Machine design, tập 84, số 09, 2012

June 14, 2012
A Penton Media Publication
Tune in to EngineeringTV.com

“Looks good!”

Amateurs chase
rocket prize,page 54

THE CHANGING
DYNAMICS OF LED
FABRICATION,
page 62
U. S.
MANUFACTURING
STRENGTHS,
page 68
PRECISION
PARTS WITH
HYDROFORMING,
page 76
VARIABLESPEED
PUMPS MAKE
HYDRAULICS
ENERGY EFFICIENT,
page 82


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Monitor and control your Wafer FAB, MEMS, Micro Electronics, Semiconductor
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RS# 102


VOLUME 84
ISSUE 9
JUNE 14, 2012

REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
Authored by:

Eventually ordinary
Earthlings may be able to
access spacecraft from a
browser screen.

Internet
in

Space?
U.S. citizens tend to think of NASA when
the topic turns to space exploration. But the
European Space Agency (ESA), established

in 1975 to combine the efforts of 19 European
nations, has its own ideas for advancing space
technology. Among the most interesting efforts
with which ESA is involved is one aimed at
extending Internet connections to spacecraft.
Though its annual budget is about $5.2 billion
compared to NASA’s $18 billion, ESA is making
important strides in fundamental space research.

FEATURES

54

Nanosats to test software

From Engineer to Rocketman
A trained mechanical engineer who
seriously dabbled in rocketry as a
hobbyist builds a rocket that climbs
to over 100,000 ft.

Engineers and technicians at ESA today control satellites and space experiments using Packet Utilisation Standards, a software suite that dates to 1994. There have been
upgrades since then, but the stumbling block to moving
to newer software is that space scientists and the organizations that fund them must ensure the software, including operating systems, languages, and interfaces, is fit for
space.
“No one wants to use new and possibly problematic
software on a multimillion-euro mission in space,” says
Mario Merri, head of the Mission Data Systems Div. at
ESA operations center.
Unfortunately, the only real way to prove software is fit

is to take it into space and run it through its paces.
To lower the cost of validating software, and to ensure no missions are endangered, ESA researchers developed Operations Satellites, dubbed Op-Sats. The 30 × 10
× 10-cm satellites’ mission is to test and validate critical
onboard and ground software. The spacecraft is outfitted
with off-the-shelf processors that have more computing
power than a satellite usually carries. It is also designed
to recover easily and quickly from “buggy” software. Researchers on Earth can replace the entire onboard software
suite with new and fresh code daily, letting developers
troubleshoot their work in a real but safe environment.
The first Op-Sats could launch next year.

Spinning an interplanetary Web
People increasingly take reliable and fast Internet access for granted. Now space scientists want to extend the
same simplicity and reliability of the Web to astronauts on
the Moon or Mars. The first goal will be to let astronauts
communicate among themsleves, with control centers on
20

MACHINE DESIGN.com

Op-Sats, here shown in
an artist’s conception,
are simple spacecraft
designed solely to test
software. They will have
a volume of about three
liters but will carry offthe-shelf components
such as three-axis
attitude control systems,
deployable fixed solar

arrays, GPS receivers,
and UHF communication
systems. It will also
have state-of-the-art
components such as
S-band communications with an uplink rate four times greater
than any other ESA spacecraft and a miniaturized X-band
transcmitter providing up to 50 Mbps downlink. These rates are
up to several hundreds times better than any other satellite flown
before.

Earth, and with space ships and bases. But who knows;
someday top level Internet domains may include such
names as .moon, .mars, or .sstation.
To this end, ESA, NASA, and other major space organizations and industrial partners have been working
together as part of the Consultative Committee for Space
Data Systems. They have developed standards for hardware and data exchange that should pay off even in the
short term for commercial space-flight businesses, satellite
manufacturers, and space agencies.
Satellites have already been used for links between
Earth and mission spacecraft. In 2008, for example, ESA’s
Mars Express acted as a data-relay node between NASA
technicians on Earth and their Phoenix Lander during decent and landing on Mars, It will repeat that task in August
this year with NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory.
And last December, ESA’s worldwide tracking station
network handled contact between Russian controllers
and that country’s Phobos-Grunt mission to Mars. Then,
in October of this year, an astronaut on the International
Space Station will practice at remotely controlling a planetary rover at ESA’s operations center, simulating orbiterrover communication links on a planet like Mars.
“Establishing technical standards and communication architectures isn’t the most high-profile part of space

exploration, but it’s absolutely vital for ensuring that the
more-exciting efforts, like sending an astronaut to Mars,
will work when that time comes,” says Nestor Peccia, the

JUNE 14, 2012

Made in America?

