Hot Spots in CyberspaceHot Spots in Cyberspace

Ahead of the game

To stay abreast of the latest engineering technology, let Design News help. E-mail newsletters provide the perfect bite-size bits of information in the industries of CAD/CAM/CAE; electrical/electronics; embedded systems; plastics; fastening, joining, and assembly; motion control; PDM; power transmission; profitability; metals; and transportation. Go to www.designnews.com and click on 'newsletters' to sign up for as many as you like. Depending on the industry, you will receive these technology updates once or twice a month, including a complete breaking news story within the industry, and a new product write-up or industry trend focus before it appears in print or on the Internet.

Be a metal head

Principal Metals promotes itself as a supplier of specialty metals to North American fabricators, R&D facilities, machine shops, and OEMs. While their website (www.principalmetals.com) does offer an extensive list of both metals offered and authorized service suppliers provided, it is the reference utilities on the site that may prove most useful. Among the tools listed in the navigation bar are a weight calculator, metric conversion calculator, pipe dimension chart, glossary, periodic table of elements, hardness conversion chart, and specifications section. The site also offers a downloadable automated metals weight calculator and metric conversion chart.

The latest headquarters

From the folks who brought you PlasticsHQ (www.plasticshq.com), FastenersHQ (www.fastenershq.com), and MotorsHQ (www.motorshq.com), comes the latest in Verdex^SM's series, InstrumentsandControlsHQ (www.instrumentsandcontrolshq.com). The site offers industry news, events and tradeshows, a search function, and a vendor directory of control equipment, analyzers, meters, instrumentation, sensors, and measurement devices for industrial and commercial applications. It even provides vendors listed by local suppliers, Amercian and non-U.S. manufacturers.

Spring ahead

Visitors to iCrank's website (www.icrank.com) are greeted with a very manageable mechanical engineering portal. The site is organized into four design resource areas: vendors, design tools, knowledge, and computing. The vendor directory provides a supplier list with product information and instant on-line quotes; the design tools section offers machine component tabulated data, including design tools links; the knowledge link features on-line resources, reference books, events, and jobs; and the computing section includes links to CAD, FEA, shareware, software, and hardware. Check out the Spring Designer Program that allows users to calculate and design a spring's characteristics.

Headlining adhesives

The Permabond website (www.permabond.com) does not simply list the specifications of its industrial adhesive products; it informs readers how each adhesive works. Providing application tips as well as joint design, technical, and dispensing & assembly services, the site has a broad section covering applications, including a glossary, research materials, links, and literature. In a nutshell, it provides the "how" and "why" of industrial adhesives, and not simply the "what."

Ask the air head

Pneumatic-source.com (www.pneumatic-source.com) is a broad website providing information on pneumatic components. In addition to the list of new products, the product spotlight write-up, and application spotlight, it offers a wide search database, including a product, manufacturer, and distributor search function. If your search turns up no answers, ask the air head, the pneumatic search function.