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Motion Control
Round-Up
News and Views from the World
of Automation.
October, 2007
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| Dear Reader, |
It's that time of year when ghosts and goblins abound. Yes, it's
Halloween. Expect to commune with departed ancestors, carve up
some pumpkins for decorations and hand out treats to small children in
costumes.
Remember, as you celebrate, that BEI encoders are
helping you to enjoy those manufactured items that make the holidays
special: candies, wrapping, bottling, toys, printing and automated
warehousing for distribution. Celebrate responsibly, enjoy
this newsletter and we'll see you again next
month. |
| Specials for Special Effects |
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You may
not know this, but a lot of our catalog encoders can be used in very special
ways, outside of their standard specifications. If you have a model
number that ends with a -S (dash S), then your encoder has some special
feature associated with it.
When you call in for a replacement, or if you are building
a brand new model number, you'll want to talk to one of our applications
specialists about what the -S means for your particular application.
Most often a -S at the end of the model number means a special pinout,
an expanded operating temperature range or some other special testing.
In addition to the literally millions of variations to our catalog product,
we have a wide range of specials available to accommodate most any
industrial situation.
So if you're not sure that we can cover your application, give us a
call. Odds are pretty good that we've got a special answer for your
special requirements.
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| Quazy Quotes |
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The Reverend William Spooner was quite famous for inadvertently
swapping letters, prefixes and syllables in sentences to particularly
hilarious effect. He is reputed to have once offered to relocate a
parishioner with the kind words, "May I sew you to a sheet?" and berated a
late student who had " . . hissed my mystery lecture!"
Born in London in 1844, the Reverend's verbal slips became so famous
that the term "Spoonerism" was coined to describe them. During his
tenure as Dean and then later as President of Oxford University he
encountered many notable people of the time. He had occasion to toast
Queen Victoria with the unexpected, "Here's to our queer old dean" and once,
during a naval review he remarked how impressed he was with the "cattle
ships and bruisers" before him.
To enjoy the unintentional wit of this 19th century educator, just
follow the link below but watch out, Spoonerisms are contagious and you
might find yourself caught up in a "tip of the slung" as it were.
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| Can You Solve This? |
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 Here's a teaser that will get
you thinking a bit. One customer was building a very precise
digitizing arm to be used in the manufacture of large custom gaskets.
He was using encoders at two joints: the "shoulder" and the "elbow".
These were fairly high resolution, hollow shaft encoders with 5000 cycles
per turn and were enclosed in a specially designed housing. This
housing had a dual bearing shaft to support the encoder while it rotated
with the arm. His initial prototype worked like a dream, so he ordered
more encoders and had more digitizing arms built up.
These subsequent units that he tested were producing erratic
results. A review of the output plots revealed that the errors were
repeatable and consistently appeared at particular angular positions of the
arm. Furthermore, the position error was different from arm to
arm. We discussed his software algorithms looking for a clue to the
problem. It wasn't until we talked about his manufacturing process
that we discovered the root of the problem - what was it?
Answer: The first prototype that he had built was a "golden"
unit, built by a master machinist. The machinist had taken care to
precisely machine each joint of the arm and make sure that the holes for the
bearing assemblies in those joints were bored simultaneously to minimize any
potential runout errors. Subsequent digitizing arms were built as
separate sets and then assembled. These joint arms had high runout
that was easily detected and reported back by the high resolution of the
encoder. Once the problem was understood he was able to true up the
arms and re-bore them eventually salvaging the parts he had already
produced. |
| Yes, you can! |
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 If you've ever wondered what would happen
if you let a bunch of design students loose in the canned goods aisle of
your supermarket - then wait no longer. The Society for Design
Administration has founded an event called Canstruction which is both
whimsically creative and provides a benefit to local food banks.
Using the label colors as design elements and patiently stacking
thousands of cans some amazing sculptures are possible - just like the lion
& lamb above. This group presents exhibits all over the US
and Canada as sculpture competitions. After the awards are presented,
the exhibit is dismantled and distributed locally.
To see the winning sculptures and find out if one of these
exhibits is coming to a town near you - just click on the picture, below and
you can visit their web site.
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Here's wishing you all a happy and safe Halloween. Remember that
we're always available and willing to help you out with your
questions - so give us a call at 1-800-ENCODER or send me an email and we'll
make sure you're taken care of.
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Thanks for reading,
Scott Orlosky
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email: Scott
Orlosky
voice: 805-968-0782
web: http://www.beiied.com
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