.

The job for Heins was to design a spin trimmer that would remove the blow dome. The trimmer has guides and separate exit points for each of the parts that are trimmed. The container tops and bottoms continue to the next downstream process, and the blow domes are shunted into a recycling system.

Heins PCM Machinery Ltd. (Brampton, Ont.);

www.heinspcm.com; 905-793-8088

Precision grippers easily mounted to automation products

The new DPP Series of parallel grippers from De-Sta-Co Robohand are designed to integrate with Directconnect technology, and mount easily to other modular automation products without the use of adaptor plates.

Featuring a standard purge/scavenge port, the grippers use roller bearings to provide low friction and high repeatability, and allow for the implementation of longer gripper finger lengths.

Additionally, a shielded design repels contamination. And through a non-synchronous motion option, the DPP parallel grippers offer independent jaw motion that enables picking and placing at a point other than the gripper’s center.

De-Sta-Co Robohand (Auburn Hills, Mich.); www.destaco.com; 800-682-9686

Geo.T. White Co. Ltd. (Windsor, Ont.); www.geotwhite.com; 800-263-5211

CPI Automation (Mississauga, Ont.); www.cpiautomation.com; 905-625-4805

Wainbee Ltd. (Point Claire, Que.); www.wainbee.com; 514-697-8810

RFID-coded couplings eliminate resin selection errors

Nucon Wittmann has introduced a new, more user friendly coupling station with contact free coding via RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). A coded coupling station for the secure distribution of material is almost a standard nowadays for any central drying and material handling system. Another plus of the new coupling station, resulting in lower installation costs at the customer’s site, is that the wiring and the configuration of the coupling station can be completely prepared prior to shipment because the lengths of all cables are predetermined

The use of coded coupling stations prevents resin selection errors. For Nucon Wittmann, such central distribution systems are monitored and co-ordinated through their M7.2 network control system. This avoids the conveying of material to the wrong processing machine because of an erroneous user connection. The M7.2 network control system gives the user precise instructions on how to connect the couplings with immediate electrical verification and therefore avoidance of common user mistakes.

The coding is accomplished via a signal exchange between the RFID reader and the tags containing the uniform identifier.

Nucon Wittmann, Inc. (Markham, Ont.);

www.nucon-wittmann.com; 888-466-8266