I agree, Rob. You have to give credit to Glenn, especially considering that he said: "the chips were slightly skewed, but within specifications." In other words, he chased down the solution to a misplacement of 1/250th of an inch, even though it was already in spec.
The best example I've heard of this, Island-Al is from a process plant. Apparently they laid off so many workers that there was nobody left who knew how to turn off the plant. That may be an urban myth, but even so it makes a point.
Good observation, Chuck. That shows just how precise it needs to be in order for it to be "right." So you have to hand it to this Sherlock Ohms to correct a situation that was so very close and "within spec."
The loss of experienced engineers is most tragic indeed. My boss says (thinks) we can get replacements easily. I have seen examples of these replacements firsthand and have yet to be impressed. One can hire poor engineers and technicians for ten cents a pound, and they are overpriced. Great ones are cheap at one hundred dollars an ounce, but are difficult to find.
In my experience engineers and techies are one of two flavors. The first are hourly employees who think only of the paycheck and watch the clock. Most belong to a union but I have no problem with that. The second are the guys who think only of the problem(s) at hand and are somewhat mystified that somebody keeps putting money in their checking account. In the late 60's accountants in the company I worked for kept calling me because I seldom cashed my paychecks. Direct deposit later fixed this problem. Last Sunday I received a PDF manual on some equipment we were having problems with. This vendor went into work to find, and send me, the documentation. He is one of the second flavors.
Parado was exactly correct with the 20-80 rule where 20 percent of the people perform 80 percent of the work. In the long run the 20 percent earn much more money but usually find little time to spend it. Of that original 20 percent, twenty percent of them are the true Golden Child ones.
That was a while ago, but I think the brake pad was a rubber piece on a pivoting arm. The brake does not hold the rotational orientation of the nozzle - inherent friction in the assembly does that. The brake holds the nozzle still from spinning until the theta 1 meshes. There is very little friction wear in the braking action. The theta engagement is a steel V-block that nests into a matching V-slot in the steel nozzle. The wear that does happen is the V-shape of the block, from the vertical engagement about 10 times per second.
Talk about getting things just right: It's instructive to note that placement of the surface mount chips was within 0.1 mm across one inch. Since a millimeter is 1/25th of an inch, it means that these chips were being placed with 1/250th of an inch...and this was unsatisfactory.
For 3D printing to make the jump from rapid prototyping to manufacturing, engineers will need to find easier ways to move products from their CAD screens to their printers.
Gigabit and PoE are two networking technologies moving ahead in tandem as industrial users power remote Ethernet devices such as IP security cameras at 1,000 Mbps over existing CAT5 cable.
New versions of BASF's Ecovio line are both compostable and designed for either injection molding or thermoforming. These combinations are becoming more common for the single-use bioplastics used in food service and food packaging applications, but are still not widely available.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
2 
