Metal

PRECIOUS METALS: NY Gold Declines On Fund Selling, Higher Dlr

2009-06-06T21:51:00.000-07:00

Fund selling clipped gold futures Friday as stronger-than-expected payrolls data sapped their safe-haven allure and a muscular U.S. dollar pressured prices.

August gold dipped $19.70 to settle at $962.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Shortly after gold closed, the ICE Futures U.S. dollar index was up nearly 1.5%.

The funds essentially were unwinding a "rash" of buying that came in recent sessions on dollar weakness, said Michael Gross, broker and futures analyst with OptionSellers.com.

The funds were selling short, as well as liquidating some long positions, said George Gero, vice president with RBC Capital Markets Global Futures.

"The payrolls data were not as bad as everybody expected," he said. "That probably changed some portfolio managers' minds about the time it would take the economy to recover."

Non-farm payrolls slid 345,000 in May, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday, well below the 525,000 decline economists had expected.

"Down the road that will be inflationary, but that took some of the risk premium out of gold," said Sterling Smith, vice president with FuturesOne.

Last month's payrolls drop was the smallest since September 2008, when the recession intensified in the wake of the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

"This is good news," said Bill O'Neill, a principal with LOGIC Advisors. "The reality is that it lessens the crisis mentality. The alternative asset demand is lessened."

Silver futures took their cue from gold. Comex July silver fell 50.7 cents to settle at $15.388 an ounce.

"Silver just kind of follows gold," Gero said.

Meanwhile, Nymex July platinum fell $7.10 to settle at $1,286.20 an ounce, while September palladium on the exchange gained $4.40 to settle at $259.80 an ounce.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090605-711547.html

METALS-Copper turns higher after hours as equities rally

2009-05-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

 * Copper turns positive as equity markets strengthen

 * Copper canceled warrants fall

 * Aluminum stocks hit record above 3.88 mln tonnes
(Recasts, updates prices, market activity to New York close; new byline,
dateline, previously LONDON)

 By Carole Vaporean

 NEW YORK, May 14 (Reuters) - Copper moved into positive territory after
regular trading hours on Thursday as investors took their cue from rising
equity markets.

 Earlier, copper had closed lower after slumping to a two-week low. Another
round of weak U.S. economic data raised more doubts about economic recovery and
copper also came under pressure from concerns about waning Chinese demand.

 Benchmark copper MCU3 on the London Metal Exchange traded at $4,315 a
tonne, the lowest since April 30. But the metal used in power and construction
ended at $4,445 a tonne, up a touch from $4,440 at the close on Wednesday.

 On the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX, copper for July delivery
HGN9 closed down 0.40 cent at $2.0270 a lb. Overnight, the contract touched
$1.9670, its lowest level since April 29.

 In after-hours trade, LME copper moved up to $4,475 a tonne and COMEX July
copper rose to $2.05 per lb.

 Copper pulled up off session lows as U.S. equity markets moved higher.
Selling in both markets has attracted investors looking to put cash to work.

 "The copper market turned right around the same time as the S&P (500 stock
index) started to move into positive territory and the stock market started to
do better," said Sterling Smith, vice president with FuturesOne in Chicago.

 U.S. share prices rose as technology shares rebounded. A surprisingly large
rise in weekly jobless claims also boosted interest in defensive shares such as
consumer staples and healthcare. [.N]

 News the U.S. administration plans to oversee over-the-counter derivatives
markets also helped copper. Smith explained the move should eventually restore
investor confidence and make banks more willing to lend, boosting the economy.

 The plan proposes tighter supervision and monitoring of derivatives dealers
to get a better grip on a global market estimated at $450 trillion, blamed for
risk-taking that set off the global financial crisis.  [ID:nN13414280]

 "When they get that in place, copper will directly benefit because it is
the raw metal of the economy. It goes into cars, houses, into electrical
lines," he said.

 Meanwhile, some remain afraid China will curb copper purchases.

 Barclays Capital analyst Gayle Berry said the market was still worried
about Chinese demand, but still may have judged recent selling as overdone.

 Copper prices declined earlier this week on the notion that Chinese
government and consumer stockpiling may be ending as the market looks ahead to
a seasonally weak period for metals demand. China is the world's largest
consumer of copper, accounting for about 30 percent of global demand.

 "Chinese buying will be difficult to sustain," Berry said.

 STRUGGLE TO MAKE SENSE

 Shedding light on future price direction are canceled warrants -- stock
tagged for delivery -- in LME warehouses.

 Latest data showed canceled warrants slipped to 72,525 tonnes -- still a
hefty 20 percent of total stocks at 370,650 tonnes -- from 76,225 the day
before.

 Overall copper stocks in LME warehouses fell 3,100 tonnes on May 14 and are
down nearly a third since late February.

 Aluminum stocks hit a record above 3.88 million tonnes on May 14 and could
reach 4 million tonnes soon. [nLC786254]

 Prices for the metal, used in transport and packaging, have recovered
alongside copper, but prospects are seen as weak because the anemic auto sector
is not expected to recover soon.

 Three-month aluminum fell to $1,500 a tonne, the lowest since May 1. It
closed at $1,531 from $1,525 on Wednesday.

 Zinc MZN3, used to galvanize steel, and battery material lead MPB3 fell
to two-week lows of $1.432 and $1,380 a tonne.

 Zinc MZN3 was last at $1,495 from $1,476 a tonne, lead MPB3 at $1,430
from $1,455 and tin MSN3 at $13,600 from Wednesday's last bid at $13,700 a
tonne. Nickel MNI3 closed at $12,550 a tonne, from $12,450.

 Nickel stocks at above 111,000 tonnes are more than twice their level of a
year ago.

