Shrink wrap machines use plastics to protect items from moisture and dirt during storage or transport. The plastic film is wrapped around the item and then the film is heated. It shrinks and conforms to the shape of the item, forming a barrier between the product and outside hazards. Shrink wrap systems may be small and manually operated for the home business, or large-scale automated machines used by shipping companies. Automatic machines can process more items and hour than their smaller counterparts.
DVDs can be easily shrink wrapped for a professional look that protects the DVD from the environment. Machines designed to shrink wrap DVDs work more efficiently than generic hand-held shrink wrapping systems. Some machines shrink wrap only DVDs; others can shrink wrap both DVDs and CDs. Machines specifically designed for DVDs are typically cheaper than dual systems, and can be purchased for under $5,000.
To shrink wrap a DVD with a shrink wrap machine, place a precut plastic cover on the machine's platform, and then place the DVD on top of the plastic. Close the machine's cover to heat seal the DVD. The sealing temperature is electronically controlled by the machine. These semi-automatic machines can shrink wrap about 200 DVDs an hour. Automated machines work twice as fast, shrink wrapping about 400 DVDs an hour.
More expensive, fully automatic machines can shrink wrap about 55 CDs or DVDs a minute, or about 3000 an hour. These machines cost about $16,000, but can also handle films other than plastic. Paper or cardboard could also be used, for example. Automated high throughput machines are portable and can sit on tables, taking up less space than floor-bound machines, but the table-top machines can shrink wrap DVDs and a comparable rate.
Several online stores sell all kinds of DVD shrink wrap systems at wholesale prices. These Web sites sell both the machines and the films need to shrink wrap DVDs. There you will find everything you need to package DVDS with a professional look
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Dealing With Electrical Problems
As any veteran do-it-yourselfer knows, there are lot of mistakes made before you can call yourself an expert on anything. We all have experiences of home improvement projects that proved to be anything but an improvement. Usually these kind of mistakes just make us laugh and learn. But there are some home projects that cannot be done wrong because they are too dangerous to have a mistake with. Electrical repairs fall within this category. But if you follow these steps, you can make sure you keep yourself and your family safe when you do an electrical repair. Before you even take any of these steps, however, find out if your local community requires you to have a permit in order to do any electrical work. But these laws are different in each state, and even in each municipality, so check first.
The first thing you should do before you work on electricity is to turn the electric power off at the source. This must be done at the circuit breaker, since just turning off a wall switch will still leave you with hot wires.
Make sure the electric is off by using a voltage meter. After you have turned the electricity off at the circuit breaker, test the wire in the room you are working in and make sure nothing registers. Keep the power off until you have completed the job. You should not touch any of the electrical wires that bring electricity into the house. If you think there is something wrong With this service, make sure you contact your power company.
When you are working on electricity, never stand in water or even on a damp floor. Water conducts electricity, and it will go through you if it has to. If the floor is damp, put down a rubber mat.
Make sure you know what materials you are working with. In general, you have to be careful of metal, but rubber is safe. Since metal conducts electricity, do not touch metal at the same time you are touching a live wire, because you will become the conductant.
Since rubber is a nonconductive material, it will insulate you. So you should use tools with rubber or plastic handles, and wear rubber soled shoes or sneakers. While we are on the subject of what to wear, you should also wear safety goggles and gloves.
Now that you have completed the repair, flip the circuit breaker back on to turn on the power. Use you voltage meter once again to see if there is power, and there is the right amount of voltage. Smaller items such as lights, a receptacle or a small appliance will need 120 volts. Big appliances (air conditioners, ovens, etc.) will require 240 volts. There are some appliances that need such small voltage, such as doorbells or telephones that they will have a transformer to convert the power to a smaller voltage.