76

Hydraulic controls
transform press technology

Unlike traditional constant-speed hydraulics,
variable-speed pump drives supply only the
power a process requires.

pressure data to the researchers
through the entire crash event.
The original ESA engineer
worked to convert the foil into a
strip of about 50 individual sensors, each about a square centimeter. At the end of each strip is
a flexible printed-circuit board
with a 50-channel amplifier.
When it is attached to a fender
or bumper, it lets test engineers
know how fast that metal is
bending, as well as whether it is
bending 20° in one direction or
60° in the other.

VW has now used the sensor in several crash tests and it
has contributed to changes that
make the cars safer, according to
VW managers.

person responsible for
ground software development at ESA’s German operations center.

Tech transfer for
piezo foil

Back in the early
1990s, a German engineer was developing
a new type of pressure
sensor that would coat
the wings of Hermes,
a reusable mannedshuttle that would be
launched into space The pressure senor used in VW crash tests is based on pressuresensitive piezo film and consists of 50 individual sensors, each 1
atop an Ariane 5 rocket sq cm, and a 50-channel amplifier, all flexibly printed on a thin
and then return to and bendable circuit board.
Earth on it own, much
like the Space Shuttle. The sensor had to be light and thin
so it would not add bulk or drag to the airfoil. The engiA Swarm heads for space
neer turned to piezoelectric foil to do the job. Like other
Three identical Swarm satellites will launch from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome next month on a four-year mispiezo materials, the thin foil (30-microns thick) converts
sion to explore the Earth’s magnetic field. This is the first
vibrations and pressures into electrical pulses that can be
measured and interpreted.
continued on page 22
The foil senors were successfully tested in a hypersonic wind tunnel, but the Hermes project was cancelled.

So over the years, ESA has been looking for civilian uses
Piezo material
for the piezo sensors. One of the earlier applications was
suspended in a
converting the foil to paint and putting it on a human mopaint was applied
lar. Scientists used this ”instrumented” tooth to measure
to a human molar
forces a toothbrush puts on teeth.
to let scientists
But just recently, Volkswagen saw the sensor demonmeasure the
strated at the Hannover Fair at a booth set up by ESA’s
force of a
toothbrush on a
Technology Transfer Programme Office. They quickly detooth.
cided to use the piezo sensors on crash-test vehicles. Traditional sensors do well at recording pressure up to the point
of impact, then they are too often destroyed in the crash.
The foil versions, however, survive the crash, sending

Leland Teschler
Editor

Resources:
Intel, www.intel.com
Semicon West and Intersolar 2012, http://
semiconwest.org/

Most light-emitting
diodes are made in Asia,
but future generations
of LED manufacturing

equipment could
still be marked
“Made in the U. S. A.”

Though the 300-mm wafer has become the industry standard,
chipmakers are transitioning to 450-mm versions, like this example
at Innolas Semiconductor GmbH, a maker of wafer-sorting and
laser-marking systems.

The bad news for makers of semiconductor-manufacturing equipment is that
sales of most kinds of fab gear are flat to
down. The good news is that the U. S.
could end up playing a bigger role supplying manufacturing equipment for the
emerging area of solid-state lighting.
“The U. S. Dept. of Energy used stimulus
funds to amplify the supply-chain strengths
of the U. S. The DOE recognized that the
U. S. would be an unlikely place for LED
fabs, so it tried to seed the development of
LED-manufacturing equipment here,” explains Tom Morrow, executive vice president, emerging markets group and chief
marketing officer for SEMI, the association

Will the U. S. be an

ASSEMBLY
LEDMECCA?
MACHINE DESIGN.com

JUNE 14, 2012

Will the U. S. be
an LED assembly
mecca?
Most light-emitting
diodes are made in Asia,
but future generations
of LED manufacturing
equipment could still
be marked “Made in the
U. S. A.”

62
Access our Reader Service
Web site to quickly find and
request information on the
products and services found
in the pages of MACHINE DESIGN.
www.machinedesign.com/rsc
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JUNE 14, 2012

21

Eventually ordinary earthlings may
be able to access spacecraft from a
browser screen.

