Association of
CMM Manufacturers
Celebrates Its First Anniversary
Founded in late 2001 to promote coordinate measuring machine business and technology, the International Association of Coordinate Measuring Machine Manufacturers — better known as CMM
Manufacturers — will soon be celebrating its first anniversary.
This international, non-profit organization undertakes such initiatives as the development of human skills through education and training, and the promotion and implementation of common standards for hardware and interface software. For example, to help engineers and managers stay up to speed with evolving measurement technology, IA.CMM supports an ongoing forum for the exchange of experience between CMM users and CMM manufacturers. this machine is meaureing the dimensions for molds and die, for examples plastic mold or plastic molding parts
Members of IA.CMM are Brown & Sharpe DEA, Carl Zeiss, ITP,
Johansson, Mahr, Mitutoyo, Mora, OKM, Trimek, Wenzel, Werth, and Zett Mess.
New Integrated
Resin Selector
Software Tool Is Updated Frequently
Prospector Pro by IDES is a tool
to help in the selection of resins. The program integrates with resin
manufacturers’ and distributors’ material selector tools and websites. It
allows efficient access to a database of 40,000 plastic material datasheets from 390 global suppliers.
The program includes design data, multipoint data, comprehensive
datasheets directly from suppliers and sourcing information.
New features include:
- Exporting of design data to
HTML text or MS Excel files
- Sample ordering via General
Polymers
- Resin purchasing via GE
Polymerland
- Request product quotes from
manufacturers and/or distributors
Improved features include complementary material support. If users are
unable to find a plastic datasheet, they can contact IDES and it will track
down the datasheet within 24 hours.
An i-Manage Suite™ data entry tool allows manufacturers to import their
data directly into the IDES plastic materials database which is updated to
Prospector Pro every two weeks.
Materialise
Process Builds
Impressive Replica Statue
An impressive statue stands in
the hall of the Materialiseheadquarters in Leuven, Belgium. It’s a
six-foot-tall reproduction of an ancient Greek kouros, a type of
life-size sculpture that marked graves or stood near temples as gifts dedicated
to the gods during the Archaic era, from about 650 to 500 BC.
The manufacturer of the statue was part of an ECO project, which
involved GEO-Analysis, responsible for scanning sculptures; the Focke Museum in
Bremen, Germany; the Fitzwilliam Museum of Archeology in Cambridge, UK; the
Archaeological Receipts Fund in Athens; and Materialise.
The goal for Materialise was to make a life-size replica of a
kouros. After preparing the scanned data in a day, Materialise built the statue
on its Mammoth II stereolithography machine, which has a build area of
2,150 x 620 x 500 mm.
The statue was built with a layer thickness of 0.15 mm. Production
took just under 100 hours. The replica has a wall thickness of 5 mm and weighs
about 11 kg.
Upcoming NPE
2003 Expected
To Be Truly International Event
We’re less than nine months
away from the triennial NPE, and the Washington-based Society
of the Plastics Industry is expecting the largest international
participation in the show’s history. Show dates are June 23-27, 2003. The year
2000 show set three NPE records: number of exhibiting companies (2,014), net
exhibit space (1,142,900 ft²/106,179m²), and number of registered participants
(90,142).
By logging on to www.npe.org, visitors can preregister for the
show, identify exhibiting companies by product categories and access their
websites via links. By late fall, visitors will be able to use the site to
select, confirm and pay deposits on hotels.
The site also provides a secure “personal planner,” that
preregistered visitors can use to organize their time at NPE 2003. Basic
information on the show is available in Chinese, French, German, Italian,
Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. Links to the city of Chicago websites provide
information on dining, recreation and entertainment.
Until December, the cost of registering for NPE is (US) $25.00 and
$50.00 thereafter. On-site registration is $75.00.
An International Center at NPE will offer multilingual staff, U.S.
Dept. of Commerce trade experts to help visitors make valuable contacts with
American firms. Separate meeting areas will be available for delegations from
specific countries.