If you want to make sure you know what you are doing before you start an electrical repair job, you may consider taking advantage of the clinics or workshops that many do-it-yourself centers offer. You will learn a lot and feel more confident when you tackle the next job. If you don't feel that you know what you are doing, don't take a chance: call an expert electrician to do this kind of work. There are plenty of other jobs you can do, such as painting, hanging shelves, or trimming branches. Just ask your wife. She probably has a "honey do" list as well as cnc routers and used cnc electronics all ready and waiting for you.
The first thing you should do before you work on electricity is to turn the electric power off at the source. This must be done at the circuit breaker, since just turning off a wall switch will still leave you with hot wires.
Make sure the electric is off by using a voltage meter. After you have turned the electricity off at the circuit breaker, test the wire in the room you are working in and make sure nothing registers. Keep the power off until you have completed the job. You should not touch any of the electrical wires that bring electricity into the house. If you think there is something wrong With this service, make sure you contact your power company.
When you are working on electricity, never stand in water or even on a damp floor. Water conducts electricity, and it will go through you if it has to. If the floor is damp, put down a rubber mat.
Make sure you know what materials you are working with. In general, you have to be careful of metal, but rubber is safe. Since metal conducts electricity, do not touch metal at the same time you are touching a live wire, because you will become the conductant.
Since rubber is a nonconductive material, it will insulate you. So you should use tools with rubber or plastic handles, and wear rubber soled shoes or sneakers. While we are on the subject of what to wear, you should also wear safety goggles and gloves.
Now that you have completed the repair, flip the circuit breaker back on to turn on the power. Use you voltage meter once again to see if there is power, and there is the right amount of voltage. Smaller items such as lights, a receptacle or a small appliance will need 120 volts. Big appliances (air conditioners, ovens, etc.) will require 240 volts. There are some appliances that need such small voltage, such as doorbells or telephones that they will have a transformer to convert the power to a smaller voltage.
If you want to make sure you know what you are doing before you start an electrical repair job, you may consider taking advantage of the clinics or workshops that many do-it-yourself centers offer. You will learn a lot and feel more confident when you tackle the next job. If you don't feel that you know what you are doing, don't take a chance: call an expert electrician to do this kind of work. There are plenty of other jobs you can do, such as painting, hanging shelves, or trimming branches. Just ask your wife. She probably has a "honey do" list as well as cnc routers and used cnc electronics all ready and waiting for you.
Inexpensive PCs as CNC Machine Controllers
There are two main groups that can take advantage of today�s low cost PCs as an effective and inexpensive CNC controller.
� Retrofits to existing CNC machines with outdated or proprietary controls in need of service.
� Shop built and home built CNC machines.
Inexpensive PCs can cost as little as $150.00 and yet provide a dependable and effective CNC machine controller. Some sources to consider for obtaining such a system are outpost.com and dell.com. Oupost.com is an outlet for Fry�s electronics. They have one PC on sale ranging from $150.00 to $199.00. Several have successfully used this PC in conjunction with MACH2 CNC controller software.
Tradeoffs: Price vs. Quality. With the lowest cost PCs there a tradeoff in performance, quality, and reliability. The manufacturers of these machines use low cost hardware in their manufacture and they make compromises in the design of the systems to keep their costs down. Inexpensive hardware translates directly to a higher failure rate and more difficult to obtain manufacturer support. This can be a deciding factor by itself if you rely on this machine for production.
Design compromises which are common in low cost PC have an impact on performance. The primary concerns are: insufficient memory, the use of shared memory, and on-board graphics devices. The primary hardware requirements for a PC based CNC controller are sufficient memory, and sufficient processor speed. You can see that the compromises present in these systems are in direct opposition to the requirements for CNC controller.
At the bottom end of the Inexpensive PC market there are off the self solutions that will function well as a PC based CNC controller. As with all things, you tend to get what you pay for, so the buyer is advised to be aware of the requirements and limitations that are in play.
Part II in this series of articles will examine an alternative to buying an off the shelf solution and explore building a PC to meet your specifications.
� Retrofits to existing CNC machines with outdated or proprietary controls in need of service.
� Shop built and home built CNC machines.
