Wednesday 4 December 2013

An Automated Test System to Celebrate




TCA Taint-free cork being removed from a bottle



There are few sounds as evocative as the "pop" of a cork coming out of a wine bottle.  It instantly conjures up images of fine dining, celebration and generally good times.  Diam, a major manufacturer of cork wine bottle closures knows this and they want the cork to emerge from the bottle with a satisfying "pop" every time and the wine to be in perfect condition: TCA taint-free.  Using cleaned granulated natural cork they make superior closures manufactured to close dimensional tolerances that will keep the wine in perfect taint-free condition.  As part of their quality control standards, Diam need to test large numbers of corks to quantify how they will retain their resilience after being compressed.  So Mecmesin developed a fully automated testing system that retrieves a sample from a carousel, compresses the cork to a specified load, then measures the return force as the cork relaxes.  At the same time the temperature of the cork is measured by a non-contacting infra-red sensor as recording the temperature is critical for this test.  With a testing cycle time of several minutes for each sample, an automated system made perfect sense, allowing hundreds of corks to be force tested overnight completely unattended.
Take a look at the following video to see the solution developed by Mecmesin.
 À votre santé!
Mecmesin automated force testing system for bottle corks

Wednesday 17 July 2013

Orbis product video

 



 

Orbis is our manually operated torque tester with digital display.  Being battery powered you can use it anywhere you need an accurate measurement of clockwise or anti-clockwise torque.  To see what the Orbis could do for you, follow the link to Mecmesin TV where you can find a short video.



 

Making the right connections

 
 
 




"Simply attach line A to terminal B...."  Connecting electrical contacts is not exactly rocket science is it?   But how easily do they go together?  And once they are fitted together, how easily do they come apart when needed, or do they fall apart just when you didn't want them to.

If you make electrical connectors, or use large numbers of them in critical applications, you would want to know how the connectors fit together.  To help, there are some international standards concerned with the maximum and minimum forces involved to ensure correct, reliable performance.

Mecmesin offer a system that can measure the insertion and withdrawal forces in accordance with the international standards, and tell you if the batch of connectors is good or bad.  One less thing to worry about.

We have a short video that shows the system in operation, you can see it and our other videos on Mecmesin TV at:
http://www.mecmesin.com/testing-electrical-connectors

New video on the MultiTest-i






Follow this link to see a new video on the  MultiTest-i, our top of the range computer controlled force testing system.  At the heart if the system is the powerful Emperor software which controls the movement of the stand, collects and stores the data, and performs any calculations needed.

The link will take you to Mecmesin TV where you see all our other videos



http://www.mecmesin.com/multitest-i-product-overview-video


Friday 19 April 2013

MultiTest-xt videos



 Mecmesin TV is our own video channel where we post all our productions.  Here you can see some videos of our products and how they are used.  We have recently added a guided tour of the MultiTest-xt force testing stand.  In fact there are two videos, a long one, and a shorter version if you are in a hurry.  Either way, they both showcase the MultiTest-xt and the sort of testing it can do to help you improve the quality of your own products.

For the short video follow this link:


And for the longer version:

Wednesday 17 April 2013

Hope springs eternal...







 

Hope springs eternal...1

Well, if not actually forever, but it can seem like an eternity when you have a large number of springs to test.  Take a look at the video on Mecmesin TV and see how the MultiTest-xt can make light work of spring testing.

Follow the link to see how to measure spring rate and free-height at the same time.


 

1. Alexander Pope,  "An Essay on Man"

Tuesday 9 April 2013

Now, this won't hurt a bit....

Testing the operation of medical syringes


 
I am not saying that I faint at the sight of a hypodermic needle, but having an injection is not my idea of a good time out.  In order to make the process as easy as possible, the manufacturers of medical syringes want to know that the force needed to start the plunger moving is just right, and that it will travel to the end of the syringe smoothly without jerking.  This makes receiving the injection as trauma-free as possible,  a situation I, for one, am all in favour of.

Mecmesin TV is our house video channel and on it you can see some helpful short videos of the ways in which Mecmesin's products can help to maintain the quality of your own products.

The syringe testing video is on this link:

Solenoid testing made simple








Another short video shows how to measure the magnetic force developed by a solenoid as part of a Quality Control process.  Emperor software captures not just the peak force, but also records the characteristic decline as the plunger is withdrawn from the coil.  Emperor can plot multiple traces as the coil current is altered to verify the solenoid's performance over its operational range.


"Mecmesin TV" is the video channel where you can find all sorts of useful short videos on Mecmesin's products and how they can be used to help improve the quality of your own products.

Follow the link to see the video on solenoid testing:

 http://www.mecmesin.com/solenoid-testing-video

Thursday 7 February 2013

A Rocket man?


Send a colleague into space?


"But all this science - I don't understand,  Its just my job five days a week..."

(Rocket  Man     B Taupin,   E John)


Dr. Pat Collins, Mecmesin's Technical services manager, has entered a competition to win a place on the space tourism company's SPACEXC  flight into space.  Taking off from an extended runway like a conventional aircraft, the lucky winner will be breaking the sound barrier in 60 seconds.  The special craft climbs rapidly  to a altitude of 103 km, and by following a parabolic flight-path will experience a short period of weightlessness.  During the return to earth, there will be a rapid acceleration resulting in 10-20 second spent at high "g" force.  Well, Pat knows all about force, but "Feeling the Force will be an entirely new experience. 
I think this would beat Pat's normal daily commute to the Mecmesin group headquarters in Slinfold West Sussex where only the cost of petrol is stratospheric.

