Sturdy portable printer.

Inelco Hunter has announced the availability of a new Fujitsu 3” mobile printer for use in environments where a regular mobile printer just doesn’t cut it. With a rugged design, the FTP-638WSL201 printer is exceptionally strong, durable, hard-wearing and shock-resistant, making it suitable for use in harsh environments, inside or outdoor.

Warehouse, maintenance and logistic areas are not the best environments for delicate equipment. The same goes for hospitality areas. Fujitsu’s FTP-638WSL201 printer has been designed for mobile use in locations like these where knocks and drops are liable to happen.

The rugged Fujitsu printer is able to withstand a drop from a height of 2.1 meters, and has a water resistance rating of IP54. This means it will be protected against contamination from limited amounts of dust and other particles and as well as remaining operational when exposed to splashes of water.

The printer is designed from a user and programmer point-of-view, making the printer easy to operate and also easy to integrate. The FTP-638WSL201 offers ESCPOS, CPCL and ZPL emulation. This will enable setting-up for any application with minimum effort.

Featuring a built-in LCD screen, the FTP-638WSL201 printer provides a high level of information and potential customisation, enabling direct control of the communications interface and set-gap or blackmark positions while allowing closer monitoring of the printer status and battery levels.

Using an innovative design, the printer can accommodate a larger than commonly-used paper roll, providing a paper width of 50-80mm on non-fixed positions. This helps to reduce downtime for the user when it comes to replacing the paper roll as well adding flexibility in the field.

The FTP-638WSL201 offers a variety of different connectivity options, including USB, Bluetooth, WLAN, and NFC. Battery life of the printer will depend on the communication protocol used. However, users can expect the standard battery to print a paper length per battery charge of 200m, which equals 4170 tickets of 48mm length depending on several variables.

It comes with a range of industry-standard accessories, including a carrying belt, AC adapter, USB cable, and battery.

@InelcoHunter @Fujitsu_Global #PAuto #Manufacturing

Instant measuring system. for print sector.

Inspecting parts in all phases of a manufacturing process is crucial for the many customers of Keyence. The company offers a wide range of measurement and inspection products, deployed across both production, assembly line and laboratory environments, to ensure its customers achieve their quality goals. The company’s industry-leading IM Series Image Dimension Measurement systems allow customers to accurately and instantaneously perform dimensional inspections at a level of precision that that was not previously possible.

For high precision measurement applications, they offer a variety of measurement systems that quickly communicate whether manufactured parts are good… or no good. When so much is at stake, Keyence measurement systems consistently deliver benefits to customers – including first-time customers.

Enter Rudd Macnamara, formerly an engraving company established by Ernest Rudd in 1890. The Rudd Macnamara of today is a diverse manufacturing organisation centred on print. The company is based in Handsworth near Birmingham, in the very heart Britain's industrial area.

“We have a very wide range of in-house processes and we offer our customers innovative print solutions, which they may not be able to find elsewhere” explains Graham Caunce, Managing Director at Rudd Macnamara. “Two of the most important markets we serve are the brewery & drinks sector where we manufacture bespoke font branding, beer pump clips, and bar signs; and the aerospace sector where we manufacture nameplates and labels used on equipment that is incorporated into aircraft, and also branding decals for aircraft exteriors.”

Rudd Macnamara management identified a need for more precise measuring equipment as a direct result of end users’ complex requirements. “Dimensional integrity of our nameplates is critical to our business” continues Caunce. “Most of the nameplates we make are in anodised aluminium or stainless steel manufactured using a variety of processing techniques resulting in some level of variability that needs to be controlled and eliminated”

The Midlands specialist had been manufacturing these parts for many years. However, it became of the utmost importance to improve assurance processes according to Graham Caunce. “We started looking not only at digital optical measuring solutions but also at our internal manufacturing processes to reduce those variabilities which includes hard tooling.”

Being able to guarantee parts were consistently within tolerance was crucial to Rudd Macnamara’s future success. With that in mind, company management took a closer look at tooling. “We felt that to achieve the tolerances required on a consistent basis some of the processes employed needed to be replaced by blanking and piercing tools as well as CNC processing where possible.”

Staff also needed a quick way of checking that what they were manufacturing was in line with drawing. This is where the investment in a Keyence IM-7000 system proved especially helpful: it allows faster, easier and more consistent measurements of width, radius and height... all with a single device. The amount of time and effort required for inspection is reduced drastically. In addition, measurement data from the IM-7000 system is automatically saved as soon as a part is measured. Inspection reports can be created with the push of a button, increasing post-measurement work efficiency.

According to Rudd Macnamara’s managing director, the best word to describe how this acquisition helped the company is ‘assurance’. It is now possible to quickly check a large number of parts and identify any rejects. Rudd Macnamara’s personnel know that what is supplied is correct, in line with drawing and within tolerance. Moreover, where the Keyence machine identifies a high number of rejects, staff are able to review the route to manufacture and quickly identify any improvements that are required.

“We looked at other machines but we found the Keyence IM-7000 system was quick to program and even quicker to use” analyses Caunce, who says Rudd Macnamara found its own ‘sweet spot’: “We find it is best to load the bed with some 10 parts. That makes it is easy to keep track of the good parts and identify any rejects. We can also identify and measure print whereas competitive machines could not.”

Since Rudd Macnamara introduced this new measurement machine, internal reject rates have improved. “That can only help the bottom line” concludes the company’s managing director.

@Keyence_Int #Print

Ultra-small panel printer minimises maintenance time and cuts costs

A new thermal panel printer from Able Systems offers a number of unique features which deliver real benefits in applications such as test & measurement and fire & security panels. These benefits include significantly lower maintenance requirements, lower development and consumables costs and easier design-in and production.

Designed to complement Able Systems’ proven range of highly reliable panel mount printers, the Ap1400 range is extremely small, yet it provides a massive 12m of paper from a single 36mm (di.) roll, thus significantly reducing maintenance downtime and the cost of consumables. Ease of maintenance is further enhanced by the product’s unique (patent pending) and intuitive touch-activated opening system, which is complemented by an easy-load paper roll replacement that will reduce service calls by providing right-first-time operation.

Another important aspect of the unit, believed to be unique in the current marketplace, is the product’s availability as a complete development kit. This, in addition to the printer itself, includes all commonly required components for testing and evaluation purposes, such as cables, mounting brackets and accessories, resulting in faster design-in with fewer errors. Options of vertical or horizontal mounting will also help to decrease design-in time, as will backwards-compatible mounting points. The kits also offer many benefits within the manufacturing environment, such as reduced time for component sourcing and improved inventory management. The kit is available either with or without a power supply, and can be supplied with Windows or LINUX drivers as required.

Robust, stylish and extremely economical, it features a linerless label capability that extends the printer’s range of uses, including applications in harsh environments. With a massive 10kB buffer for better-than-ever host compatibility, and both 'head up' and 'paper out' sensors as standard, the product is currently available as a standard 3.5V to 8.5Vdc unit, though a wide voltage input module (9-36Vdc) is also planned. The product offers USB (2.0, full speed) or RS232 (up to 115200 baud) data communication.

The Ap1400 is ideal for a very wide range of applications, including auto ID, labeling, telemetry, mobile applications, mobile messaging equipment, data logging, vehicle-based systems, healthcare and ticketing.