Inexpensive PCs can cost as little as $150.00 and yet provide a dependable and effective CNC machine controller. Some sources to consider for obtaining such a system are outpost.com and dell.com. Oupost.com is an outlet for Fry�s electronics. They have one PC on sale ranging from $150.00 to $199.00. Several have successfully used this PC in conjunction with MACH2 CNC controller software.
Tradeoffs: Price vs. Quality. With the lowest cost PCs there a tradeoff in performance, quality, and reliability. The manufacturers of these machines use low cost hardware in their manufacture and they make compromises in the design of the systems to keep their costs down. Inexpensive hardware translates directly to a higher failure rate and more difficult to obtain manufacturer support. This can be a deciding factor by itself if you rely on this machine for production.
Design compromises which are common in low cost PC have an impact on performance. The primary concerns are: insufficient memory, the use of shared memory, and on-board graphics devices. The primary hardware requirements for a PC based CNC controller are sufficient memory, and sufficient processor speed. You can see that the compromises present in these systems are in direct opposition to the requirements for CNC controller.
At the bottom end of the Inexpensive PC market there are off the self solutions that will function well as a PC based CNC controller. As with all things, you tend to get what you pay for, so the buyer is advised to be aware of the requirements and limitations that are in play.
Part II in this series of articles will examine an alternative to buying an off the shelf solution and explore building a PC to meet your specifications.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Timely Investments - Brief Article
On the surface, the recent slowdown in manufacturing activity might be viewed as a justification for delaying capital investments. But a cooler economy presents some valuable opportunities for machine shop managers to prepare for better times to come. When a shop is operating near its maximum capacity, it's difficult for managers to think about cultivating new business or buying equipment. But a decline in one industrial sector may coincide with increased activity in another. Thus, pursuing a new direction is often beneficial for a company's long-term development, and shifting gears may require equipment upgrades.
Arelated opportunity in a cool economy is the reduced cost of financing. As the Federal Reserve Board continues to cut short-term interest rates to stimulate consumer spending, loans for metalworking equipment (typically amortized over 5-7 years) have become substantially more attractive. As a result, it's a propitious time for businesses to finance or refinance capital equipment. This situation enhances the resources of borrowers and creates additional options for obtaining the equipment necessary to keep pace with current technology. Furthermore, astute managers understand that seeds planted in difficult market conditions can represent the distinction between tomorrow's winners and losers.
Arelated opportunity in a cool economy is the reduced cost of financing. As the Federal Reserve Board continues to cut short-term interest rates to stimulate consumer spending, loans for metalworking equipment (typically amortized over 5-7 years) have become substantially more attractive. As a result, it's a propitious time for businesses to finance or refinance capital equipment. This situation enhances the resources of borrowers and creates additional options for obtaining the equipment necessary to keep pace with current technology. Furthermore, astute managers understand that seeds planted in difficult market conditions can represent the distinction between tomorrow's winners and losers.
Tooling Triad - CPC Tooling Technologies - Company Profile
To build exceptionally effective extrusion dies, this shop brings together strengths in three key areas: CNC machining, EDMing and tool room operations.
Unless you are in the middle of a forest, it's hard to look around and not see something made of extruded plastic--the siding on a house, the trim on a car, the frame of a window sash. And even if you are in the middle of a forest, the trees you see are the source of a key ingredient in many of the most advanced and complex extruded products--wood. Wood fiber and wood flours are blended with plastic resin and extruded to make a wide variety of products such as deck planking, hand rails and architectural trim. To add to the growing use of plastic extrusions, emerging techniques allow materials to be extruded as foam and encapsulated in an outer layer that is rigid and weather resistant. Shapes with hollow cross sections in complex configurations are also possible.
CPC Tooling's strategy for meeting this challenge is based on a simple concept. The company must be able to build tooling not only for customers pioneering new applications, but also for customers whose conventional applications require faster running, longer wearing, more flexible and economical tooling. In-line tooling that turns extrusions into finished pieces ready for shipping is one of the shop's specialties.