 Metal Prices at 1628 GMT
Metal            Last      Change  Pct Move   End 2008   Ytd Pct

                                                         move
COMEX Cu       202.30       -1.40     -0.69     139.50     45.02
LME Alum      1530.00        5.00     +0.33    1535.00     -0.33
LME Cu        4445.00        5.00     +0.11    3060.00     45.26
LME Lead      1435.00      -20.00     -1.37     999.00     43.64
LME Nickel   12450.00        0.00     +0.00   11700.00      6.41
LME Tin      13675.00     -225.00     -1.62   10700.00     27.80
LME Zinc      1495.00       19.00     +1.29    1208.00     23.76
SHFE Alu     12740.00     -135.00     -1.05   11540.00     10.40
SHFE Cu*     35600.00    -1940.00     -5.17   23840.00     49.33
SHFE Zin     12430.00     -375.00     -2.93   10120.00     22.83
** 1st contract month for COMEX copper
* 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07

 (Additional reporting by Rebekah Curtis, Veronica Brown and Pratima Desai;
Editing by David Gregorio)
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSLE87711620090514

Lou Reed Brings Controversial “Metal Machine Music” to Life

2009-04-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

Fans who’d eagerly bought Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music when it came out in 1975 soon returned to their music stores in droves, demanding refunds and complaining that the record was broken. MMM is Reed’s most controversial record, the black sheep in his catalog: a 64-minute double album that consists almost entirely of jarring, swelling guitar feedback. Was it a joke? Was he serious? The argument endures among music fans to this day, but regardless of his motives, the album has a secure place in rock history as one of the most unlistenable records of all time. Last night Reed recreated the chaos of the album with his Metal Machine Trio in the first of two shows at the Gramercy Theatre in New York.

The small venue was probably only half full and its patrons consisted mostly of intellectual types and hard-core Reed fans. Long before the band came on, the sound system was playing an unnerving dissonant loop that seemed to keep getting louder. When they took the stage, Reed and his band, tenor saxophonist Ulrich Kreiger and Continuum (a touch sensitive MIDI keyboard) player Sarth Calhoun wasted little time for pleasantries before they dove into the apocalyptic rush, although Reed announced appreciatively beforehand, “I just want to tell you how happy I am to see you all here tonight.” There were no “songs,” but instead the musicians churned out a continuous blaring fog that rose and decreased in its deafening intensity, marked by shrill electronic shrieks, long demented sax solos and Reed’s occasional yelling voice.

Although the music was played in the same spirit as the original album, it had much more direction, making it more listenable. Saxophonist Kreiger was an extremely talented soloist. He saw the noisy mass not as an opportunity to play as manically as possible, but as landscape ripe for tasteful musical exploration. His soloing, which provided a leading musical voice throughout the performance, ranged from strange and jagged to bluesy.

Reed, who seemed good-humored, looked youthful and vibrant. He was seated behind a tall rack stuffed with dozens of pedals, effects and switches. He would viciously attack and twist the buttons, adding a deafening warble, a squealing death howl or some other unearthly sound to the mix. At one point he shouted the lyrics of “Coney Island Baby” into the microphone, looped his voice, and then manipulated it to frightening and unrecognizable degrees.

Toward the second half of the show the music calmed down and Reed got ready to play guitar. This was when people started to leave. It was as if a quiet illness had come over the audience. People would slowly get up and then stagger through the aisle to get out. Others had started staring at a young man near the front row who kept erupting into inexplicable fits of laughter.

As Reed started chugging a low note on his guitar, the band proceeded to play its most coherent and listenable passage of the night. Calhoun started playing his Continuum as if it was a throbbing Hammond organ, creating a low undulating swarm of sound. The band then ferociously climaxed and Reed emerged with a triumphant power chord riff. He kept on playing it, letting it ring out against the otherwise thorny music.

At the end of the show the controversy surrounding the album had manifested itself visibly: almost a quarter of the original audience had left. Many people who had stayed seemed to have done so as a matter of pride. Their faces looked pained and anguished. Some people had a look of pleasant calm, however. The band themselves had been grinning through their performance, having a good time as the music got louder and more unbearable. The guy who’d kept on laughing near the front row, he’d got it right.

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2009/04/24/lou-reed-brings-controversial-metal-machine-music-to-new-york/

Automated sheet-metal storing and distribution

2009-04-08T21:49:00.000-07:00

Kasto has developed space-saving modular systems that allow sheet metal, finished parts and other goods to be stored and automatically delivered to workstations.

Kasto has introduced the automated Uniline single- or double-sided system for single-deep storage.

This system is suitable for medium-size volumes requiring approximately 200 to 800 storage locations and up to 30 automatic picks per hour.

The rigid gantry crane is a double-mast unit, featuring handling equipment that moves up and down between the masts.

The crane's pull/push technology moves the system pallet via a precision roller chain and carriers fastened on the chain.

Special plastic tracks/glideways accept the pallet in the shelf block and on the handling stations.

Because of the large support area and the consequent low surface pressure, these tracks work for many years without lubrication or maintenance.

Two precision roller chains are used for the lift movement, while drives store and retrieve.

The drive and the control for the gantry crane are synchronised so that only one drive moves at maximum speed, while the other travels only as fast as necessary.

Deceleration is calculated to ensure pinpoint accuracy on arrival at the designated storage location and to reduce energy consumption.

The storage locations and gantry crane are equipped with sensors to monitor load height.

KastolVR, the inventory control computer, uses this information to store the loaded pallet in a way that maximises space.

To check the height of the load, a scale can be integrated into the pallets; alternatively, the stations can be equipped with weighing cells.

Kasto also offers the Unitower C sheet-metal tower (in which the material is removed manually) and the Unitower B single- or double-sided automatic sheet-metal storage units.

They have a large storage-to-footprint ratio up to heights of 20 metres.

A maximum of 100 storage locations can accept loads to five tonnes.

They can handle and store long stock such as flats, bar and sheet.

Towers can be designed with wall and roof cladding for external locations.

In facilities with production on more than one level, storage and removal stations are possible on all floors.

Kasto's honeycomb Unicompact range is suitable for larger sheet-metal storage systems and is used in many steel and metal-distribution centres.

This system offers high storage density, synchronous vertical and horizontal movement of the gantry crane and optimised, intelligent storage according to whether the stock is fast, medium or slow moving.

Cassette removal and replacement of the previously picked cassette is carried out in one sequence for efficient handling and stock can be output to various discharge points or commissioning tables to serve multiple sheet-processing stations.

Double-deep storage of cassettes is an option, according to storage density and speed of pick required.

These systems are built to heights of between four and 26 metres and for cassettes with a capacity of up to eight tonnes.

The storage volume is between 500 and 4,000 cassettes.

Because of dynamic drives for operating the gantry crane, up to 60 cycles an hour are possible.

Weighing devices can be optionally integrated into the gantry crane or the work stations.

Modularity allows alterations to be made at a future date to the size of the store and to the handling equipment.

This ensures the sheet-metal storage system can adapt over time to changes in machine inventory and/or a need for increased storage capacity.

http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/riv/riv197.html

Directory is guide to sheet metal working supply

2009-03-26T00:56:00.000-07:00

Directory guides readers towards sheet metal working equipment and suppliers, giving a clear and informative list of equipment, tooling, and consumables companies.

