Assembly - February 2009 - (Page 58) Advertisement Advertisement CASE STUDY Screwdriving System Saves Time and Money ell phone towers are a nearly ubiquitous feature of every city, town and roadway in America. These towers send and receive signals to and from your cell phone. The towers are equipped with filter boxes that filter the highfrequency range to generate a narrow-band signal for the data stream. The clarity of each filter is adjusted by one or more setscrews, or threaded pins, which are mechanically positioned in each filter chamber to an axial depth. A counter-nut does the exact positioning and mechanically locks the setscrew. When the nut counters the setscrew, it is possible for the adjustment to shift on its own because of a threadbacklash. To avoid this effect and eliminate repeated adjustments, manufacturers of filter boxes use custommade setscrews, which are very expensive and still do not solve this thread-backlash problem. DEPRAG has developed a new screwdriving system specifically for manufacturers of mobile phone technology. This system dramatically reduces cycle time when installing and adjusting the setscrews. It also saves these manufacturers money by enabling them to use standardized hardware instead of custom-made setscrews. The system consists of a screwdriving head that accepts both the setscrew and the nut (see picture). Once both fasteners are supplied to the screwdriving head, the setscrew is driven through the nut into the filter box. Thereafter, the nut is countered, without letting go of the setscrew, and its position is therefore positively locked. Lori Logan Marketing Manager DEPRAG Inc. 640 Hembry Street Lewisville, TX 75057 (800) 433-7724 Toll-Free (972) 221-8731 Phone (972) 221-8163 Fax l.logan@depragusa.com www.depragusa.com 58 ASSEMBLY / February 2009 www.assemblymag.com Light-Curing Adhesive System Eliminated Rework C A n equipment manufacturer that designs and produces outdoor equipment, tools, cabinets, and containers required an adhesive to seal a seam between two formed sheets of a steel case. The case needed to survive environmental elements such as rain and water, movement from job site to job site, shock, vibration, and generally rough handling. While the case was already structurally assembled using mechanical fasteners, water could seep into the seam and cause rust to form inside the case and equipment. Initially, a two-component epoxy had been selected, but a working time/pot life of 4-8 minutes after hand mixing limited the efficiency of the production throughput, created a barrier to automation, and required extensive manual rework to back fill any holes left during the initial dispensing run. DYMAX helped the manufacturer increase throughput and reduce waste by incorporating a light-curing adhesive system into their manufacturing line. DYMAX recommended 6-620, a light-curable, metal bonding adhesive. A key benefit of this one-component system was its ability to cure on demand in seconds, removing the need to rework or stage parts, which resulted in reduced labor costs. 6-620 was selected for its chemical resistance, sealing ability to keep out rain and water, excellent adhesion to metals, and shock/vibration resistance. The manufacturer also incorporated a DYMAX BlueWave® 200 high-intensity spot light source into their automated, multi-axis robotic dispensing system to follow behind the dispensing head, and cure the adhesive bead with the spot system’s attached lightguide. DYMAX® Corporation 318 Industrial Lane Torrington, CT 06790 Toll Free: 1-877-DYMAX-UV (877-396-2988) info@dymax.com www.dymax.com http://www.dymax.com http://www.depragusa.com http://www.assemblymag.com
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