Product Watch: Automatic coiling of plastic tubing; 3D digitizing system for QC or reverse engineering

First to Tulsa, Oklahoma, home of Tulsa Power, which designs and builds a wide range of material-handling equipment for hose, tube, pipe, wire and cable. The company's new Automatic Cut & Transfer (ACT) series of coilers incorporates a dual spindle turret winder designed for winding material from .032" - .625"diameter inline as part of the extrusion process. The systems are equipped to have the ability to coil or spool as a standard, with coiling heads optionally available.

The fully automatic system means one operator can handle several extrusion lines. The system includes a cut-and-transfer feature that, upon the receipt of a signal from the total length counter, then cuts, clamps, and transfers the product from full reel to empty reel without process interruptions at speeds up to 1000 feet/minute. An ultrasonic dancer locates the position of the product and assures a smooth functioning of tension controlled winding without making contact with the product. This loop control system's low tension means it is possible to use it for winding even very sensitive products.

Steinbichler Optotechnik GmbH of Neubeuern, Germany, meanwhile, has introduced the Comet L3D, its new blue light 3D scanning system for high-precision 3D digitizing. The combination of blue light technology coupled with high accuracy, quick acquisition and portability makes it ideal in the high resolution scanning market, according to the supplier.

Equipped with a 2-megapixel camera, the Comet L3D has a fixed triangulation basis, which can be used with pre-adjusted lenses. The projection lenses can be changed quickly so that the necessary field of measurement can be adapted according to the requirements in less than 5 minutes. The unit's standard thread allows the use of commercial video tripods and heads. "It was our goal to develop an extremely precise affordable easy to handle entry system that can be used exactly in all the applications where tactile measurement is at it's limits, for example measuring fragile plastic parts or parts with lots of different features," says Hans Weigert of Steinbichler.

The main application for the L3D is quality control but also for reverse engineering in the plastics and metal processing industries.