Sheet Metal Guy has announced its new Industry Directory, which is believed to be the most comprehensive resource for businesses in the metal forming, fabricating, and welding industries.

The directory provides decision makers with a clear and informative list of companies who supply new equipment, tooling, and consumables to the industry, said Sheet Metal Guy.

"We get calls and email every day asking about CNC punch presses, lasers and other machinery.

Some are looking for spare parts others want new equipment or supplies.

The Industry Directory will help these people find what they need quicker," said Joe Bucalo, president and Sheet Metal Guy.

The directory is an invaluable resource to help find contact information and help others find you.

The dirctory is part of the Sheet Metal Guy Web site.

The Industry Directory continues to expand as new resources are being added daily.

Company listings are free for qualified suppliers.

* About Sheet Metal Guy - Sheet Metal Guy, LLC, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, was formed to help increase the productivity of designers and manufacturers through education.

As a publisher of books and other materials, the company's primary focus is to provide high quality, cost effective training for the design and manufacture of sheet metal parts and assemblies.

Sheet Metal Guy is focused on designing easy to understand, self-paced training books for all knowledge levels of 3D CAD software users.
http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/shv/shv112.html

Metal that crashed into southeast Oak Cliff home isn't from outer space

2009-02-27T07:20:00.000-08:00

Police said Thursday that the 6-pound hunk of metal that crashed through the roof and second floor of a southeast Oak Cliff home this week was a piece that broke loose from a grinder at a nearby tree service.

Dallas police confirmed that the metal came from Big Bird Tree Service. A phone message left with the company was not returned Thursday.

No one was home in the 7800 block of Buford Drive, near Wheatland and Houston School roads, at the time of the accident Tuesday. The object left a baseball-size hole in the roof.

Some had speculated that the object could have had extraterrestrial origins. But by Wednesday night, Dallas police were leaning toward the theory that the object was a grinding bit, in part because of a similar incident that occurred recently on the East Coast.

An 8-pound rectangular chunk of metal crashed through the roof of a warehouse in Jersey City, N.J., last week. Police there determined that the piece had flown off a large mulching machine at a business about 300 yards away, according to media reports.

Dallas police say the case is a civil matter and their investigation is closed.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-debrisfolo_27met.ART.State.Edition1.4a6bad8.html

More people selling scrap metal to make ends meet

2009-02-01T07:11:00.000-08:00

A dealer in scrap metal says more people are turning to recycling, some out of desperation.

Metal recycling has been encouraged in recent years as a "green" initiative.

Recycling saves energy - 95 percent for aluminum, 85 percent for copper, and 74 percent for iron scrap - over using virgin ore and saves landfill space and greenhouse emissions.

But it has been around much longer because it makes good business sense: Scrap metal makes money.

A plaque on the front lobby wall at Goldman Metals on Neuse Boulevard in New Bern honors it as one of the city's oldest continually operating businesses. It was started by present owner Dale Goldman's grandfather Max Goldman, and then owned by his father Raymond Goldman.

It has been operated as a family business for more than 100 years and in this tight economy finds itself in the business of helping families get by.

"I am more determined than ever to do everything within my power to help people through these difficult economic times," Goldman said.

General Manager Vernon Riggs said, "Every customer that comes in our gate leaves with money. For some it means putting food on the table."

Beginning in the fall and continuing through the holidays and in the New Year, Riggs said, the customers selling metal changed.

"What I have seen in recent months, the faces of people pulling up in Lexus, Mercedes, $200 cars to $200,000 cars, were people ill-prepared to face these times," Riggs said. "I've seen the sick look on the faces of people who have lost their jobs.

"They are almost embarrassed but they were laid off for no fault of their own," he said. "I had to cut some of the best workers I've ever had. I hired them back, but you have to keep the boat floating or everybody dies.

"The number of beverage cans has increased exponentially with people out of jobs and they tell me straight out, this $20, this $60 is helping."

Riggs said Goldman's was the highest-paying company in the area for scrap metals for the last half of 2008. "I challenge anybody to find a better price," he said.

In mid-December, the company bought aluminum cans for between 60 cents and 62 cents a pound, depending on volume. There are about 33 soda cans in a pound.

Prices vary, sometimes dramatically, but scrap aluminum ranges from about 15 cents to 65 cents a pound, depending on the grade; copper has been from about 43 cents to $1.11 a pound depending on market and grade; brass ranges from about 50 to 75 cents a pound.

The company also buys old cars and catalytic converters.

"It does benefit us, yes," Riggs said. "But we're not recession proof."

The scrap metal recycling business has found itself in tumultuous times with record highs and lows in 2008 according to Riggs and to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries chairman.

"We've just come out of the green boom," Riggs said. "Everybody was recycling and for about two years we struggled to keep pace."

He said the boom started about four years ago and ramped up for about 2 1/2 years, then in about a 45-day span in the fall, the three big automakers stopped buying scrap metal and the supply-demand cycle was altered.

Overseas exports already on their way ended up floating. About 300 ships sat off the coast of China, then the largest importer of scrap metal, as companies reneged on contracts.

Other large importers of U.S. scrap include Canada, South Korea, Mexico, Germany, Taiwan, Turkey, Spain, the U.K., and India, according to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.

Problems like the metal-loaded ships and other buyers of secondary raw products who reneged on contracts, prompted actions attempting to correct it. The Bureau of International Recycling encouraged the European Union to discuss the failures to pay for shipments and efforts to get extraordinary discounts with the World Trade Organization.

Riggs said that "a lot of people are pulling together to create their own market to buy, sort, separate, loading trucks and trailers, weigh and ship."

In 2007, scrap was a $71 billion industry employing 50,000 people. It included more than 100 million tons of assorted scrap metal.

Two out of every three pounds of steel made in the United States is still made from recycled ferrous scrap metal and 60 percent of metal alloy fabrication uses non-ferrous scrap.

"There are still a lot of people who can make money with what they have lying around their yard, in the garage," Riggs said. "And it still makes good sense to recycle."

http://www.newbernsj.com/news/scrap_43783___article.html/metal_people.html

Metaltech Products Installs New CNC Equipment

2009-01-24T19:01:00.000-08:00

Metaltech Products, Inc., Lebanon, Missouri, has recently installed new CNC equipment.

The seven-year-old custom job-shop offers complete metal fabrication (sheet, light-plate and structural), engineering and drafting services. It operates in 30,000-sq.-ft. of space with 66 employees.

