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Mar/Apr 2012  

Micromachines/ Micromachining

Top Features

Pressing On

Company invests in molding equipment, employees to tap new markets

Dynomax Inc. is seeing strong growth in defense and aerospace orders for its micro-injection-molded products. While many companies might be satisfied with that, Dynomax wants more. It has targeted the medical industry for new business.

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Tiny cameras, big impression

If you’ve ever been to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialist to check out a sinus problem, you know there’s no such thing as a small camera—not when it’s going up your nose. Even at half the diameter of a pen, the flexible endoscope used by a physician exploring your sinus cavity can leave a huge impression on your psyche.

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Army targets flexible electronics, displays

Dr. Eric W. Forsythe, staff physicist for the Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, Md., agreed to discuss the development of flexible electronics and flexible displays with MICROmanufacturing. Forsythe is the team leader for display technologies and is an associate program manager for the Army’s Flexible Display Center. One of the Army’s goals is to develop electronics for use in advanced communications devices with flexible displays. One of the main challenges is to increase the performance levels of flexible electronics to more closely match those of traditional printed circuit boards.

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Challenging Work

Manufacturing molds used to produce plastic parts with features too small to be seen with the naked eye or measured with standard devices is challenging. That’s why moldmakers that perform this work tend to specialize in designing and building micromolds.

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Hybrid machining can be a real time-saver

Hybrid machining combines two or more manufacturing technologies. The aim of hybridization is to overcome the inherent limitations of a specific technology or expand its capabilities, raise productivity, and decrease processing time and costs.

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Well Put-Together

Add up the variety of parts, performance specifications and volume requirements involved in automatically assembling a multicomponent micro product and the result is a bewildering sum of possible hardware- and software-based automation engineering solutions.

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Top Videos

Micromanufacturing lab tour at Northwestern Univ.

During the 7th International Conference on MicroManufacturing in March, conference co-chairs Jian Cao and Kornel Ehmann, along with a few of their students, provided an overview of their research and work stations at the university's micromanufacturing lab.

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Aerotech displays micro positioning stages

Stephen Malone, applications engineer at Aerotech Inc., provided a brief overview of the company's micro positioning stages during the ICOMM 2012 gathering held in March at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.

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Cold Heading Technology from Fukui Byora

Keigo Fukumoto, representing Fukui Byora Co., Ltd, Fukui, Japan, during the recent ICOMM 2012 gathering at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., offered a brief backround about the company and its Cold Heading Technology.

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ICOMM growing, achieving balanced global interest

April 13, 2012—With about 150 attendees turning out for the 7th International Conference on MicroManufacturing (ICOMM 2012) held March 12-14 at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., conference organizers hailed the balanced attendance from Asia, Europe and North America as a first for the annual gathering.

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Racecar sets world speed record

Small Car at Vienna thumbA 285µm-long racecar has been fabricated in record time via ultrahigh-precision 3-D printing at Vienna University of Technology.

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Top Products

AccuteX EDM introduces 5-Axis wire EDM

Accutex EDM

AccuteX EDMAccuteX EDM, a division of Absolute Machine Tools Inc., has introduced its SP-300iA 5-Axis CNC wire EDM. The machine features new microsparking technology, the MST-II function, which provides the fine surface finishes typically found on parts for the aerospace and medical industries, according to the company.

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Micro Tool, Micro Plastics offer partmaking options

Micro Tool & Mfg. Inc.

roboformMicro Tool and Manufacturing Inc. and Micro Plastics Inc., Meadville, Pa., offer moldmaking and molding, precision machining and engineering and design for the aerospace, automotive, electronics, medical, military and consumer products markets.

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ABL's spindles ideal for routing and micromachining

Air Bearings Ltd.

abl spindleAir Bearings Ltd. offers a range of spindles for PCB drilling, silicon-wafer dicing, optical machining and micromachining at spindle speeds of up to 370,000 rpm.

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National Jet Co. specializes in micro hole manufacturing

The National Jet Company

hairThe National Jet Company is a micro hole manufacturing company that can drill holes as small as .0005" (five-tenths of a thousandth of an inch, or 12.5 microns). They drill through most metals and plastics, as well as a variety of other materials.

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Mori Seiki line targets micromachining

DMG/Mori Seiki USA

5-axis milling thumbDMG/Mori Seiki's Advanced Technologies line consists of machine tools for micro- nano- and laser-machining and special-purpose applications.

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