Authored by:

62

2

MACHINE DESIGN.com

SEMICONDUCTORS

Hydraulic motion controllers
bring hydroforming presses into
the 21st century.

82

European Space Agency,
www.esa.int

EAAS used its
35-m-diameter deep-space
dish antenna in Spain to
relay transmission from a
Russian Mars mission to
controller in Russia.

Internet in space?

What it takes to competitively
manufacture in the U. S.

Energy-efficient

hydraulics slash machine
operating costs

Resources:

JUNE 14, 2012

20

68

Stephen J. Mraz
Senior Editor
stephen.mraz@penton.
com


P3-HSO
2-channel
High-speed Output

349

$

Pulse/Direction,
Quadrature X1
and Quadrature X4

P3-HSI

2-channel
High-speed Input

329

$

Pulse/Direction,
Step Up/Step Down
and Quadrature

With the Productivity3000
controller, you get the power you
need for advanced applications.
Start with the $599 CPU - 50Mb of memory supports
large programs, with tagname database and program
documentation stored onboard. The huge (100,000+)
I/O capacity gives you plenty of room to plan and
expand. And the CPU’s seven built-in communication
ports make integrating a large system easier than
you can imagine.
Now with High-speed Motion Control
These new 2-channel modules add high-speed and motion
control applications capability to the Productivity3000 controller,
and they’re easy to use! Add up to 22 P3-HSO or P3-HSI modules
in any combination to any P3-550 CPU and P3-RS base group.
That gives you up to 44 axes of motion or high-speed counting
capability in a single base group. These modules are supported
and fully functional in the CPU base, local and remote
expansion bases.

Simple Instructions
Our standard instructions were designed to make your
everyday motion applications simpler. The Find Home, Set
Position, Simple Move and the Velocity Move instructions
(to name a few) were created to get you up and running
sooner. Capabilities such as Registration, Jerk Control and
Channel Scaling were included to give you the flexibility
to accomplish those jobs.

Application Example
High-speed outputs synchronize
the speed of the servo drive
controlling the fill conveyor. The
conveyor is synchronized with the
rotational speed of the
turntable based on the
signal(s) from the table
encoder feedback via the
high-speed input module.

Drop-in Hardware Configuration

P3-HSO

A

Install a high-speed module into the system hardware
configuration and define each channel’s behavior, status bits,
limits and scaling … without the need for an external

configuration utility or software.

RS# 103

P3-HSI

/>
B
VELOCITY MOVE
Module Name: Feed Conveyor
Channel: 2 Channel Name: CHAN-2-0.1.1
Move Setup

Machine Process Start

Download the free
programming software
and check it out!

1
Enable

Direction Positive
Velocity Fill Index Speed
500
Ramp Rate Conveyor Ramp Rate
1000
Stop Setup
Immediate Stop

In Progress ConveyorMove In Progress
1
Complete Conveyor Move Complete
0
Move Status Conveyor Move Status
2


ON THE COVER
Derek Deville launches
one of his early rockets.

DEPARTMENTS

For customized article reprints and permissions
please contact: Penton Reprints, 1-888-858-8851,
e-mail at or visit
pentonreprints.com.

8 EDITORIAL
PowerPoint can kill

10 EDITORIAL STAFF
12 LETTERS
16 SCANNING FOR IDEAS
Air-powered grinder boasts high power-to-weight ratio
Ion cannon cleans as it shoots

20 REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK
40 LOOKING BACK

47 SENSOR SENSE
World’s biggest sensor: an ice cube?

48 COMMENTARY
Does model-based engineering make sense?

50 VANTAGE POINT
Benefits of a focused distributor’s program

52 INVENTOR’S CORNER
App helps kids fight leukemia

92 SOFTWARE REVIEW
Professional desktop 3D printer is easy to use

94 SOFTWARE PRODUCTS
96 PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT
Plastics & elastomers

98
122
124
125
126
127

4

PRODUCTS
DATA FILES

AD INDEX
BUSINESS INDEX
BUSINESS STAFF
BACKTALK

MACHINE DESIGN.com

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JUNE 14, 2012

POSTMASTER: Send change of address notice to
Customer Service, MACHINE DESIGN, P.O. Box 2100, Skokie,
IL 60076-7800.