Equipment recently installed at Metaltech Products includes: a Trumpf Trumatic 202OR CNC punching center which can handle material up to 1/4" x 50" x 100" and features 900 hits per minute; a 150-ton Bystronic 10' press brake with quick-change tooling; a Mazak Nexus 510C vertical machining center with 30tool capacity and an Amada automated saw.
"We needed the new equipment to allow us to continue improving our efficiency, competitiveness and keep up with our growth," stated Darrel Bishop, president and 24-year manufacturing veteran.

Other equipment at Metaltech Products includes: turret presses; press brakes; a 10' shear; iron workers; drill presses; Mig & Tig welders; band and cold saws; vertical mills; rollers and a precision plasma cutting system (with a 6'x 24' table).

The company works mainly with carbon steel, aluminum and stainless.

Industries served by the firm include: construction; material handling; agriculture; recreational; electronics; industrial equipment and general industry.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3698/is_200601/ai_n17180373?tag=content;col1

PRECIOUS-Gold slips 3 pct as oil prices fall

2009-01-12T07:17:00.000-08:00

Oil, base metals slide, weighing on gold * SPDR Gold Trust bullion holdings hit new record

* Platinum prices rise 2 percent to above $1,000/oz

(Updates prices)

By Jan Harvey

LONDON, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Gold slipped more than 3 percent on Wednesday as oil prices fell and investors, disappointed at the metal's failure to break technical resistance above $885 an ounce, sold bullion in favour of more buoyant assets.

Spot gold was quoted at $838.90/840.90 an ounce at 1537 GMT, against $863.35 late in New York on Tuesday. Earlier it touched a two-week low of $834.80.

U.S. gold futures for February delivery GCG9 on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange were down $26.10 at $839.90.

Spot silver tracked gold lower to $10.88/10.96 an ounce from $11.44, having earlier dropped 5 percent.

"It looks as if the market is already very long, and there is no fresh money coming in," said Deutsche Bank trader Michael Blumenroth.

He said investors had become frustrated with the metal's inability to break through technical resistance at $885-890.

"The other metals -- platinum, palladium and silver -- are performing better than gold," he said. "Investors are buying more platinum group metals at the moment."

A slip in oil prices is weighing on gold. Crude fell more than 5 percent to below $46 a barrel as oil inventory data showed a large rise in U.S. crude stocks. [ID:nN07480425]

Nonetheless the longer term outlook for gold is positive. The precious metal is likely to benefit from falling interest rates, which cut the opportunity cost in holding gold, and from uncertainty over the global economic outlook.

The dollar is also providing some short-term support. It slipped on Wednesday after striking a one-month high against the euro after a report showed steep job losses in the private sector, fuelling fears of a U.S. recession. [ID:nN07334625]

Gold is often bought as an alternative investment to the U.S. currency and tends to move in the opposite direction to it.
http://www.reuters.com/article/goldMktRpt/idUSL738843720090107

Strong as sheet metal

2008-12-31T07:04:00.000-08:00

A company that recently completed work on the Statehouse has been providing sheet metal work from the same location in Topeka since 1952.

Stevenson Co. made repairs to the copper roof of the exterior of the east and west wings of the state Capitol and improved the lay light, which is a glazed opening in the ceiling to admit light near the House chambers.

The company, with 25 employees, is working for a London firm to prepare a platform for a food processing facility in Mexico. The platform will be 8 feet by 20 feet and 75 feet long and will be shipped in sections.

It's made of painted structural carbon steel. The decking is aluminum tread plate, and the handrail is stainless steel.

"A lot of our work is in Topeka, then the U.S. and a little bit out of the country," Joseph Pennington, president, said. "Most of our business is through word of mouth, and we do have great partners."

He also said some business comes through the company's Web site.

"We do no residential work," Pennington said.

Stevenson Co. employs craftsmen and welders to fabricate and install sheet metal inside and outside businesses.

The company works mostly with food processing plants, making tanks for liquids, bins for products, conveyors and chutes that come off of conveyors.

The chutes have been made for raw ingredients, brass casings and food items for people and animals. The company also makes wall panels, stairs, mezzanines and ladders.

For the outside of buildings, the company makes metal roofs, flashing and gutters for industrial plants.

It also makes siding in different colors, finishes and metals.

After assessing the customer's needs, the company makes items to the customer's specifications. In Topeka, the company will deliver and install small items. Larger items will be sent by truck.

The company can ship worldwide.

Stevenson Co. has 32,475 square feet, including an office space, four shops and a storage area.

The main shop is a fabrication shop, where copper, aluminum, stainless steel and carbon steel is cut and pieces are welded together to create custom fabricated sheet metal parts.

Another shop does what the main shop does, plus painting.

A third shop works with all stainless steel; the fourth is a special projects shop.

In 1952, Russell B. Stevenson bought a small tin shop.

The company has grown through the years, acquiring more shops and remodeling but still has the same address. It even has the same telephone number as it did then, with the addition of two extra numbers in front.

"It's a real family business," Pennington said. "Dear old granddad used to work here."

His grandfather, Wiggie Pennington, worked for Russell B. Stevenson.

His father, Jerry Pennington, bought the company and was owner and president, and his brother, Tim Pennington, works there now as a sheet metal worker.

Pennington and his brother are one of three sets of brothers who work for the business. The other sets of brothers are Galen and Melvin Lister and David and Jeff Dechand.

The Dechands' father, Don, also worked for the company.

During 55 years in business, the company has seen ups and downs.

"It seemed that for my business, after 9/11, companies were more focused on security equipment than processing equipment," Pennington said. "We now have more orders than we used to after 9/11."

Dianne Y. Lawson is a freelance writer in Topeka. She can be reached at Cappie0113@aol.com.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20071117/ai_n21113313

Metal Gear Solid Touch detailed

2008-12-20T23:34:00.000-08:00

It was a bit of a shock when Konami revealed that the next entry in the Metal Gear Solid series would be coming to the iPhone. Now, thanks to Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu (via IGN), we have some details as to how the game will actually play.

Unsurprisingly, the game will make extensive use of the iPhone's touch screen, though it looks like you won't have direct control over Snake himself. Instead, players can move their fingers around the touch screen in order to change the viewpoint, and then tap if they want to fire. Zooming will be handled by the "iPhone pinch," which requires users to slide two fingers closer together or further apart in order to zoom in or out.