Please help Pat by following this link and register a vote at:
 
Of course if Pat were to win the competition he would still have to pass the physical.

"And I think its gonna be a long, long time..." 

Handbook of Measurement



Can't put this book down?  Gripping stuff?   Uncertain about how it all stacks up?  Then turn to chapter 10 where Mecmesin's own Dr. Pat explains everything you need to know about the measurement of force.  Wow! - I'm Hooked.

 Handbook of Measurement in Science and Engineering.       Ed.  Myer Kutz  Published by Wiley  ISBN: 978-1-118-38463-3


Wednesday 6 February 2013

Twist and Shout...



Is there anything more frustrating than not being to open your beer bottle?

 Here's a nightmare scenario for you.  You twist the top-cap on your bottle of beer, but it just will not open. - Each time you turn the screw cap the plastic tamper-evident ring refuses to break and you have what's known in the trade as a "spinner". Bad enough if you have the one bottle to contend with, but what if you are the quality manager in a bottling plant filling hundreds of bottles each hour?  You need a way of checking that the caps are put on just right - not too loose, and not too tight.  What you need is a Vortex torque testing system.  By testing bottles from the production line at regular intervals you can be sure that the capping machine is doing its job.
As a secondary thought, how can you be sure that the PET bottle is strong enough to withstand the rigours of capping, handling and being stacked as it makes its way from the bottling plant to the shop and finally to the consumer arriving intact?  This time you need a MultiTest force testing system to apply a standard top-load to the empty bottle and accurately measure how much it compresses. Then you will know if the bottles have been formed with exactly the right amount of polymer. So you save money on materials and don't get the headache of underperforming bottles.

Follow this link to see the case study.

Tuesday 5 February 2013

Automotive fuel pump testing


Fuel pump spring testing using a twin column stand
 
A new case-study on testing compression springs used in automotive fuel pumps has been added.  Follow the link to see how the company benefited from being able to program tests sequences and get an immediate "Pass" or "Fail" status.

http://www.mecmesin.com/automotive-fuel-pumps

Thursday 31 January 2013

Mecmesin in shock horror probe


Actually, this is about detonator shock tubing which is used in the mining and construction industry to set off controlled explosions.  The special shock tubing links all the explosive charges that have been carefully prepared, and ensures they detonate in the right sequence.  It is vitally important that the shock tubing is sufficiently resilient and strong enough to withstand the rigours of life in a quarry or a mine, so the tube manufacturer has devised a series of tests to ensure their product is always up to the mark. After all, in this industry "near enough" is not "good enough".   A MultiTest-i force testing stand and Emperor software are used to perform the critical tests and capture all the data.

The result? No drama, just reliable, controlled explosions exactly as planned.

Wednesday 30 January 2013

Scragg - Measure - Re-set


Scragg - Measure - Re-set

Hope springs eternal?
500 spring to be measured each day with up to 50 different possible types of springs to be tested?  No problem.  Emperor software and a MultiTest-i test stand can cope with changing programs in a mater of a few seconds.  Everything is handled by Emperor software from scragging the spring, calculating the results and reporting on each one before storing all the data for future use.

By the way, scragging is pre-conditioning the spring by compressing it to a set value several times before performing the test.  Emperor sees to that for each type of spring too.

See the case study at:

Thursday 24 January 2013

A performing seal?


High performance seal?

A performing seal?  No, not the aquatic mammal that can be trained to balance a ball on its nose in return for a few fish.  I mean the aluminium seal on a tube of cosmetics or similar.  How do you measure the performance of the seal so it preserves the contents of the tube but can be opened when needed?
No problem for Mecmesin's application engineers.

See the case study at:


Tuesday 22 January 2013

Surface matters





Here's a conundrum for you, - how can you tell if a surface coating is correctly stuck to the surface you coated?

For one possible answer see the case study on Alphatek Hyperformance Coatings Ltd at:
http://www.mecmesin.com/hyperperformance-coatings

Monday 21 January 2013

Mecmesin ear-marked by Danish Cattle Federation for new testing machine

Mecmesin ear-marked by Danish Cattle Federation for new testing machine







Bovine ear-tag case study

I have to admit  that  leaning to tell one cow from another has not featured highly on my list of skills, but, for farmers this is something of a requirement.  There is a need for a positive method of identifying individual cattle, and the ear tag is a well proven means of recording the animal's identity and therefore its ancestry.  What is needed is a ear tag that remains firmly affixed to said bovine under normal conditions, but also one that cannot be re-attached should it become dislodged.  The Danish Cattle Federation asked Mecmesin to help in devising some tests on ear tags to be sure that they perform both conditions satisfactorily.

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Vortex-xt a new video


Another brand new Video

A short video showcasing the Vortex-xt console controlled torque testing system can be seen at:
 
http://www.mecmesin.com/touch-screen-controlled-torque-test-system
 

The Vortex-xt is a self-contained torque tester that can be used for routine Quality Control measurements or can be programmed for complex materials testing.

 
This video is just a taster, a more detailed version will be added in the near future.