Bolt head style, drive style, material, size, and grade are all important elements for selecting the correct metric bolt for your fastening application. Do your eyes glaze over at all the metric bolt choices? We know it can be kind of overwhelming and confusing, especially if you’re not used to ordering metric parts. Let’s look…
Overtime, all power tools start to drift out of tolerance. When testing a power tool using a torque tester or reaction style torque sensor, always use a quality joint rate simulator otherwise known as a run down adapter (RDA). The purpose of using a RDA is to simulate the fastening process of a screw. These…
Assemblers fumble around with screws daily during the fastening process. The repetition of grabbing small fasteners from a bin is tedious and time-consuming. The constant repetition of picking-up and fumbling around with hundreds and hundreds of screws on a daily basis impacts productivity and costs. It’s an unnecessary expense and an inefficient process. Also, a…
Do you believe in ghosts? If you are a manufacturing engineer, or find yourself involved anywhere within the production environment for microelectronic products, you should at least believe in the invisible reality of Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). For nothing can harm a product more than the specter of catastrophic or latent failure caused by an ESD…
As new products emerge and demand grows, the manufacturing process is evolving rapidly. Automation and manufacturing engineers must adapt quickly and solve new sophisticated production challenges. There are many opportunities to improve the production process. Refining manufacturing methods and implementing automation equipment are significant opportunities. Innovative automation fastening systems provide the ability to quickly transform…
Plate heat exchangers are designed to provide highly efficient heat transfer for various industrial applications, like chemical and food processing. Regular maintenance intervals for plate heat exchangers are needed in order to maintain production efficiency. Overtime, dirt, silt, sand and other debris can build up and impact the heat exchanger’s performance and cause unplanned downtime.…
Manufacturing electronic, semiconductor, biotech and medical devices demand care and precision. Often a controlled environment is needed during the production process to limit the amount of dust, particles and other contaminants in the manufacturing area. A clean room environment controls the level of contamination. Eliminating any sub-micron airborne contamination is a controlled process. Clean rooms…
The MTX is a low-torque sensor designed for calibrating and testing small hand screwdrivers, torque wrenches, and power tools. Its low-profile design also allows the calibration instrument to be used for testing automation and robotic fastening applications. These versatile MTX torque sensors are used in conjunction with a torque tester. A torque sensor is a…
The manufacturing process is constantly evolving in response to customer needs and emerging technology. Managing the assembly workstation, tooling requirements, production flow and employee safety is indeed a challenge. The daily repetitive fastening process exposes your assemblers to potential stress injuries. Increasing your awareness of ergonomic challenges and looking for ways to improve operator safety…
The essential purpose of any nut is to mate with a bolt to discourage the bolt from loosening its grip against a surface. When you thread a nut onto a bolt until it sits tight against the opposite side of the surface from the bolt head, you create a kind of stress on the threads…