The game will have some connections to Metal Gear Sold 4, although unlike most MGS games, the focus will be on shooting as opposed to stealth. According to designer Hideo Kojima, the reason for this is the platform, as he felt that a shooter would be easier to pick up and play when on a train or plane. It was also revealed that the creative producer behind the game will be Yasuyo Watanabe, who previously worked as the chief web designer at Kojima Productions.

If nothing else, these details actually make us even more curious about the game. A touch-control Metal Gear with a focus on shooting and a web designer at the helm? Who knows what that could turn out like, but we can't wait to find out.
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2008/12/18/metal-gear-solid-touch-detailed

From sheet metal elements to host cells: DFG launches 10 new collaborative research centers

2008-12-02T21:02:00.000-08:00

40th anniversary of successful funding program

On 1 January 2009 the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) will launch ten new Collaborative Research Centres. They will be initially funded for the next four years with a total of approximately 90 million euros. Among other things, the new Collaborative Research Centres will study the origins of diseases caused by viruses and bacteria, scarring of the liver and kidneys, and the human skin. Other topics include the optimisation of planning, production and utilisation processes in lightweight engineering and the improvement of communications between humans and technical systems. Four Transregional Collaborative Research Centres are among the ten institutions, distributed among several locations.

In addition to these institutions, the responsible Grants Committee of Germany's central research funding organisation also agreed to continue 28 Collaborative Research Centres for an additional period. The DFG thus will fund a total of 250 Collaborative Research Centres as of next year. In 2009, they will receive around 480 million euros, including 20% overhead funding to cover indirect costs resulting from the research projects.

The Grants Committee's autumn meeting also observed the Collaborative Research Centres' 40th anniversary: in the autumn of 1968 the first 18 Collaborative Research Centres were launched – with total funding amounting to 4.4 million Deutschmarks. This new type of collaborative research was seen as a "minor revolution" DFG President Professor Matthias Kleiner remembers in an anniversary speech to the Grants Committee. In both the universities and the DFG, Kleiner said, the Collaborative Research Centres had also initially given rise to apprehension – 40 years on, they have more than fulfilled expectations. "Universities can bundle their resources, create local priorities and promote top-level research with the aid of Collaborative Research Centres," the DFG President underlined. In particular their concentrated quality, their interdisciplinary approach and the endurance of funding projects for up to 12 years make the Collaborative Research Centres a "programme for quantifiable, top-level research". The Collaborative Research Centres, and their variations the Transregional Collaborative Research Centres and Transfer Projects, also contribute to promoting young researchers, to international research cooperation and to cooperation between science and the private sector. The conclusion of the DFG President following 40 years of Collaborative Research Centres: "The whole world is envious of this programme."

The new Collaborative Research Centres in detail: (in alphabetical order by host university)

Collaborative Research Centre/Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 57, "Organ Fibrosis: From Mechanisms of Injury to Modulation of Disease" deals with an extremely important scientific and clinical topic. Researchers at several sites study fibroses, i.e. the pathological growth of connective tissue in the liver and kidneys. This type of scarring can often lead to death and is also expensive to treat. The new project aims to decipher the still largely unknown pathophysiological fundamentals of fibrotic diseases. Identification of common molecular mechanisms in the kidneys and liver is especially important. It will only be possible to develop innovative therapies on this basis. (Host university: Rhineland-Westphalian Technical University of Aachen; Spokesperson: Professor Christian Trautwein; other universities involved: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University, Bonn, University of the Saarland, Saarbrücken.)

Detailed research into special molecules, atoms and ions with unpaired electrons is at the centre of Collaborative Research Centre 813, "Chemistry at Spin Centres – Concepts, Mechanisms, Applications". The so-called spin centres display unusual magnetic properties and high chemical reactivity; both may be extremely important for the development of innovative materials. Among other things, the researchers involved at Bonn University and the Jülich Research Centre want to develop new theoretical and experimental methods for studying spin centres and their transformation mechanisms. The knowledge gained will be utilised for developing new reactions and multifunctional materials. (Host university: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University, Bonn; Spokesperson: Professor Frank Neese; also involved: Jülich Research Centre)

The "Management of Uncertainty in Load-bearing Systems in Mechanical Engineering" is the topic of the newly launched Collaborative Research Centre 805. In it, engineering scientists of various disciplines and mathematicians study the subject of "uncertainty", which is prevalent in mechanical engineering in all phases of the development, production and utilisation of products and can have grave economical and safety consequences. This applies primarily to load-bearing systems in lightweight engineering, which aim to combine high load-bearing capacity, low weight and low production costs. With the aid of a particularly complex aircraft undercarriage, the Collaborative Research Centre aims to clarify how uncertainty and the resulting errors of judgement can be managed. This will help to optimise planning, production and utilisation processes. (Host university: Technical University of Darmstadt; Spokesperson: Professor Holger Hanselka; also involved: Fraunhofer Institute for Operational Strength and System Reliability, Darmstadt)

How do viruses and bacteria cause diseases – Collaborative Research Centre 796, "Control Mechanisms of Microbial Effectors in Host Cells"aims to acquire new, fundamental knowledge on this pivotal medical problem. The scientists involved will study molecular mechanisms relating to the origins of disease. They are particularly interested in the structural and molecular principles and mechanisms of the interactions between virulence factors and host factors. By incorporating both plant and human systems, the Collaborative Research Centre aims to cover as wide a spectrum of interactions between the two fields as possible. In addition, new virulence factors such as protease shall be investigated. In a holistic view, this will allow both universal and special mechanisms of the origins of diseases to be recognised. (Host university: Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen; Spokesperson: Professor Uwe Sonnewald; also involved: Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS, Erlangen)

Developing a range of optimisation options for sheet metal elements is the aim of the new Collaborative Research Centre/Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 73, based in Erlangen-Nürnberg, Dortmund and Hannover. Under the main heading of "Manufacturing Complex Functional Elements using Fine Gauge Sheet Secondary Forming Elements – Sheet Metal Mass Forming" the scientists involved aim to investigate how the functionality and complexity of sheet metal components can be increased. Scientific principles must be established for facilitating material flux not only in the plane, but also out of the sheet metal plane in fine gauge sheets. On the other hand, the focus is on the development of new, more robust and flexible production processes by a unique combination of sheet metal forming processes with the mass forming process. This should allow the number of individual components required to be reduced and heavy-duty, reduced weight elements to be produced in small and large numbers. This also involves a considerable improvement in efficiency in an important branch of industry. (Host university: Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen; Spokesperson: Professor Marion Merklein; other universities involved: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz University of Hannover, Technical University of Dortmund)