How To Keep Your Electronics Cool

When hot weather causes the electronics inside a control cabinet to fail, there is a panic to get the machinery
up and running again. There are several cooling options out there and it’s important to know the facts.
line up of coolers that are prone to bad behavior
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:JHUMVY=PKLV

The “plastic box cooler” from a
competitor uses an inaccurate
mechanical thermostat that’s
designed for liquids. Th is
thermostat has a poor ability
to react quickly to changes in
air temperature.0[JVZ[Z\W
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EEXAIR
X
Cabinet Cooler ® Systems
EXAIR has a complete line of Cabinet Cooler Systems
EX
to d
dependably cool and purge your electrical enclosures..
They convert an ordinary supply of compressed air into
into
in
too
cll
cle
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kn
knockout and have no moving parts to wear out. The compressed air filtration
th
that
h is provided keeps water, oil and other contaminants out of the enclosure.

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‹‹(SS*HIPUL[*VVSLYZHYL<33PZ[LK[V<:HUK*HUHKPHUZHML[`Z[HUKHYKZ
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If you would like to discuss
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RS# 104


What’s new online machinedesign.com
FREE WEBCAST:
HOW PROPER HOSE MAINTENANCE CAN REDUCE EXPENSIVE FAILURES
Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 2:00 p. m. ET
High pressures and temperatures associated with hydraulics make
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efficiency. Hose-system failure can grind productivity to a halt, but some
straightforward steps can help prevent downtime or injury. This Webinar,
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CASINO GAMING EMBEDDED APPLICATIONS
Engineering TV talks with experts at AMD about the
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kiosks, and medical-imaging
displays. Learn more at http://www.
engineeringtv.com/video/CasinoGaming-and-Other-Embedde;OnlyEngineering-TV-Videos.

EDITOR’S WEB PICKS

Free data translation

6

Delcam’s online data-exchange
service, Delcam Exchange, which normally costs about $50 per model, will
be free for anyone who likes the company on its Facebook page at www.
Facebook.com/DelcamAMS. Users
download and store the software on
a computer. This makes translations
quick and secure because CAD models are not sent to an outside service
provider. The software reads and

writes all common CAD format files.

New motors Web site
Pittman Motors, a manufacturer of dcbrush and brushless motors and gearmotors, has launched a new Web site at
www.Pittman-Motors.com. Resources
include tech articles, white papers, and
catalogs, as well as downloadable CAD
models for virtual prototyping. A “buy
online” feature lets users order standard
parts for same-day shipping or customize motors with special shafts, lead-wire
assemblies, motor windings, and other
options to meet most any engineering
requirement.
MACHINE DESIGN.com

Webcast on simulationdata management
Ansys will offer a free, 1-hr Webinar on
June 21 to discuss storing and managing engineering-simulation data. It will
examine simple strategies for getting
started with database management
and how to securely use and share data
in a mobile-computing environment.
Learn more at ys.
com/rc/ansysinc/tp/scalable_4.

Video demonstrates
tubular linear motors
A new 3-min video from
Dunkermotor lets design engineers
see the capabilities of tubular

linear servomotors. Constructed
of a stainless-steel rod filled with
rare-earth magnets and a forcer
containing a series of coils connected
as three-phase windings, the motor
generates linear force when excited.
This design provides smooth,
cogging-free motion and high heat
dissipation at speeds to 250 ips and
12-μm repeatability. Watch the video
at www.dunkermotor.com/videos.

JUNE 14, 2012

FREE WEBINARS
ON INDUSTRIAL
CONTROLS
Take 30 to 45 min and watch free
Webinars on industrial controls
topics. See equipment in action,
and take advantage of the
question and answer period at the
end of each session.

WHAT’S NEW IN 2012
Join us while we show you all of
the new products we’ve added
for the first half of 2012 and
how they can save you time and
money. These include buck-boost

transformers, counter/timer/
tach units, and high-speed I/O for
the Productivity3000 controller.
We will take questions from our
audience at the end of the 30-min
live show.
June 13, 2012, 2:00 p. m. ET

SENSORS OVERVIEW
Join us for this short 30-min talk
show that will provide information
on all sensors AutomationDirect
sells including: photo, proximity,
fiber optic, magnetic, capacitive,
ultrasonic, light curtains, and
more. We will cover real-world
applications and take questions
from our audience.
August 15, 2012, 2:00 p. m. ET
Visit www.automationtalk.com to
check the schedule and register
for upcoming presentations.
Recordings of past Webinars are
also available to view at your
convenience. Popular topics
include dc motors, process control,
and pneumatics.