All For One, One For All
"Designing and building extrusion dies is as much an art as it is science," declares Bob White, tooling manager at CPC Tooling. Mr. White, who has overall responsibility for the production of extrusion dies and related hardware for forming and cooling extrusions, explains: "You have to understand how material behaves as it undergoes the extrusion process and then use that knowledge to design a die and the tooling that goes with it. And you have to understand all of the machining processes that enable you to build that tooling."
At CPC Tooling, those machining processes are available in three key areas, each located in its own facility within the sprawling Crane Plastics plant in Columbus, Ohio. Each one of those areas must be efficient and productive. Each must leverage the capabilities of the other two areas. Each must keep up with current techniques and equipment.
The CNC machining area is anchored by two vertical machining centers. These machines do the three-axis milling of complex die contours often referred to as coat hangers because of their distinctive spreading triangle shape, as well as two-axis milling of tool and die components.
The EDM (electrical discharge machining) area features one ram and six wire machines, whose ability to cut steep tapers in four axes is essential to the extrusion process, which converts material from a simple shape to a complex one. Wire cutting replaceable inserts, which greatly extend the life of a tooling system, is another critical job for this area.
A staff of skilled tool and die makers supplies all of the components that allow dies and other hardware to be assembled into a working system. Two toolroom areas equipped with precision mills, lathes and grinders provide the flexibility and expertise to build, troubleshoot and repair almost any die or tooling that comes their way.
"Every one of these areas is important," stresses Mr. White. "Each one is vital to our strategy. Yet each area requires its own management style and has its own technology needs," he says.
Capable And Productive
CNC machining has proven to be a key asset to CPC Tooling. CNC machining is both capable and productive. It is "capable" because it allows complex die contours to be machined in 3D. It is "productive" because it allows 2D work to be handled on a production basis, with pallet changers and shopfloor programming to keep the machine fully occupied.
Unless you are in the middle of a forest, it's hard to look around and not see something made of extruded plastic--the siding on a house, the trim on a car, the frame of a window sash. And even if you are in the middle of a forest, the trees you see are the source of a key ingredient in many of the most advanced and complex extruded products--wood. Wood fiber and wood flours are blended with plastic resin and extruded to make a wide variety of products such as deck planking, hand rails and architectural trim. To add to the growing use of plastic extrusions, emerging techniques allow materials to be extruded as foam and encapsulated in an outer layer that is rigid and weather resistant. Shapes with hollow cross sections in complex configurations are also possible.
CPC Tooling's strategy for meeting this challenge is based on a simple concept. The company must be able to build tooling not only for customers pioneering new applications, but also for customers whose conventional applications require faster running, longer wearing, more flexible and economical tooling. In-line tooling that turns extrusions into finished pieces ready for shipping is one of the shop's specialties.
All For One, One For All
"Designing and building extrusion dies is as much an art as it is science," declares Bob White, tooling manager at CPC Tooling. Mr. White, who has overall responsibility for the production of extrusion dies and related hardware for forming and cooling extrusions, explains: "You have to understand how material behaves as it undergoes the extrusion process and then use that knowledge to design a die and the tooling that goes with it. And you have to understand all of the machining processes that enable you to build that tooling."
At CPC Tooling, those machining processes are available in three key areas, each located in its own facility within the sprawling Crane Plastics plant in Columbus, Ohio. Each one of those areas must be efficient and productive. Each must leverage the capabilities of the other two areas. Each must keep up with current techniques and equipment.
The CNC machining area is anchored by two vertical machining centers. These machines do the three-axis milling of complex die contours often referred to as coat hangers because of their distinctive spreading triangle shape, as well as two-axis milling of tool and die components.
The EDM (electrical discharge machining) area features one ram and six wire machines, whose ability to cut steep tapers in four axes is essential to the extrusion process, which converts material from a simple shape to a complex one. Wire cutting replaceable inserts, which greatly extend the life of a tooling system, is another critical job for this area.
