Industrial Factory Automation

Haas Automation explains how users should carry out directional hole tapping. A user may often need to complete an extra setup for that one hole at an angle to the surface machined or perhaps a radial hole on a circular component that requires drilling and tapping. One way to overcome extra setups is to use a fixed-angle tool or an adjustable tool for the most flexibility. While these tools are readily available from most tooling suppliers, the difficulty can be with the canned cycles in the machine. These drilling and tapping cycles make the assumption that the drilling or tapping action is going to be performed in the Z-axis direction, which is fine for the majority of cases but is unlikely to be the case. The programmer could write specific sub-programs and use a floating tap holder to allow for the change in spindle speeds through the tapping cycle. However, if using a Haas machine, he or she has the general-purpose tapping cycle, G184 for CW tapping, designed by Haas's contro...

Waldmann Lighting has introduced the Slim LED, designed to provide powerful, directional lighting for areas where there is no space for traditional luminaires. It is suitable for integration into a range of machinery and equipment, and eliminates the need for separate task lighting. Typical applications include sheet-metal sawing/drilling, packaging, automation, textile and image processing plants. Impact and vibration resistant, the rugged IP67-rated Slim LED can be connected directly to a 24V source and is available in lengths from 196 to 1176mm, with the ability to adjust the direction of each LED light source, providing customised floodlighting to suit each application. With its highly efficient LED light sources, Slim LED also offers energy savings with a lamp life of 60,000 hours - equivalent to six years at maximum light output when running 24 hours per day. The lamps are available in a choice of wattages from 3.6 to 28.8W and can be supplied in an optional wide-beam version wi...