These tests are expensive and time consuming. Many of the environmental tests cannot be performed without specialized equipment and must be performed in a special laboratory. Regulatory certifications can take weeks or even months to schedule and pass.

Release to Manufacturing
The final release to manufacturing involves the generation of many types of documentation, including manufacturing documents, assembly drawings and flow diagrams. Repair manuals are required for service technicians and operator manuals for end users. The documentation task alone for an HMI involves many man hours of coordinated work, as well as a documentation tracking and updating system. Is your company ready to take on this task?

Sustaining Engineering
Once a human machine interface is incorporated into your product, the issues of maintenance, repair or replacement are major cost factors that must be planned for up front. If you source a terminal from a third party, product maintenance and repair will be covered by warranty, so no internal engineering effort is required on your part. In addition, when an HMI that you design requires an upgrade or becomes obsolete, your engineers will be responsible for the redesign.

Product Management
One of the hardest costs to calculate is opportunity cost. If you commit engineering resources to the development of a non-core competency human-machine interface, what other more important or more lucrative projects may be affected by this decision?

Risk factors must be honestly assessed by the product managers. These run the gamut from the risk of losing key members of an in-house design team to the need to change a crucial specification, such as screen size, in the middle of product development. Risks are also involved in the availability of component parts, particularly if you need them in low quantities. Once the product is in production, there are also the additional costs of ongoing maintenance and support.

The Bottom Line
Industry experts agree that the build versus buy question in any manufacturing industry finally comes down to a handful of key questions. Three questions are crucial to consider: time to market, risk assessment and cost analysis. All three are subject to the overriding question of core competency and opportunity costs.

If designing and building reliable terminals for your company´s line of products is not a core competency of your business, then the fastest, safest and most cost-effective course is to partner with a reputable manufacturer of human machine interfaces.

For further information, view website: www.beijerelectronics.com   Refer to page 368

Single-part meshes and grids for a wide
range of applications are proven to be cost effective
alternatives to their woven wire mesh counterparts

Single-part meshes and grids for a wide range of applications are proven to be cost effective alternatives to their woven wire mesh counterparts. In the majority of cases they provide superior performance, tailored to the specific application and size and shape requirement. When used in charged applications such as RFI shielding, they offer enhanced conductivity by having no cross-over areas and facilitate far easier electrical termination, by having integrated bus bars.

Manufactured by photo chemical etching or electroforming, these meshes are characterized by their consistent cross-sectional thickness and accurate aperture shapes / sizes. Being manufactured in a single piece they are not only slimmer, but have greater integrity, making them more robust during handling.

Precision Micro has now raised the bar in precision metal mesh production with the introduction of LEEF (Laser Evolved ElectroForming) technology. The process uses Laser Direct Imaging in combination with precision electroforming, to produce high accuracy meshes in a single additive process, without the need for any physical tooling.

A great benefit of the LEEF process is that it can produce far finer features than conventional photo etching or indeed photo electroforming. The process can produce precision bespoke grids / meshes with high aspect ratios… generating thinner bars, down to <20µm in thicker materials.

With higher open area ratios than their woven counterparts, the shape of LEEF meshes can be simple or complex.  This enables designers to produce components to suit the application rather than designing the application to suit the shape of the mesh.

"LEEF is a high precision manufacturing process that doesn't depend on costly glass masters or in fact, any physical tooling," said Anthony Marrett, Managing Director of Precision Micro. "We now have a high precision, repeatable process that can make single or multiple piece parts in a very efficient manner, which is reducing our customers' costs."

LEEF grids / meshes are low stress, burr free, dimensionally consistent and free of optical distortion. Available in both nickel and copper, they tend to have a shiny and matt side, but optional blackening is available to reduce reflections in optical applications.

PRECISION MICRO in profile
PRECISION MICRO is the UK's leading micro-components manufacturer. With a turnover of €17m the Company operates from two manufacturing locations in the UK, both of which are within the West Midlands area.

PRECISION MICRO was formed as the result of a merger between two of Europe's leading micro-components manufacturers (Microponents Ltd and Micro Metallic Ltd) bringing together both common and complementing manufacturing technologies under a single banner. The new Company has more than 60 years collective experience in providing economical, rapid, bespoke, precision engineered components to a wide range of industries including Electronics, Communications, Medical, Aerospace & Defence, Automotive, and Precision Engineering on a worldwide basis.

