Pressure Sensitive Film

This might be old news to some of you but check out this Fuji product:

http://www.sensorprod.com/pr/md/index.php?mcode=prmd052011

The link that led me to this says it is new. Looks pretty interesting. I'm a little puzzled by the range: 7 to 43,000 PSI. It looks from the sample that the area from 20 to 3000 would be pretty hard to resolve.

Heidenhain opens a new office

Check this out:

http://www.heidenhain.us/enews/stories_0411/news-el.php

It looks like Heidenhain is back in the L.A. area. I don't know what that means for us as far as parts go, but they must think things are picking up.

We should all look this good at 92

Some of you might remember Ben Frank, formerly of Bullard. I have had the pleasure of working with Ben occasionally for most of my 40+ years in the machine tool business. Today was one of those days! He is alive and well AND still working. We worked on a machine at S&S Precision today. He drove himself down from Ventura County.

Cryogenic Coolant

http://www.mmsonline.com/articles/the-400-difference

I don't really mean for this Blog to become a forum for new MAG ideas, but this one is too interesting to pass up. Many years ago, I fixed a Monarch 10"EE lathe at USC that was being used for this kind of research. MAG now has it for sale.

I especially like the part where the machine remains dry to walk on and how tool life is ten times better in some circumstances.

Volumetric Compensation in FIVE axes!

Just when you thought nothing ever happens in our industry, we realize that:
1) MAG (Cincinnati) is still alive and well.
2) They are actively researching new techniques.
3) There is still a lot of money changing hands in our industry.

Check this out:
http://www.engineeringexchange.com/group/machine_tool/forum/topics/new-system-simultaneously

I was distressed to see that Fanuc was not a part of this consortium. That might not bode well for our recent Fanuc upgrade quote at Triumph Structures. Maybe this is why they prefer Siemens.

Stuxnet

I'm sure that most of you have heard of the Stuxnet Computer Virus by now. Here is an article that goes into much more detail than I've seen before. This is pretty ominous for us because the target of this virus was actually 9000 Siemens Inverters! We don't see this type of connection or communication on our machine tools, but we might some day. Last year, Jeff and I were asked to work on a large (1000 foot long) continuous vulcanization machine in Santa Maria. Its PLC controlled the speeds of 17 inverters along the line and seems like the kind of thing that could be susceptible to this kind of attack.

Something to think about.

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/11/26/secret-agent-crippled-irans-nuclear-ambitions/

Update from Andy

Most of you know that Andy is in Bahrain for a couple of weeks visiting his Mom. He just called me to say Hi and told me they all celebrated Thanksgiving together. He was able to find a turkey right there in Bahrain and bought the fixings with him. He gives his regards.