RS# 106

EDITORIAL
PowerPoint can kill
To most engineers, the idea of using graphs or models to convey concepts
comes as second nature. In many cases, these representations get shared
through a PowerPoint presentation. You might think that a presentation
tool like PowerPoint couldn’t get you into much hot water — at worst, it
might inflict acute boredom on colleagues. But taking PowerPoint lightly
is particularly dangerous for engineers.
So warns Franck Frommer, who recently wrote a book (How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid) about PowerPoint’s downside. For instance, take
the idea of expressing concepts in a PowerPoint chart. “Diagrams kill
thought!” cautions one business veteran. She explains that drawings are
okay for detailing processes, circuits, and other well-defined relationships. But they are a terrible way of expressing anything dynamic such as
a strategy. Her point was diagrams are prone to lull viewers into accepting
a static and oversimplified outlook on problems that are inherently mobile and changing.
Bad PowerPoint even played a role in the Columbia Shuttle disaster.
After Columbia broke up reentering the atmosphere in 2003, a series of
NASA-prepared slides about the shuttle came under intense scrutiny. All
these slides were prepared using PowerPoint. Data-visualization pioneer
Edward Tufte took issue with one in particular that, he said, portrayed
a “festival of bureaucratic hyperrationalism.” Among the problems he
noted was that the author had used six different levels of text to arrange
and classify 11 phrases. The primary information in the slide got relegated to small print several layers down.
What is troubling about the NASA example is that PowerPoint itself
encourages such problems through its built-in templates. The software
imposes what Tufte calls a summary style that can be confusing and lets
users prepare slides using letter fonts that are inappropriate for the subject at hand. In the case of the Columbia slide, for example, the author
had used a “pitch-style typography” that tended to belie the seriousness of
foam damaging the heat shield.

Organizations also have a tendency to let PowerPoint slide decks substitute for more-detailed forms of technical communication. Frommer
points out that the board investigating Columbia criticized NASA on this
point as well, saying that the use of PowerPoint briefing slides instead of
technical papers illustrated problematic methods of technical communication at the Agency.
Many of the problems arising from PowerPoint come from the misuse
of bullet points, especially because this practice leaves out the logical
connections that give the points meaning in the first place. Worse, bullet
points can be a screen hiding a “certain intellectual laziness” on the part
of users who never bothered to think out the connections, says Frommer.
There are, in fact, a few individuals who have mastered PowerPoint.
One in particular was Apple’s late great Steve Jobs, Frommer claims.
You’d never see cornball images, poorly formed ideas, or a font festival
in a Jobs slide deck. His slides were always simple, contained a wellorganized argument, and used analogies to make numbers in the presentation memorable.
But then again, there was only one Steve Jobs.
— Leland Teschler, Editor

RS# 107

JUNE 14, 2012


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RS# 108


?
e
l
g
n
A

r
u
o
Y
s
’
t
a
h
W

Beyond measuring angles,
Novotechnik’s R-Series of
rotary position sensors can be
programmed and reprogrammed
for your application’s angle, CW/CCW
direction and single or redundant output
can be selected.

R-Series sensors utilize the orientation of
a magnetic field to determine measurement
angle. An embedded microprocessor
converts the magnetic orientation to an
analog output that is repeatable to within
0.03% or 0.1° of measurement range –
depending on model.

EDITORIAL STAFF

EDITOR

Leland E. Teschler


MANAGING EDITOR
Kenneth J. Korane


Key specifications include:
• Resolution: 12/14-bit
• Protection class: to IP67
• Measurement range:
up to 360°

For complete R-Series information, visit www.novotechnik.com/rs
Novotechnik U.S., Inc.
155 Northboro Road • Southborough, MA 01772
Telephone: 508-485-2244 Fax: 508-485-2430

SENIOR EDITORS
Leslie Gordon

Stephen J. Mraz


ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Robert J. Repas, Jr.


RS# 109

INDUSTRY COVERAGE
AUTOMOTIVE, PACKAGING,
MEDICAL
Stephen J. Mraz

CAD/CAM, MANUFACTURING
Leslie Gordon

ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS
Robert J. Repas, Jr.

