Some materials – like silver-loaded pastes, adhesives and inks – can suffer degradation in storage. This can easily be rectified by re-mixing and degassing, quickly achieved by use of the Thinky series of planetary mixers.
Particles of silver of a high specific gravity settle down during storage and are difficult to disperse evenly by manual mixing. Reduced electrical conductivity and inconsistent quality can result from poor homogeneity and air entrapment. Re-dispersion of silver-loaded materials is achieved by mixing and de-aeration with the Thinky ARV-310. It only takes 15 to 30 seconds of re-mix prior to use to de-gas and disperse stored silver paste to optimal performance.
Our friends at ViscoTec have just added a new video showing the preeflow eco-DUO450, which can meter, mix and dispense two-part materials (like epoxy adhesives) with great accuracy and repeatability.
We are hiring! We have updated our Jobs @ INTERTRONICS page with some new vacancies. We are looking for a Marketing Executive and a part-time Bookkeeper. Would you like to come and work with us?
The preeflow® family gets a new big brother, through the development of the new eco-PEN 700 3D from ViscoTec. The brand new geometry between rotor and stator generates a three times bigger output without any velocity loss in dispensing. The eco-PEN 700 3D reaches a volume flow of up to 60 ml/min – this means the eco-PEN range covers the entire array of micro dispensing starting from 1 µl, whilst still retaining the well known features like repeatability > 99 % and the reproducible accuracy ± 1%. preeflow® stands for easy, exact and accurate dispensing.
We have updated our product, the Micro-Dot, to include a lever-action model. This is a great little tool for precision dispensing from syringe barrels.
With low cost robotics playing a significant part in cost-reduced/quality-upgraded small scale production, the new Fisnar Unitop F5200N will interest production engineers in all industries, especially as it has the ability to be used as a gantry, as well as a benchtop robot.
The F5200N is a compact dispensing robot with all moving axes above the work piece. It is ideal for form-in-place gaskets, adhesives, potting, coating and filling. The Unitop™ design makes it suitable for any platform requiring a gantry type mounting providing open access under the robot, conveyor fed automation or installation in work cells operating as a slave robot.
We recently introduced the preeflow® eco-PEN 450 from ViscoTec, which not only offers a greater capacity for high accuracy and highly repeatable volumetric dispensing – it also addresses the needs of a wide range of low to medium viscosity applications. These include oils and fats, colour mixes, silicones, sealing compounds, adhesives and even abrasive media, which can be easily handled by the innovative precision rotor-stator mechanism which we call an “endless piston”.
The eco-PEN 450 deals easily with dots and beads as small as 0.004 ml at up to 6 ml per minute, featuring viscosity autonomous application at pressures from 16 to 20 bar via luer lock dispensing nozzles or needles. Easy fitment to robotic or semi-automatic systems is facilitated by preeflow® EC200 controllers which are available in bench top or panel-mount format. The units are microprocessor controlled and simple to operate, without submenu, and with graphic support. External signals can be connected via I/O ports to a PLC for control in automated lines. A wide variety of dosing programs with part-management are storable. Error messages for filling level and motor current may also be monitored via an RS232 interface. Alternatively, for robotic and automated installations the preeflow® “plug-n-dose” Speed Control readily enables time/pressure control by external computer system.
The eco-PEN 450 is applicable to self-levelling low viscosity media and to non-self-levelling fluids with pressure feed.
Thank you for working with us in 2011.
We wish you a Delightful Christmas, and a Peaceful and Prosperous New Year.
This year we are not sending out printed Christmas cards. Instead, we have donated to Action for Children Parklands Campus, a new special school that opened in September 2011 which provides flexible education and care for young people and their families through day, residential, fostering and outreach services. If you would also like to make a donation please visit their website.
]]>If you are manufacturing medical devices, we want to recommend to you a feature article by Nadine Blaesing from our partners DYMAX.
Building Better Bonds Using Light-Cure Adhesives
The use of light-cure adhesives can optimise product assembly and reduce material waste, thereby achieving cost savings in the production process without affecting quality
Medical device manufacturers have faced the most challenging economic conditions in decades during the last couple of years, and they have aggressively sought ways to reduce production costs without sacrificing product quality. Optimising assembly process efficiency and minimising material consumption are viable pathways for reducing manufacturing costs. Adhesives are well suited for many assembly operations that involve bonding and joining. In these applications, light-curable materials (LCMs) can help to increase productivity and reduce waste compared with traditional two-part, thermally cured or solvent-based adhesive systems…
Adhesives are routinely used to assemble catheters and can be used to bond engineering plastics such as polycarbonate, acrylic, ABS, nylon and various urethanes.
The winters, they tell us, are getting colder and trace heating systems for vulnerable water pipes are finding greater demand. As part of their development process STOPFREEZE were looking for a superior way of protecting their in-line thermostat from water ingress and physical damage in its outdoor situation. Their solution came in the shape of a polyurethane potting compound from us, together with appropriate metering and mixing equipment for production filling of the thermostat housing.
Although primarily focused on boiler condensate discharge lines, both the STOPFREEZE KIT and STOPFREEZE COMBI, which feature an IP67 weatherproof in-line thermostat with integral LED indicators, can both be used for a number of pipe frost protection applications such as farms, caravan parks and camp sites, stables, lofts, garages, holiday homes and lodges, nurseries, outbuildings and sheds etc.
Given the often arduous environments, we recommended IRS3071 Potting Compound, which is a semi-rigid, room temperature curing, flame retardant polyurethane resin system. It is specifically designed for the cost effective encapsulation of a variety of low to medium voltage electrical and electronic applications. The system offers medium viscosity, flame retardation to UL94 V-O at 6mm and excellent adhesion to a wide range of substrates. IRS 3071 is resistant to UV, water based cleaning chemicals, motor oil, lubricants and most dilute acids and alkalis.
Paul Whitehead, our Technical Manager, describes his thoughts:
IRS3071 was suggested because it is a cost-effective way of environmental protection and void free encapsulation. It has the added benefit of adhering to the enclosure making it difficult to disassemble the enclosure without damage.
Explained Neil Fairburn of STOPFREEZE viagra Eltrace:
We were looking for a potting system that was going to be superior to others used in the industry while being easy to use so that we could ensure consistently high quality, performance and reliability. The Intertronics system has been key to market acceptance of our STOPFREEZE in-line thermostat kits and allowed us to offer a simple and inexpensive solution especially suited to the residential market.
IRS 3071 Potting Compound is available in convenient twinpacks or in bulk. It is shown here in a trace heating thermostat protection application.