Linear motion actuators are used in factories for pick and place operations, CNC lasers and routers, complex adhesive application or whenever super-precise and accurate positioning is required.
October 5, 2016 – AutomationDirect’s SureMotion line of motion control products now includes additional synchronous timing belts and pulleys for small motor applications. An excellent choice for many industrial applications, SureMotion MXL series timing belts are 1/4-inch wide, have a 0.080-inch pitch, and are available in neoprene with fiberglass reinforcement and urethane with polyester reinforcement…
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Lock-Jaw2 Robot Competes in BattleBots TV Show Using AutomationDirect Parts
Robots Activate! Is a familiar phrase to those fans who follow the BattleBots competition which just completed its 2016 season broadcast on ABC Television in the United States. One of the BattleBots competition veterans, Donald Hutson, has been involved since the show began and has been on the robot combat circuit since 1986.
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Machine Produces Nanofibers for Biomedical Research
If you can’t buy it, you have to build it. This was the situation our group of engineering students encountered when we needed to grow vascular tissue for a bioengineering project at Walla Walla University, and found existing solutions were not acceptable.
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It’s a Wrap! Automated Taping Machine
The capstone senior design project is the crowning achievement for seniors at the University of Connecticut School of Engineering. In this two-semester course, senior students are mentored by faculty and industry engineers as they work to solve real-world engineering problems for their corporate sponsor. Students learn about the principles of design, how ethics affect engineering…
Lock-Jaw is a ‘heavyweight’ (250 lb.) robot built for the 2015 BattleBots competition on ABC. Lock-Jaw’s creator is veteran builder Donald Hutson from team Mutant Robots. Donald has competed in many types of combat robotics events including the original Robot Wars back in 1996 with his first 220 lb robot called Tazbot. Donald is also…
AutomationDirect’s SureMotion line of motion control products now includes both motor-ready actuator assemblies and an assortment of sliding components and accessories to provide a wide variety of motion control solutions for X-Y and X-Y-Z positioning systems. Twin round-shaft slide actuators feature a continuously-supported round rail slide with ball screw actuation and provide robust precision linear…
Motion control is generally understood to mean the use of servo and/or stepper systems as the “muscle” to move a given load. These motion control systems are capable of extremely precise speed, position, and torque control. Applications which require positioning of product, synchronization of separate elements, or rapid start/stop motion are all perfect candidates for…
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Portable Water Treatment Platform Removes Phosphorus Economically
A trailer-mounted water treatment process controlled by a Productivity2000 PLC has recently been developed at the University of Idaho. Professor Greg Möller, in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, along with engineers from the College of Engineering have teamed up to build the platform, and to further research the economical removal of phosphorus from various…
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UCONN Student Design Team Automates RFID Tagging
In the aerospace industry, any substance that is foreign to the aircraft engine and could potentially cause damage is known as FOD (foreign object debris). FOD costs the industry 4 billion dollars per year on average. Some of the most common causes of FOD damage are the tools required to build or maintain the engine….