Production processes

Bernhard Fischbacher, Tobias Telser, and Paul Heilmann, the managing directors of DHF Precision Mechanics GmbH, were visiting a fair to catch up on laser marking systems. While visiting the Rofin-Baasel exhibit, they were invited to take a seat in front of the manual laser welding system to weld some parts by themselves, an experience that caused the three DHF managers to re-think their investment agenda.

Today, two years later, DHF uses laser material processing to manufacture Brainlab's DASH, among others. It is an intra-surgical navigation system for knee endoprothesis, which relies on an iPod touch for analysis, planning, and exact positioning of cutting tools.

Headquartered in Ostermünchen near Munich (Fig. 1), DHF Precision Mechanics counts among its customers well-known medical device, electronics, and aerospace engineering companies. The company specializes in high-precision CNC-milled parts and assemblies. After 15 years of virtually continuous growth, the company now operates 18 CNC machining centers and offers a service portfolio ranging from prototype manufacturing to bulk production of several 10,000 parts/year.

DHF has established a very good reputation in the market with utmost precision and fast and flexible reaction to customer requirements. When needed, DHF pushes the technical limits of CNC milling, like series production of parts for electrical motors, which must be produced with tolerances down to some microns on a lathe. The parts feature bearing seats where ball bearings have to be glued in place.

With quick reaction to customer requirements as a major objective, DHF established high in-house production depth. From CAD/CAM construction to preparing wrought material (various steel and aluminum alloys and titanium), to CNC-milling, to surface finishing, assembly and quality assurance.

Production processes at DHF frequently comprise welding, engraving and marking. Techniques for marking and joining on high-precision workpieces call for the laser. Welded parts have to feature perfect, pore and crack-free weld seams, especially in medical device manufacture, which has to provide sterile hardware and calls for immaculate surface quality to eliminate any chance of bacterial colonization. The same goes for all deep engravings and markings; contours have to be free from burrs and ditches. The marking process must not induce any material changes that might promote surface corrosive action.

Until 2012, DHF had been outsourcing laser material processing jobs completely. However, outsourcing significantly reduced production flexibility and speed for certain parts and increased complexity of logistics. More than that, the annual outsourcing business volume had been reaching the six-digit range; reason enough to think about establishing an in-house laser material processing center. Being laser rookies, Fischbacher, Telser, and Heilmann initially focused on laser marking because they expected laser welding to be much more difficult to control, at least before they had their first personal laser welding experience.

The complete solution
The DHF managers decided to incorporate a laser welding system in their investment planning. That meant sending samples to various laser manufacturers and asking them for a live presentation of the laser welding process. This was not an easy task, considering the required acuteness and surface quality, namely for medical devices. Andreas Sch?llhorn (Rofin-Baasel Lasertech Starnberg) knows about the importance of an optimum presentation in the application lab. He also knows that's just the beginning: "Medium-sized companies expect way more from us than just selling suitable laser systems. We take care of the employee's training, help setting up the first applications and our application support provides unbureaucratic assist during the first months. If required, we even design the production room according to laser safety standards, like we did for DHF."

Establishing an in-house laser processing center
Six months after Rofin and DHF's first contact at the fair, a Rofin laser processing center was installed at DHF GmbH, comprised of the integrated CNC and manual laser welding system and the CombiLine Advanced marking system (Fig. 2). The laser welding workstation seamlessly integrates manual or joystick-controlled deposition welding with CNC operation (Fig. 3). It offers a cross table for workpieces of up to 500 kg weight and an additional rotary axis. The Integral was chosen because of its large working chamber, which is spacious enough to freely rotate parts of up to 400 mm in diameter.

Even today when looking back, Paul Heilmann still expresses his surprise. "We had been planning to ramp up things slowly and to backsource the laser jobs one by one. In fact external laser processing was gone within a few weeks. Today we have ready-to-use setups for some 100 marking and welding applications right at our hands."

Laser processing for high-tech medical devices
A lengthy cooperation with Brainlab, a worldwide market leader for image-guided surgery and radiotherapy, benefitted from laser technology as well. Fischbacher says, "Frequently, we are cooperating in early product design stages. It is a big advantage to know exactly not only the possibilities of CNC milling but also of joining technology and marking, not to mention the faster manufacturing of prototypes."