FLUID POWER, MECHANICAL
Kenneth J. Korane

EDITORIAL PRODUCTION
Denise Greco
Editorial Production Manager
Randall L. Rubenking
Art Director

1300 E. 9th St. Cleveland, OH 44114-1503
10

MACHINE DESIGN.com

RS# 110
JUNE 14, 2012


Produce smart phones faster

with high speed bearings

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SKF product manager Satyen Bohidar and SKF’s
sales team have part of the answer – SKF-SNFA highspeed super precision bearings. They allow the machine
tools used for manufacturing key components of these
products to run flawlessly and precisely at up to
60.000 rpm 365 days a year.
The result? Smart products are brought to the
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RS# 111

LETTERS
We can fix for the
patent office

Yes and no

The U. S. patent system is suffering
from two basic problems. It is besieged by submittals that are fundamentally flawed, but inventors are
encouraged to patent them based
on exaggerated promises from their
patent lawyers. And second, the
Patent Office employs technically
weak staff that is overwhelmed by
the sheer number of patent application. But we can fix this.
From 1977 to 2000, I was involved in an effort to evaluate
concepts submitted to the National Institute of Technology. It
was funded by the Energy Dept.
and was eventually called the Office of Technology Innovations.
Ideas were analyzed and evaluated by experts in the invention’s
subject matter, and not all ideas
revolved around energy generation or conversions. There was no
charge to inventors for this service,
and promising entries went on to
further investigation in a second
phase. If they survived the second
round, inventors could receive up
to $200,000 to develop working
proof-of-concept models.
I worked at NIST in this Office
and analyzed about 750 concepts

over a 12-year period. About 5%
of them involved patents. The vast
majority of the concepts were dismissed at first glance because they
were obviously impractical or fundamentally incorrect. The rest got
closer scrutiny, but few went on to
the second stage of evaluations.
I believe that reestablishing this
Office of Technology Innovations
and broadening its scope to cover
all newly received patent applications would save inventors considerable effort and money, as well
as taking pressure off the patent
office. Of course, the patent office would also have to hire more
knowledgeable staffers as well.
Andrew Wortmang

Readers say no to unions and a new sustainability standard, as well as to using lasers in lamps and lighting for
houses. But they say yes to apprenticeships as a way to
reinvigorate the U. S. manufacturing base and to
efforts at streamlining and upgrading the U. S.
Patent Office. And one of many readers pointed
out that 180-hp outboard motors for boats were rare as
hen’s teeth in 1962.

Not another standard
You are correct; we do not need
12

MACHINE DESIGN.com

a sustainability standard (“Do We

Need a Sustainability Standard?”
March 22). You can bet that this
is another way of making money
by the “standards” freaks and a
way for the government to put
more cost burdens on manufacturing. It’s also just more buzzwords to fill the law books by the
environment crowd.
The government will see this
as a way to force employers to
hire more people to shuffle the
sustainability paperwork. Larger
companies will feel forced to
spend millions on this stuff because they seek government
contracts, and the costs of the
standard will be passed on to the
customer, the American taxpayers. And smaller companies will
be forced to divert resources from
innovation and breakthroughs to
more nonproductive paperwork.
As usual, American citizens will
be the ones paying for this useless
stuff.
Thanks for your comments. It
will be interesting to see if other
business people have the courage
to speak against this hare-brained
idea of another standard.
Gerald W. Yankie
This is no more than a job-security program for third-party quality-control “consultants” and eco
freaks. You would have to be crazy

to even consider establishing this
program in your company. Endless,
mindless, and never-ending make
work for want-to-be bureaucrats.
Leo V. Cranch
JUNE 14, 2012

Crank up the
apprenticeships
I read the recent column (“Don’t
Wait for Government to Address
Skills Gap,” March 8) with great interest. But I contend that the Society of Mechanical Engineers (SME),
together with the National Tooling
& Machining Association, has failed
miserably at ending the shortage
of skilled machinists and at creating quality, long-term machining
training. What’s needed is a modernized machining apprenticeship
run on a national level.
Instead, here is a typical example
of the kind of short-term program
that the NTMA puts on (www.trainingcenters.org/ ). It reminds me of a
late-night infomercial, a really bad
one. After years and years of failure,
SME and the NTMA should no longer
have anything to do with machiningapprenticeship programs.
Jon Banquer

Lasers make bad
table lamps
Regardless of how “pleasant” a narrow-band laser light might be for illumination (“Your Next Table Lamp