So-called redox research was previously involved primarily with the occurrence and affects of oxidative stress in disease development. Understanding reactive oxygen species as signal molecules for the physiological functions of a cell, in contrast, is a relatively new field of research. This is precisely where Collaborative Research Centre 815; "Redox Regulation: Generator Systems and Functional Consequences", comes in. The objective is to better understand the role of redox signals in physiological processes and in the transition to pathophysiological processes. Research approaches for the targeted treatment of a variety of diseases will be developed from the information gathered. (Host university: Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main; Spokesperson: Professor Bernhard Brüne; also involved: Chemotherapy Research Institute, Georg-Speyer-Haus, Frankfurt am Main)

Collaborative Research Centre/Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 71, "Geometric Partial Differential Equations", studies a whole series of high-calibre mathematics problems. In it, mathematicians from various disciplines study analytical problems in geometrical contexts, together with mathematical physicists. These can either be based in differential geometry or involve applications requiring geometrical modelling. The geometrical problems originate among others in geometrical measure theory and the calculus of variations. The planned work on the so-called Willmore Functional may prove to be particularly important in this respect. In terms of applications, topics ranging from quantum dynamics to the mathematical principles of solid-state physics will be tackled. The main objective is to study geometrical partial differential equations using analytical and numerical methods and computer-aided simulation, and to describe geometrical and physical phenomena. (Host university: Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg; Spokesperson: Professor Ernst Kuwert; other universities involved: Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen; University of Zurich)

The structure, functions and dynamics of biological membranes have fascinated scientists of wide-ranging disciplines for a long time. Membranes are essential to all life forms, because they provide the structures necessary for forming enclosed compartments and thus separate biochemical reactions in living cells from their environment. Nevertheless, how the membrane environment impacts on the functioning of membrane proteins and how proteins modulate the membrane structure at the molecular level generally remain a mystery. In the newly launched Collaborative Research Centre 803, "Functionality Controlled by Organisation in and between Membranes" biologists and physicists now want to gather quantitative data on the interaction of membrane lipids and proteins in an in-depth unification of theory and experiment. For example, protein and lipid functions will be predicted, and universal structural and functional origins identified. In this way, better understanding of the dynamic processes in biological membranes should be possible. (Host university: Georg-August University of Göttingen; Spokesperson: Professor Claudia Steinem, also involved: Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen)

The newly launched Collaborative Research Centre 829 deals with the human skin and its function as a shield. Under the title of "Molecular Mechanisms Regulating Skin Homeostasis", the scientists involved aim to investigate how the various components contributing to the skin's barrier function, which protects against external damage, communicate. Conversely, the molecular mechanisms that disturb equilibrium, and which may thus lead to chronic inflammatory and allergic diseases or to healing disorders, will also be clarified in more detail. Ultimately, these investigations will allow the development of new therapeutic approaches, facilitating highly targeted intervention in the disturbed metabolic pathways leading to disease. This means that the work of the Collaborative Research Centre is also of considerable medical and clinical importance from a long-term perspective. (Host university: University of Cologne; Spokesperson: Professor Thomas Michael Krieg; also involved: German Sport University Cologne, Max-Planck Institute for the Biology of Ageing, Cologne)

The highly topical problem facing Collaborative Research Centre/Transregional Collaborative Research Centre 62, "A Companion Technology for Cognitive Technical Systems", is how communication between humans and technical systems can be improved. The engineers, computer scientists and neurobiologists involved are especially interested in how emotions may be better expressed and handled in this communication process. The aim of their work is the systematic and interdisciplinary study of cognitive capabilities – and their implementation in technical systems. Characteristics such as individuality, adaptability, availability, cooperativeness and reliability represent the main focus. Implementation of these so-called companion characteristics in cognitive technical systems is intended to allow these systems to be perceived and accepted by their users as reliable, trustworthy and emphatic assistants. The newly launched Collaborative Research Centre/Transregional Collaborative Research Centre thus aims to build the foundation for a technology which provides human users with a new dimension in their interactions with technical systems. (Host university: University of Ulm; Spokesperson: Professor Susanne Biundo-Stephan; other universities involved: Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg; also involved: Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg)
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-12/df-fsm120208.php

Scrap metal collectors lose business due to price drop

2008-11-11T23:25:00.000-08:00

Agnes Winarti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Dozens of pushcarts, which are usually shoved by mobile junk vendors around housing complexes, were parked idly in front of a junk distributor near a traffic light on Jl. Letkol Sugiyono, East Jakarta recently.

Nineteen-year-old Erik Estrada, son of the junk distributor, was sitting in his shop as idly as his father's pushcarts.

"Only three of our 27 vendors are currently out there working to buy scrap metal and other junk in nearby housing complexes," Erik said.

"The rest prefer to stay in their kampung or hometowns to harvest their rice fields instead of working here because the price of junk metal has plunged over the last two months."

He said the price of metal waste had plummeted from Rp 58,000 (US$5.5) to Rp 35,000 per kilogram for copper waste; Rp 5,000 to Rp 2,200 per kilogram for scrap metal; Rp 15,000 to Rp 10,000 per kilogram for aluminum waste; and Rp 38,000 to Rp 18,000 per kilogram for brass waste.

Another junk distributor on Jl. Poncol, East Jakarta, Haki, said he had experienced a similar condition.

"The prices of all kinds of junk, from paper to plastic, but especially scrap metal, has dropped to half their normal prices," said Haki, who opened his junk shop 10 years ago.

Haki, who used to distribute two to three tons of scrap metal to five smelting factories in Cakung, East Jakarta, every day, said they could now only deliver the goods once every two or three days. He estimated that he had suffered losses of more than Rp 50 million over the past month.

Scrap metal is smelted in factories and turned into iron bars, which are then used for construction. The bars are exported and traded domestically.

"Today's economic crisis is worse than ever before," said Oji, 49, who has pushed pushcarts as a mobile junk vendor since 1980.

Oji came back to Jakarta from his kampung in Karawang after the recent Lebaran holidays with Rp 300,000 cash in his pocket only to find that life was financially more difficult.

After running out of cash, Oji said he had to give his identity card to his boss at the lapak (junk distributor) as collateral to receive Rp 60,000 in order to get by for a few days.

He said due to the plummeting price of scrap metal, people originally intending to sell junk canceled their transactions, deciding to wait until the price went up again.

Oji said many lapak had temporarily halted their business operations.

