The Innalytical Thinker

Due to time constraints and the number of readers of my other blog I have decided to consolidate my efforts and make all new posts on my other blog page - http://blog.machinedocs.com/

Thanks for your understanding

I’m proud to announce that Innalytical Solutions is celebrating it’s seventh year in full-time operation this week.  My how time flies by. 

Thanks to all our customers who have provided some very interesting projects over that these last seven years.

Assembly magazine published a good article on troubleshooting vision systems in its latest edition.  Click here to view the article.  (The full link is http://www.assemblymag.com/Articles/Feature_Article/BNP_GUID_9-5-2006_A_10000000000000963495)

If you deal with vision systems I’m sure this article will be useful.

I have quite a bit of experience with linear servo systems (see my IntelliMove pick and place here or an assembly machine example here) so an article on linear motor always catches my attention.  Design News magazine just published a good article about linear servo motors that you may enjoy - you can see it here: http://www.designnews.com/article/511827-Linear_Motor_Benefits_in_Systems_Design.php

From personal, painful experience I can tell you that a little detail that is easy to overlook but can bring a system to its knees it the cable management.  Because of the high speeds and high number of cycles you can’t afford to overlook the cable management.  You also have to be sure that all your components are rated for the high speeds attainable with linear servos (i.e. bearings and encoders).

With that said I think linear servo motors are extremely useful and should not scare people.  They are a great tool.

It has been way to long.  I apologize to anyone that may actually be following my posts.

I came across an article about a good design for a lifting platform.  It was worth filing away for future reference and I hope someone might be able to make use of the idea.

The link is http://motionsystemdesign.com/mechanical-pt/chains-for-lifting-1210/index.html

I know it’s been a LONG time since my last post - I apologize.  Fortunately this is due to the large amount of work we are doing.  Anyway…

If you have anything to do with designing or troubleshooting machinery with hydraulics you will be interested in this article published in Machine Design Magazine.  The proper selection of hydraulic tubing can actually have a major affect on the performance of your hydraulic actuation.

http://machinedesign.com/article/sizing-tubes-to-maximize-hydraulic-efficiency-0520

I know that this is pretty technical stuff but if you design machinery and occasionally use linear position sensors you might want to check out a recent article in Design World about Magnetostrictive Linear Position Sensors.

http://www.designworldonline.com/articles/5109/221/Sizing-and-Applying-Magnetostrictive-Linear-Position-Sensors.aspx

 Machine Design recently ran an interesting article about the development of the aluminum can.  Obviously it’s something that we take for granted but a lot of engineering and innovation went into this highly developed product.

http://machinedesign.com/article/aluminum-cans-a-lesson-in-product-development-1209

I saw this good article about couplings in Motion System Design Magazine.  It’s worth a look if you design machines with couplings - and most machines use a coupling somewhere.  (There is a short ad screen you have to wait through before it takes you to the article - sorry.)

http://motionsystemdesign.com/mechanical-pt/top-ten-tips-coupling-20091201/

I’ve found a site with some very good suggestions on ways to reduce the cost of machined parts.  It’s definitely worth taking a look at if you design manufactured components.

The site is http://procnc.com/resources/newsletters

I hope you find the tips worthwhile.   If you disagree with the tips, or have some of your own tips, please post them.  I would love to discuss these cost saving ideas.