Simple and Smart FAA Lighting

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Excerpt: The L350-864G is the result of thousands of installations worldwide in the wind-energy market, says its developer. The company adds that the 33- lb warning light is the best in class, first in reliability, easiest to install, and provides the lowest cost of ownership. Some highlights of the L350-864 …

Non-Halogen Flame Retardant Material Adds More

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Excerpt: Estane X-1425 thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) delivers lower smoke generation. The material is intended for wire and cable jacketing in nonhalogen flame retardant applications. The industry is placing greater emphasis on the development of new compounds that produce lower smoke and higher Limited O …

Long and Wide CNC Machine Blades

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Excerpt: The third generation of a multi-processing equipment, RAPA G3, reduces the machining and finishing time spent on large parts, such as turbine blades. The robotic machine-tool supports a variety of tasks such as scanning, measuring and inspection, and cutting. Tools include spray heads, water-jet cut …

Tools for Torque, Tools for Tension

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Excerpt: Wind turbine OEMs provide plenty of guidelines and instructions for tightening the bolts on their equipment. Each bolt gets a prescribed torque or tension. Bolts that fasten tower flanges, for instance, are often tightened to 2065 ft-lb. while foundation bolts are assigned a particular tension. Tens …

Tight or Not, This Bolt Tells

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Excerpt: The VLI or Visual Load Indicator is a tension indicator built into the head of a bolt or stud. Reading the dial tells whether or not the bolt has reached its proper fastener load. If the bright yellow tension indicator stripe is hidden on the black face, clamp load remains assured within ±5%. If th …

Free washer catalog shows 24,000 nonstandard possibilities

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Excerpt: A 2010 Washer Catalog features an increased selection of 24,000 non-standard flat washer and spacer sizes available without tooling charges. The complimentary catalog from Boker’s Inc, Minneapolis, provides easy reference to available washers and spacers, which include ODs from 0.08 to 5.140 in. a …

New blue foam for casting patterns

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Excerpt: Casting patterns in wax have worked OK for centuries as long as part had thick walls and were not too complex. And don’t drop one. The lost wax technique has gotten and update with recent developments from FOPAT, a division of buyCastings.com. FOPAT, for Foam Pattern, developed a two-part purple f …

A sprayer for resin and hardener

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Excerpt: The Graco XM Plural Component Sprayer provides precise ratio control, lets users download historical spraying data, and handles a wide range of two-part materials. The sprayer is engineered to proportion accurately, even at high flow rates. At the heart of the precision-ratio assurance is Graco’s …

Industrial “kitchen” Cooks up New Materials

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Excerpt: Industrial designers and engineers face the challenge of new applications that require paying attention to material’s weight, strength, and cost. The rapid development of alternative energy and other industrial markets is driving a new demand for technology creators to construct and design these a …

Software guides design of composite blades

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Excerpt: Observers of the wind-energy industry agree that long term growth will require technical innovation to make wind power more competitive with other forms of energy. There is also a consensus that it is critical to improve performance by designing and manufacturing more efficient, reliable, and li …