"My boss, for example, can only buy scrap metal now, but he does not sell it to the factories because the price is too low. If he ever stops buying from me, I will have to go home to Karawang where there is no work."

Similar conditions face scrap metal traders in Bekasi.

Saleh Lubis, a trader for 20 years, said he had accumulated more than 50 tons of scrap metal at his shop, adding that he had stopped buying metal from mobile junk vendors.

The price of scrap metal is set by the smelting factories.

Furthermore, there is no specific government regulation on the price of scrap metal.

The Association of Scrap Metal Traders chairman, Rizal M., said thousands of traders and tens of thousands of mobile junk vendors around Greater Jakarta were at risk of losing their jobs.

"The factories and scrap metal traders must reach an agreement on price," he said.

Rizal said scrap metal traders in Greater Jakarta supply 30 percent of the material needed by metal factories like PT Jakarta Cakratunggal Steel Mills, PT Gunung Garuda, PT Wahana, and PT Master Steel, while the remaining 70 percent was imported metal materials.

"If we stop supplying to factories, we fear the factories will increase their metal import volumes.

"Factories can also give the excuse that the market is determining the price," said Rizal, whose association was currently planning to protest at the factories and House of Representatives.

"In the meantime, we hope the trade and industry ministries assist us in finding the fairest solution to the price plunge."
http://old.thejakartapost.com/detailcity.asp?fileid=20081112.D07&irec=6

Detroit parade aims to stop metal thefts

2008-10-04T18:56:00.000-07:00

Who doesn’t love a parade? And here’s one with an extra dollop of meaning for anyone concerned about preventing the trendy crime of metal theft in metro Detroit.
Today, starting at 10 a.m. in Detroit’s near east side, Detroiters can enjoy a parade designed to raise awareness of a new community organization called Citizens United for Safety, according to church leaders on Friday. The new organization grew out a series of property crimes of a type that has become all too common in Detroit, as prices for metal commodities rose and thieves discovered they could easily resell metals such as copper and aluminum, said the Rev. Barry Randolph, pastor of the Church of the Messiah at 231 E. Grand Blvd., where today’s parade will start.

“Our church basement was flooded when someone tried to steal copper pipes” from the church, Randolph said. Then, aluminum gutters were taken from the edifice.

“But when our eight-foot statue of Jesus disappeared, it was clear that something had to change,” he said, referring to the outdoor theft in early June of the Christ figure, whose gold-painted plaster body thieves apparently mistook for brass or bronze. The statue was found a week later, only slightly damaged, in an alley after an anonymous caller to the church offered to return it for $1,000, a deal that Randolph refused. The incident received widespread publicity, including stories in the Free Press.

“We heard from people all over the country who heard about this incident and wanted to help,” the minister said. It was Jesus’ disappearance that impelled Randolph and parishioner Brian Gregg to found the Citizens United for Safety, the minister said Friday at midnight, as he made last-minute preparations for the parade aimed at enlisting community cooperation in the effort to prevent metal thefts. The parade will roll for just more than a mile from the church to Southeastern Village, formerly Bellevue Elementary School.

“We’ll have a little bit of everything. Our grand marshal is our Jesus,” the stolen sculpture that the church has yet to reinstall, the Rev. Randolph said. The sculpture of Jesus will ride in the back of a classic Volkswagen beetle convertible, he said.

“Then there’s going to be a gentleman with a truck playing “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now,” then 40 or 50 police Explorers (teenage cadets) and then 30 teens in Caribbean costumes; “and the World Wrestling Federation -- they sent us 200 prizes for the real little kids, 5 and 6 years old., and we’ll have the Harper Woods police in their classic Mustang, and several nonprofit groups” will bring classic cars too, he said. Randolph even expects a showing by members “of our partner church,” Christ Church of Grosse Pointe. All share his concern about metal thefts, he said.

At the parade’s conclusion will be food, entertainment, activities for kids and the opportunity for adults to sign up for neighborhood watch groups, block clubs and other efforts at crime prevention.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081003/NEWS01/81004003/1003/news01

Group is holding scrap metal drive

2008-09-18T03:19:00.000-07:00

The Maritime Heritage Alliance (MHA) will hold a scrap metal drive at 9 a.m. Saturday to raise funds for a new propeller for the armed sloop Welcome. The tall ship is a replica of a Revolutionary War-era vessel and is operated by the non-profit MHA from its dock in Grelickville.

Scrap metal may be dropped off at the MHA’s Peter Henry Boat Shop at 13268 S. West Bayshore Dr. in Elmwood Township behind the Great Lakes Children’s Museum on M-22 between 9 a.m. and noon on Saturday.

Metals that will be accepted include automobiles with title, engine blocks drained of fluid, cast iron such as drums and rotors, steel such as swing sets, bicycle and car parts, aluminium, copper tubing, copper wires such as old Christmas lights or electrical cords, brass, zinc, nickel, carbide, auto and industrial batteries, and stainless steel.
http://www.leelanaunews.com/blog/2008/09/18/group-is-holding-scrap-metal-drive/

On his metal

2008-08-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

SIR ANTHONY CARO

He is the art student who grew up in the shadow of Henry Moore and came to eclipse him. He is the modernist pioneer of abstract sculpture who can never stop flirting with figurative forms. He has been compared to J M W Turner (though he isn't a painter.) He's a sophisticated theorist about the relationship between sculpture and architecture, who (sometimes) doesn't mind members of the public clambering over his work. He is the inspiration behind all those rusted garden structures you see each year at the Chelsea Flower Show. He is, beyond a doubt, the most significant person who ever came out of New Malden.
Sir Anthony Caro just keeps on going. His career stretches 57 years and shows no sign of ending. He has projects on, this year, in enough different idioms and styles to give a lesser man a breakdown. Now just 84, he is putting the finishing touches to a baptismal chapel in France, and displaying sculptures of his wife's head at the National Portrait Gallery.

Caro and his wife, the painter Sheila Girling, had a successful joint exhibition last year at a Salisbury gallery, where this year he's exhibiting a monumental piece of zigguratted steel called Millbank Steps. The title reminds us that he had a hand in the design of Norman Foster's Millennium Bridge in 2000, although the ziggurat was actually commissioned by Tate Britain for a major retrospective in 2005, just one retrospective among scores he has had since 1967.

In an industry whose high-profile Young British practitioners cautiously disgorge new works every few years, Caro is hectically prolific. He received his lifetime achievement award more than a decade ago. Perhaps its air of finality spurred him into new bursts of creativity.