A staff of skilled tool and die makers supplies all of the components that allow dies and other hardware to be assembled into a working system. Two toolroom areas equipped with precision mills, lathes and grinders provide the flexibility and expertise to build, troubleshoot and repair almost any die or tooling that comes their way.
"Every one of these areas is important," stresses Mr. White. "Each one is vital to our strategy. Yet each area requires its own management style and has its own technology needs," he says.
Capable And Productive
CNC machining has proven to be a key asset to CPC Tooling. CNC machining is both capable and productive. It is "capable" because it allows complex die contours to be machined in 3D. It is "productive" because it allows 2D work to be handled on a production basis, with pallet changers and shopfloor programming to keep the machine fully occupied.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Van-Am Tool & Engineering Celebrates 25th Anniversary
an-Am Tool & Engineering, St. Joseph, Missouri is proud to begin celebrating its 25 th Year of providing quality solutions to their customers' tooling, stamping, machining and manufacturing needs. An achievement not many can claim in today's tooling industry.
When discussing the company's 25 years; Ivan Russell, VanAm's president and co-founder stated, "Great employees and customers with good management are the main factors in our success. You just can't do this type of work without a good crew and we have very little employee turnover." Russell also noted that providing exceptional customer service and being diversified in the services offered and industries served is also important. Van-Am's specialized services include: design and build of progressive, transfer, louver, blank, form and draw dies (these can range from 6" x 6" up to 9' or longer); die maintenance and repair; production stamping and fabrication; general and custom machine work; CNC machining and wire EDM; design and build of jigs and fixtures; machine design, build and repair; custom fabrication and welding; robotic welding and plasma cutting; vibratory finishing; laser cutting and CNC press braking.
With the recent addition of several pieces of equipment, including a new Wire EDM, the company's equipment now includes: four wire EDM's; four vertical CNC machining centers; 13 milling machines; seven drill presses; five lathes; ten grinders including a 24" x 60" surface grinder; six saws; 16 punch presses (up to 600 ton); two robotic welders; three press brakes including a 220-ton 12'6-axis CNC press brake; two shears; a 1500-watt CNC laser cutting system; a 24 cubic foot vibratory finishing machine; and a host of supporting equipment.
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The company operates in a modem 55,000-sq.-ft. facility with 36 employees. Their equipment and talented work force allows Van-Am to serve a wide range of industries including: agriculture, automotive, construction, electrical, fuel/oil, government, HVAC, pharmaceutical and transportation.
When discussing the company's 25 years; Ivan Russell, VanAm's president and co-founder stated, "Great employees and customers with good management are the main factors in our success. You just can't do this type of work without a good crew and we have very little employee turnover." Russell also noted that providing exceptional customer service and being diversified in the services offered and industries served is also important. Van-Am's specialized services include: design and build of progressive, transfer, louver, blank, form and draw dies (these can range from 6" x 6" up to 9' or longer); die maintenance and repair; production stamping and fabrication; general and custom machine work; CNC machining and wire EDM; design and build of jigs and fixtures; machine design, build and repair; custom fabrication and welding; robotic welding and plasma cutting; vibratory finishing; laser cutting and CNC press braking.
With the recent addition of several pieces of equipment, including a new Wire EDM, the company's equipment now includes: four wire EDM's; four vertical CNC machining centers; 13 milling machines; seven drill presses; five lathes; ten grinders including a 24" x 60" surface grinder; six saws; 16 punch presses (up to 600 ton); two robotic welders; three press brakes including a 220-ton 12'6-axis CNC press brake; two shears; a 1500-watt CNC laser cutting system; a 24 cubic foot vibratory finishing machine; and a host of supporting equipment.
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The company operates in a modem 55,000-sq.-ft. facility with 36 employees. Their equipment and talented work force allows Van-Am to serve a wide range of industries including: agriculture, automotive, construction, electrical, fuel/oil, government, HVAC, pharmaceutical and transportation.
