Most of you probably think you know what IMTS is about—machine tools, cutting tools, and various manufacturing processes. And if you stick to the North, South and West halls, you’ll be mostly right. But there’s a substantial group of exhibitors in the East building that are dedicated to automation, motion control and mechanical components.

How does one draw and mesh involute gear teeth in AutoCAD?

The complete Industry News section from the April 2014 issue of Power Transmission Engineering.

Our last installment called out the likely headwinds from both the C.R.A.P. currencies (Canada, Russia, Australia and Latin America) and also weather impact. As companies start reporting in the coming weeks, expect first quarter results to be mildly impacted. This issue we take a closer look at China.

Is industrial maintenance another lost art, or is there hope that we can train the next generation of maintenance professionals?

The complete Product News section from the March 2014 issue of Power Transmission Engineering.

A critical problem for wind turbine gearboxes is failure of rolling element bearings where axial cracks form on the inner rings. This article presents field experience from operating wind turbines that compares the performance of through-hardened and carburized materials. It reveals that through-hardened bearings develop WEA/WECs and fail with axial cracks, whereas carburized bearings do not. The field experience further shows that a carburized bearing with a core having low carbon content, high nickel content, greater compressive residual stresses, and a higher amount of retained austenite provides higher fracture resistance and makes carburized bearings more durable than through-hardened bearings in the wind turbine environment.

Seems simple enough doesn't it? It is most decidedly not. Indeed, one can make the case that--aside from uppermost management (or ownership)-- no one else in a heavy/high-tech manufacturing concern has more ownership of the company's everyday needs and necessities than the purchasing department.

If you attended IFPE 2014 in Las Vegas (colocated with ConExpo and Con/AGG), chances are you saw plenty of products and technologies set to redefine the construction and off-highway markets. It's a safe bet, however, that you didn't see everything. Between the outdoor maze of cranes and construction equipment and the eye-opening, innovative booths at IFPE, it's okay to admit that you may have suffered from a case of information overload. Here are a few points of interest for those that didn't attend IFPE this year or didn't see everything they wanted to see.

EECV in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, keeps on expanding and improving. In 2013 their transhipment of coal increased and they installed a new bucket wheel reclaimer with a capacity of 3,500 tons per hour. They chose a direct-drive system from Bosch Rexroth for this big bucket wheel. The drive system consists of a Hägglunds MB 1600 motor and a DUe drive unit.