PRECISION MICRO is characterised by its innovative approach to business and its technology leadership. The Company takes pride in its ability to push the boundaries of its manufacturing technologies to provide customers with unique, cutting edge solutions that are differentiated by size, function, performance and quality.

The two companies that have formed PRECISION MICRO can boast a number of innovative initiatives and industry 'firsts' over the years including: first to develop photo etching outside the US and the first company in Europe to utilise CAD and laser photo plotting to generate photo tooling.

The Company is considered to be unique in its manufacturing technology offering, able to offer Photo Etching, EDM Wire Erosion and Electroforming, complemented by a wide range of post assembly and finishing techniques. However it is PRECISION MICRO's ability to combine these techniques to produce cost effective, high precision, engineering solutions that really sets it aside from 'the rest'.

Where conventional machining technologies cannot cope; tight tolerances, measured in microns, are the order of the day; complexity is inherent in the design; the scale of component or feature is minuscule and volume requirements vary from individual prototypes to many millions… PRECISION MICRO becomes the natural choice for precision component manufacture. For further information, e-mail: westonl@precisionmicro.com

A new series of 17 elliptic leaf spring antivibration mounts

A new Series of 17 elliptic leaf spring antivibration mounts from Advanced Antivibration Components (AAC) are impervious to corrosion and will operate efficiently under a wide range of temperatures, making the units well-suited for shipboard or mobike applications. Their basic design employs two or more high range tensile stainless steel "U" formed leaves, situated at each end, forming an elliptical shape when joined together in the center portion with face plates. The spaces between the "U" formed leaves are filled with a specially developed polymer or stainless steel mesh. These mounts are featured at the AAC eStore where you can order online, request a quote, download CAD models, check stock plus view catalog and technical pages.

The leaves in these mounts, identified as V10Z70-... Series, are made of 304 stainless steel and the washers are made of nylon and stainless steel. The damping compound is made of polymer for the "X" mounts and stainless steel mesh for the "XM" mounts. They have a wide range of applications which include their use in: military applications, air compressors, engine suspension, shipboard electronics & equipment, radar communication equipment, electronic control equipment, bomb and other lifting gear, mobile vehicles, pumps, blowers and fans.

AAC stocks a wide range of shock & vibration isolation products which include: stud & nut type mounts, base plate fastened mounts, wheels, leveling & foot mounts, suspension mounts, spring, steel mesh & cable mounts, bumpers, and channel mounts, bushings & grommets, pads & tapes, and couplings. These products are stocked in different materials including: rubber, neoprene, urethane, sorbothane, stainless steel mesh and springs. Many are suitable for use in extreme environmental conditions. Of special interest is a complete selection of Silicone Gel floor mounts, pads, sheets, plus paste-type thermal gel.

Detailed specifications are contained in Catalogs V100 and V115, available free upon request. 

For further information, view website: http://www.vibrationmounts.com/newproducts/LeafSpring.htm  Refer to page 287

CF15 Oil and Fuel Pumps with a self contained pressure regulator

This whisper vane pump offers constant flow and quiet running operation. Applications span the whole of fluid systems, while prelube was the first design focus, transfer and process applications also fit well with the pump´s design.

Anyone installing or rebuilding a large engine should consider a pre-lube system. A substantial part of large engine lifetime wear occurs at dry starts after the lube oil has drained from the bearings and the oil galleries during shutdown. An upfront investment in a pre-lube system can pay for itself many times over by greatly extending an engine's service life.

The CF15 pump includes a self-contained, pressure bypass valve to prevent motor overload, and a low-pressure-loss check valve to prevent backflow. It provides constant pressure, which is particularly valuable in pre-lube applications to prevent backflow from the main engine lube pump. It delivers a 56 L/min flow with AC, DC or compressed air motors.

It is a self-priming and quiet-running vane pump. The whisper vane design provides low noise pumping as well as low maintenance through the direct coupling of the pump heads to the motors.

Applications span both industry and marine systems. Pumps are ideal for stand-by power installations and other large power generation sets. As pre-lube pumps, they will run quietly and require zero maintenance.

As a process pump, they are of interest where constant pressure or flow is required. Thanks to the self contained pressure regulator and by-pass, these pumps can supply several systems running in parallel. Any variations originating for any reason from one process will not affect the performance of any of the other process running at the same time.

As a positive displacement pump, it will self prime and is more efficient and quieter than a gear pump. It performs well with any kind of high viscosity oil or fluid. For further information, e-mail: PUMPS@ESE.TC  Refer to page 172