For Brainlab's DASH (Fig. 6), DHF Precision Mechanics GmbH manufactures and assembles the iPod holder with all fixed or detachable 3D position markers and cutting devices. All pieces have to meet the sophisticated quality standards for medical devices. The entire parts set comprises 14 weld joints of precision milled parts, even of different stainless steel alloys. The mostly circular weld seams feature a width of only some 100 μm and must not show any pores or micro cracks (Fig. 7).

DHF deep-engraves the plastic iPod holder with the laser to form cavities which will be filled with a special paint. Thus, the marking is still visible when the paint slowly vanishes after numerous sterilizations.

Read the full story at www.careel-laser-engraving-machine.com web! Four product lines to meet your Laser engraver, laser cutting machine, Laser marking, welding and carving application. If need any help, please contact our Sales Team or Technical Team, they can support you well.

Shopping for wind turbines and bridges commences in Silver Bay

The City of Silver Bay met Monday night and made quick work of its agenda. In less than fifteen minutes the council members had approved the minutes of the last meeting, paid the bills, made all necessary decisions and were back in their cars headed home. All councilors, Mayor Joanne Johnson, City Administrator Lana Fralich and City Attorney Pete Morris were present for the meeting.

City employees in Silver Bay, Beaver Bay and those who work at the Silver Bay Veterans Home will be receiving A Workplace Accident and Injury Reduction training later this month. The AWAIR training, developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration became mandatory for many businesses and entities in 1991.

The council authorized City Administrator Lana Fralich to seek quotes from manufacturers for the city's wind turbine. The original budget for the plan is between $130-140,000, but grants have been sought through Minnesota Power's Conservation Improvement Program Funding for community wind power projects. The CIP funding will provide a maximum of $20,000 for an approved wind energy project. Additionally, grant funding has been sought from the Lloyd K. Johnson Foundation, an organization that supports economic development, education, arts and culture, environmental, and social welfare programs in North Shore communities.

Last spring the floods destroyed the bridge spanning the Beaver River at the Silver Bay Golf Course. A new bridge will replace the old one and Monday night the council gave permission to start the process of seeking quotes for the manufacture of the 70-foot long, 12 foot wide bridge. The total cost of the bridge, installation, engineering and geotechnical work is unknown to date, however, according to Fralich, the cost of the project is expected to come in below the insurance cap of $150,000.

A wind farm developer is making one more effort to persuade state regulators that the turbines it wants to build will meet Wisconsin's noise standards.

In a filing with the state Public Service Commission, Emerging Energies said it was providing new information demonstrating it could comply with a 45-decibel noise standard at night for nearby homes.

But the PSC left the door open for taking a fresh look at the case, saying in its denial that it was under a court-imposed deadline to make a final decision on the matter. The PSC ruling invited the developer to do what it's doing now - to come back with more information showing it can comply with the state's noise limit for wind turbines.

Using nighttime curtailment of wind turbines for affected homeowners can be done to comply with the night noise limit, said Tim Osterberg, one of the principals involved with developer.

Emerging Energies' new analysis concluded that, depending on the turbine used, the overall electricity production from the project would be reduced by 1.6% or 4.5%, but that the restriction "will not negatively impact the project to a degree that makes the project uneconomic," Osterberg said in a filing.

In its decision, the PSC said it was concerned about the use of curtailment as a tool to meet the noise standard. The commission said that, while it recognized that curtailment was allowed by the state's wind turbine siting rules, it concluded that "it is prudent to ensure compliance with applicable audible noise limits using conservative computer modeling before construction."

In other words, developers should design a wind farm so it can comply with the noise standard without the use of curtailment, the commission decided.

Market Augmented Wind Power

Mass Megawatts Wind Power, Inc.today announces an initial geographical market for its plan to sell augmented wind power systems within the next few months. The target market is Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut.  The new wind power unit is designed to reduce the cost of electricity by utilizing a less complicated and inexpensive wind-focusing technique to increase the wind velocity directed at the turbine.

In December 2012, affordable, green energy was made available for consumers in the Northeast region of the United States.  The company offers electric power at competitive rates to commercial and residential electricity users in several states, including Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Illinois.   Mass Megawatts recently expanded into the retail electrical market as a logical, strategic progression that diversifies their business model while improving future earnings potential.

In other news, Mass Megawatts began a sales program in Colorado for a wind powered water pump and wind electric generator with the  marketing efforts geared toward agricultural facilities, farms, and ranches.

With its patented, wind augmentation system, a new retail sales business, and very little debt, Mass Megawatts believes it is well positioned to ramp-up production of its new augmentation units in the shorter term while expanding its infrastructure to support mass-production goals in the longer term.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that could be affected by risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to Mass Megawatts Wind Power’s ability to produce a cost-effective wind energy conversion device.