Could Be a Laser,” Feb. 9), it still is
composed of several narrow bands.
This means objects that are reflective over narrow bands of frequencies that do not match up with the
laser’s illumination spectrum may often look unnatural under such lighting when compared to lighting having a “black body” spectrum similar
to daylight or incandescent lighting.
Christopher James


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RS# 112

©2012 National Instruments. All rights reserved. CompactRIO, LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments.
Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. 05312


LETTERS
No to the unions
There’s a reason they call Boeing
the “Lazy B” (“Time for Engineers
to Think About Unionizing?” Jan.
19). There’s a reason Boeing is
expanding production into the
South. There’s a reason GM went
into bankruptcy. There’s a reason
American companies are shifting
production to foreign soil. And
there’s a reason unemployment
is high, especially in traditionally
strong union regions. And it’s because overly strong unions are
strangling the ability of American companies to remain competitive, resulting in domestic
layoffs, bank ruptcies, and increases in the offshore content of
American products.
Unions indisputably raised our
standard of living and established
fair wages in the sweat-shop era
of early America, and they were
responsible for great increases in

safety standards. But what hap-

pens when the pendulum swings
too far, unions become too powerful, and union executives become too greedy?
America became great because
of its manufacturing power, but
overly powerful unions now seem
to be more of a hindrance than
a help to economic prosperity.
Huge salaries to union execs who
get full pay even when working
union members are on strike with
measly strike benefits is no more
fair than Wall Street execs pulling
down huge bonuses when they
run their companies into the red.
Do union leaders really represent the best interests of their
members if they keep them out
on long strikes to negotiate ridiculous overtime rates that bankrupt the company and throw
members onto unemployment?
I’m not so much anti-union as I
am pro-American worker.
Name withheld by request

Corrections
Is there the slightest possibility
that there is a misprint in the
“Looking Back” section (March
22)? It is hard for me to believe
that a “rubber” boat, with sizes

from 10½ to 15 ft, could support
a 180-hp outboard. In fact, going back to 1962, if my memory
serves me, the largest outboard
e n gi n e yo u co u l d b u y w a s a
100-hp Mercury, which was an
in-line six cylinder.
Robert Herol
It should have read 18 hp. — Leland
Teschler
In the article, “How Servos and
Steppers Stack Up” (Feb. 9), the
stepper and servo profiles were
mistakenly swapped in the
graphic titled “Stepper versus
servo profiles.”

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RS# 113
14

MACHINE DESIGN.com

JUNE 14, 2012

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RS# 114


SCANNING FOR IDEAS
Edited by Stephen J. Mraz

Air-powered grinder boasts
high power-to-weight ratio
Vibration-damped side handle
adjusts for left or right-handed users

Two-stage, axial-turbine
air motor with 3 hp

Exhaust direction can be
adjusted for user comfort

Sealed angle
head for
best gear
performance
and life

Governor
optimizes speed
under load
Low-profile, selflocking throttle lever
Pushbutton
spindle lock and
wheel guard

The VT22 Turbine
Grinder makes life
easier for workers
by cutting deeper and
removing more material with less
effort, according to its manufacturer,
Ingersoll Rand (www.ingersollrand.
com) with North American HQ in
Davidson, N. C. Its 3-hp axial-turbine

air motor and 4.6-lb weight reportedly
give it the highest power-to-weight ratio of any 5-in.
(125-mm) air-angle grinder on the market. And the
small spindle offset (0.89 in.) lets it cut up to 1.6-in.
deep.
The 5-in. wheel spins at up to 12,000 rpm, with
a governor to maintain speed under load. Air
consumption under load is about 84 cfm, and it
generates 86.4 dB(A) of noise. The tool will operate in
temperatures from 32 to 120°F.
For safety and comfort, the 5-in. safety guard has
10 different position settings, each 15° apart. The
thumb-operated spindle lock lets operators change
abrasive wheels quickly and easily. There’s also an
optional top-mounted handle for jobs where lateral
space is limited.
RS# 401
16

MACHINE DESIGN.com

JUNE 14, 2012

Spindle offset
of 0.89 in.

Matched wheel
flanges for
grinding and
cutting

r
formation via ou
Request free in Web site at
ice
rv
Se
er
Read
c
design.com/rs
ww w.machine

For a short article on
another innovative tool,
scan this code or go to:
http://machinedesign.
com/article/nascar-teamimpacts-tool-design-0208


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RS# 115