From Manual To CNC Mills: A Three-Phase Transition - V & G Dynamic Machine & Tool Inc
V & G Dynamic Machine & Tool, Inc. of Marble Falls, Texas, uses high-end VMCs and CNC mills and employs skilled machinists and CNC operators to support the development of new instrumentation and technology for the semiconductor industry.
When Volker Steffen founded V & G Dynamics in 1988, the company was doing mainly repair work using two manual mills. Mr. Steffen knew that if he had CNC there was the promise of longer runs and production of complex parts--giving access to new markets and increasing sales and profitability. But these benefits come with a cost in terms of capital, training and learning. Mr. Steffen was looking for a way to implement GNC gradually--a transition that took the characteristics of his shop and people into consideration. He discovered an opportunity at an open house held by his local dealer. "I was at an open house at a machine dealer one weekend, and I saw a manual mill with some sort of external motors mounted on the table," Mr. Steffen says. "The dealer showed me how the mill was doing CNC work by having the power feeds move the table, under the control of a PC. Best of all, I didn't have to start using a computer right away. I could just use the power feeds in the 'Teach Mode.' You move the table to a desired position, press 'set' on the pendant, move to the next position, press 'set' again, and so on. At the end of the sequence you press 'run,' and the machine plays back exactly the moves you told it to execute. It's that simple."
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On seeing this, Mr. Steffen first began considering doing more than just manual mill work. V & G had grown to include a lot of small-volume (1 - 500 piece) production work, but Mr. Steffen was not at the point where he needed to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a single CNC. So in 1993, he decided to first retrofit one of his manual mills with the "intelligent power feeds"--a basic two-axis Servo II automated control system with the "Teach" pendant, made by Servo Products Company of Pasadena, California--which he mounted himself on a Summit manual mill with a Sargon digital readout. The cost of the retrofit was well within his reach, and the promise of increased production made the whole deal attractive. Within days, production was at levels he had never seen before, and both he and his machinists were using the "Teach Mode" feature without problems.
Such use of a basic retrofit package makes sense for shops where owners and operators don't have prior experience with CNCs. In the case of V & G, its manual mills had essentially become three different machines with one simple retrofit: one that still does manual work, one that uses the Teach Pendant and one that can perform CNC work (when connected to a dedicated PC). The DRO interface adds accuracy to the Acme lead screw by using the scale for positioning accuracy instead of the encoder on the motor, In addition, the DRO enhances the machinist's productivity.
With the Servo II control system used for the retrofit, one-of-a-kind or production run parts can be machined, and the table can be moved either using the pendant or handwheels. The "taught" programs are limited to straight line and angle cuts. The system cannot be taught to machine a circle. Subroutines can be called up, and program steps can be changed, added or inserted. It's easy to delete entire programs from pendant memory, or delete a subroutine call--which is useful when "programming" on the fly. An operator also can set, clear or drag axes travel limits (for example, reset limit beyond current position) and can playback a program held in the pendant's memory.
The Servo II control system can be made more productive by hooking up a PC, which simply can be used to transfer programs between the PC and the pendant; with Servo CNC software and a dedicated PC, the machine has full CNC capabilities. This comprises the second step in the gradual conversion to CNC machining. Programs "written" on the pendant can be transferred to the PC for storage and for re-use at a later time. The transferred pendant programs arc converted to common CNC codes. Conversely, programs can be written and edited on the PC and transferred later to the pendant, though only a limited set of CNC codes are available. This means two things: Operators can generate CNC code without knowing programming, and they can execute previously written CNC code without using the control (it's done via the pendant). Production goes up, and accuracy and repeatability improve. The absence of a steep learning curve makes training the operators brief and inexpensive.
V&G began by doing most of its CNC work using the conversational mode programming on the control. By going through a step-by-step process, the operator answers simple questions about the current job, and the control automatically develops a program, which is then seamlessly translated into G-code that can be used on any Servo CNC machine. Even if the operator makes a mistake in the programming, he or she can easily edit the specific line that needs correction
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