Among the factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those indicated herein are: the failure of Mass Megawatts Wind Power, also known as Mass Megawatts Windpower, to achieve or maintain necessary zoning approvals with respect to the location of its power developments; the ability to remain competitive; to finance the marketing and sales of its electricity; general economic conditions; and other risk factors detailed in periodic reports filed by Mass Megawatts Wind Power. Additionally, Mass Megawatts Wind Power stock quote and Mass Megawatts stock price may be impacted by global condition. Mass Megawatts Wind Power Inc. expected and anticipated positive and negative impact on the Mass Megawatts stock price and the MMMW stock quote.

Specifically, technologies with the largest cost reduction potential are solar photovoltaics, concentrated solar power and wind. Hydropower and most biomass combustion technologies, on the other hand, are mature and their cost reduction potentials are not that big.

Solar PV has made remarkable progress in reducing costs to date. It has been established as a secure energy source with very high plant reliability and is not exposed to any fuel price volatility, achieving grid parity in a number of markets.

“With continued cost reductions, grid parity will soon be the norm, rather than the exception,” stated the report. As for the wind energy, the report found that total installed costs are declining again after seen an increase between 2004 and 2009.

Wind turbine costs, determined by a global overcapacity at wind turbine manufacturers, are declining as well and have fallen by around a quarter from their 2009 peak in the United States. Moreover, the current large discrepancies between Chinese turbine prices and those in the U.S. in 2012 suggest further drop in prices.

Despite significant cost reductions, Irena said deployment of renewable sources remains to be impeded by the perception that although sustainable, they are not as economically competitive as conventional power sources.

Picayune’s Vo-Tech offers up-to-date class

Students at Picayune Memorial High School will have access to a more up to date class that could prompt an interest in an engineering or technological field.

The change will involve dropping the Technical Applications class and change it to Robotics and Engineering, said Vo-Tech teacher Todd Giglio.

Not only is the name of the class changing, but many aspects of the class will be upgraded, including the addition of 3D printers, Vex robot kits, a laser engraver and a state of the art milling machine, said Giglio. Every one of those pieces of hardware is hooked to computers the students will use to create parts or items through the use of software.

Changes to the course and addition of equipment were possible in part due to a $150,000 federally funded grant that the Vo-Tech’s director, Christie Pinero, applied for, Giglio said.

Each lesson in the new class will be computer driven, either though course material stored on the class’ in-house server or over the Internet, said Magee Enterprises Regional Sales Manager Mike Thomas. Thomas said Magee Enterprises won the bid to install the hardware for the course change.

Course modules will provide students with problems that must be solved on the computer before being put into practical application by using either a robot from the Vex kit or by creating a part with the milling machine or through the 3D printer, Thomas said.

Programming the Vex robot will require simple, autonomous commands to the on-board memory through the USB port. Autonomous commands can include driving forward or turning, or the students can drive the robot manually with a video game inspired controller, Thomas said.

Seven schools in Mississippi are in the process of setting up the program, which includes a two-day instructional course such as the one that was held at Picayune’s Vo-Tech earlier this week. In addition to Picayune’s Vo-Tech, the other six schools are in Lamar County, Hattiesburg, Brookhaven, Biloxi, New Albany and Jefferson Davis County, Thomas said. Each school had to apply for the grant. Once approved, the school decides how to use the funds to purchase materials and hardware needed for the instruction.

Each year seven schools are selected for the grant set up by the legislature, but more than seven always apply, Thomas said. Once a school is awarded the grant, it takes over the responsibility of funding the course. However, Thomas said he is working with legislators to update equipment at schools with outdated technology with more grant money. In the four years of grant funding, similar courses have been set up in 28 schools across the state, Thomas said.

Picayune was the only school to purchase a laser engraver this year with its grant, Thomas said. Giglio said the machine is capable of engraving on most any surface, be it wood, plastic, metal or glass. The hardware is even capable of cutting precision parts out of a sheet of plastic, Giglio said.

The curriculum will provide students hands-on experience with robotics and engineering, but Giglio said it also will include writing, math, science and reading comprehension, helping students to see how academic instruction transfers into hands-on experience. One example involves the use of the 3D printer. Typically it is difficult for students to comprehend the need for x, y and z in math, but when they put those figures to use in using the 3D printer, the need for three axes is apparent, Giglio said.