Medical & Healthcare

BEA Lasers has announced the availability of its OEM line of lasers for demanding applications, ideal for use in Medical and other OEM applications. BEA lasers are designed for use in levelling, alignment and positioning.

PFERD miniature brushes for cleaning and light deburring give users a competitive advantage by providing highly repeatable deburring and surface-conditioning results on a variety of materials, from hard alloys to soft aluminum. The lineup of wheel, cup and end configurations includes stem-mounted miniature brushes that are ideally suited for the precision applications required in many industries, including electronics, medical, aerospace and jewelry.

Schütte LLC, Jackson, Mich., appointed Jeffrey Reinert CEO for North American operations.

ITAMCO (Indiana Technology and Manufacturing Companies) is delivering components to the medical device industry made with their new EOS M 290 additive manufacturing printer. The EOS printer was delivered in June 2017 and ITAMCO was shipping components to a medical device supplier in August.

Affolter Technologies says the AF110 plus gear hobbing center convinces with its versatility, precision, power, rigidity and ease of use. It has eight axes with a maximum DP17, minimal DP1270, and a spindle speed of up to 12,000 rpm.

Hexa Research reports that the global laser marking machine market size will reach USD 3.38 billion by 2024, driven by increasing adoption of laser systems in industries such as automobile, packaging and machine tools. The marking equipment industry witnessed notable change over the past two decades, and the trend is expected to continue.

Matsuura Machinery USA Inc., St. Paul, Minn., which develops high-speed machining and manufactures automated, unmanned, high-accuracy CNC machine tools, has announced a number of personnel appointments.

END USER: Northeast Tool & Manufacturing, (704) 882-1187, www.northeasttool.us. SOLUTION PROVIDER: MachineMetrics, (413) 341-5747, www.machinemetrics.com. CHALLENGE: Reduce the time and manual inspection required to measure productivity. SOLUTION: A machine monitoring system.

Until a couple of years ago, the Food and Drug Administration required a unique identifier on each distinct assembly of a medical device in human- and machine-readable forms. That rule has changed. Now, every individual component in an assembly must be marked as well. Traceability is becoming more and more prevalent, not only in the medical device sector but throughout manufacturing.

Low-wattage lasers are faster, gentler and more eco-friendly than traditional parts-cleaning methods. So why aren't they more prevalent?

As a precision sheet metal machining technology, photo etching achieves exacting tolerances, is highly repeatable and in many instances is the only technology that can cost-effectively manufacture precision metal components with the accuracy necessary in demanding and often safety critical applications. Once design engineers select photo etching as their preferred metalworking process, it is important that they fully appreciate not just its versatility, but also the specific aspects of the technology that can affect—and in many instances enhance—product design. This article analyzes the key considerations that design engineers must appreciate to get the most from photo etching and benchmarks the process against other metal machining technologies.