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What’s new on ControlDesign.com

ControlDesign.com

Here’s what’s new this month, Septeber 2007, at ControlDesign.com, the exclusive home of our virtual content.

By Katherine Bonfante, digital editor

Log on to MBF!

What is MBF? MBF stands for Machine Builder Forum. This is Control Design’s new online spot to meet and discuss industrial automation issues such as news, events, work trends, OEMs, and any other topics you might want to touch on. MBF is a place where you can react to, comment on, or disagree with postings from all our editors. “There’ll be no grandiose posturing or preaching, no going on and on like some 1980s Cold War speech at a Red Square May Day celebration,” says editor in chief Joe Feeley. “This is just some quick hitters about those things that have some importance for Machine Builder Nation.” Join our forum today! Log on to ControlDesign.com/heardondiscrete.

Designing and Prototyping Complex Machines

Most machine control system designers will tell you that machines will become increasingly complex as manufacturers expect more performance, flexibility, and reliability. See exactly what that means when you visit ControlDesign.com, and watch two videos from NIWeek 2007. The videos, viewed in sequence, provide a detailed, hands-on example of designing, simulation/virtual prototyping, and deploying a complex laser-writing machine. To view the videos visit ControlDesign.com/nivideos.

Users Sounds Off at NIWeek

Attendees at National Instruments’ annual user conference in Austin, Texas, in August reacted to the company’s new 8.5 version of LabView. Read what they thought about NI’s latest developments and features in our web exclusive at ControlDesign.com/niweek.

Top Five Most Popular Downloads This Month

ControlDesign.com houses a vast collection of innovative whitepapers and other content for visitors to download for free. After a short registration, you can use these papers to solve many of the problems that vex you.

Here, we have summarized the five most popular downloads of the month, according to your fellow site visitors. Go to ControlDesign.com/top5august and check them out.

Whitepapers

How to Size and Apply Dynamic Spring-Set Brakes
This paper talks about the two basic types of sprint-set breaks, power-on breaks and power-off breaks.

Direct Drive Rotary—An Increasingly Attractive Servo Choice
This paper looks at the different types of DDR systems, their pros and cons, and when to select which type of system for a given application.

Ethernet and AS-Interface: the Ideal Partner Networks for Industrial Automation
This paper shows how AS-Interface connects with Ethernet.

Networking I/O Increases Reliability of Metal Forming Applications
This paper shows how networking I/O increases reliability of metal forming applications.

QSI Build Versus Buy
Should you build your own human-machine interfaces or should you buy ready-made or customized machine interfaces from an outside source?

Download PDFs of these white papers at ControlDesign.com/whitepapers