The exhibition at the NPG is tiny, but significant. It's a series of four bronze heads Caro sculpted in 1988/9, showing his wife in a quartet of moods: Large Head of Sheila, for example, is hunched and fretful, the features twisted while, in Large Head of Sheila - Morning, the mood is quite different, relaxed, smiling, indulgent, the large face resting on a leaning arm. They amount to a moving composite portrait of both a woman and a marriage, a statement of personal feeling in three dimensions.

The baptismal chapel is a project that's been occupying Caro for several years. The church is St Jean de Baptiste in Bourbourg, near Calais. During the war, a damaged British aeroplane, striving to avoid the town's houses, crash-landed on the church roof and set it on fire. The church was later restored, but the choir section remained in ruins until Caro was commissioned to bring it back to life. He's constructed two towers of French oak, 18ft high, to be used for music and singing, a cement baptism font and an array of steel, wood and terracotta niches in the walls. When it opens in October, it will be called the Chapel of Light - the first chapel in France to be given over to one artist's work since Matisse was asked to paint his dancers across the chapel in Vence, behind the Cte d'Azur.

Two exhibitions, one personal and representational, the other sacred and abstract - they represent two sides of an artist who never stopped innovating, never rested on his laurels, and never tired of teasing secret harmonies out of unyielding materials.

He was born in 1924 in New Malden, Surrey, and went to Charterhouse school. His father was a stockbroker who disapproved of arty folk. "Any sort of artist was a dilettante in my parents' book," Caro later recalled. He studied engineering at Christ's College, Cambridge, and in the holidays became apprenticed to the sculptor Charles Wheeler. He joined the Fleet Air Arm during the war, and resumed his studies - this time, at the Royal Academy Schools. He discovered a liking for drawing (but not painting) and for modelling with clay, and in Wheeler's studio found his vocation. Summoning up his courage, he told his father, who replied, "Well, you're going to be very uncomfortable. You're not going to be able to have a family. You're going to live in squalor, but if that's what you want to do..."

While still at the RA, bored by the classical plaster casts and elderly academicians, he found out where Henry Moore lived and called round. The great man took him in and they worked together for two years, casting bronzes in Moore's little cottage in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, where Caro and his wife Sheila moved in 1951. From 1953, he took up teaching at St Martin's School of Art in London, and stayed attached to the place for 28 years until 1981. His students, along the way, included Richard Deacon, Barry Flanagan, Hamish Fulton, Gilbert & George, Richard Long and William Tucker. His first one-man exhibition was in 1956, in Milan, his first London show following a year later.

Then in 1959, just before his first visit to America, came a fateful encounter with the New York art critic Clement Greenberg. Hearing that Caro had reached a point where his art had to change, Greenberg suggested that, instead of working with clay, he should look at the welded-metal sculpture of the US artist David Smith. In America, on a Ford Foundation grant, Caro met Smith along with Kenneth Noland and other painters, and his life - and the course of English sculpture - was changed.
http://findarticles.com

New metal recycle plant to open here

2008-08-01T19:16:00.000-07:00

Within three months, Breckenridge will have a new business — one that could really benefit the community.
Breckenridge Iron and Metal, a recycling plant, will open within 90 days on the Industrial Loop.
“We’re just trying to get everything going,” said Earnest Lobstein, operations manager of the Mid-Texas Recycling Iron and Metal in Eastland.
Lobstein is in charge of setting up the same kind of recycling plant in Breckenridge and may have oversight of both locations. The business is owned by Trent Stout of Eastland.
Clean-up has already started on the property on the loop. Part of an older building will be removed and completely renovated. There will be a large metal fence around the yard to keep it presentable, and the property will be landscaped.
“It will not look like a typical scrap metal yard. They assured me it would be attractive,” said Breckenridge Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Virgil Moore III. “And I anticipate this being a real benefit to the city and Reclaim Breckenridge.”
All metals will be recycled at the plant, including vehicles, washing machines, refrigerators and more.
“Breckenridge really needs this,” Moore said.
According to Lobstein, the plant will include a full-length scale, an all-digital gamma detector, and the plant will be able to recycle all metals, including aluminum cans and copper. Tires, trash, paper and brush will not be recycled at the plant.
“We’ll probably have five to seven job openings to start out,” he said.
Eventually, the plant may employ up to 20.
“It’s a possibility,” Lobstein said. “And I’ll be spending money locally. It [the plant] will generate a lot of business for a lot of stores.”
He also said he is using as many local contractors to help set up the plant as possible.
The Breckenridge plant will be one of four operating, including plants in Eastland, Marble Falls and Big Spring. Lobstein said a plant also is planned in Weatherford.
Moore said the nature of the plant could help clean up efforts in Breckenridge and Reclaim Breckenridge will provide a nearby repository for recycled junk, such as old washing machines and refrigerators collected during clean-up campaigns.

Sheet metal SolidWorks CAD training book released

2008-07-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

Book is described as a fun and engaging way to explore the sheet metal capabilities of SolidWorks at the reader's own speed with help from experts in the sheet metal industry.

Sheet Metal Guy is proud to announce that it has published its first book, 'SolidWorks for the Sheet Metal Guy- Course 1: Part Creation' The new book is a fun and engaging way to explore the sheet metal capabilities of SolidWorks at your own speed

Learn how to use SolidWorks and its sheet metal tools from experts in the sheet metal industry.

This series of self-paced training books, 'SolidWorks for the Sheet Metal Guy', demonstrates how to create real life sheet metal parts and is written in terms sheet metal people know and understand.

Books and other training materials about SolidWorks are available, but very little coverage is given to the specific sheet metal tools and unfolding capabilities, leaving users on their own to learn these tools.
Dedicated to the SolidWorks market, 'SolidWorks for the Sheet Metal Guy' addresses this need by showing you how to use the sheet metal tools of SolidWorks.

Learn from the beginning how to create sheet metal parts designed with manufacturing in mind.

Throughout the book, SolidWorks' sheet metal tools are used to guide you step by step through the basics of part creation into complex features of sheet metal design.

Emphasis is on creating parts and features that maintain the design intent even when changes are made to key dimensions of the part, the material thickness, or the bend radius.

Taking advantage of parametrics from the beginning assures that any changes will not invalidate design integrity.

'SolidWorks for the Sheet Metal Guy' is written by Neil Bucalo and Joe Bucalo.

Neil is a CAD expert, having over 14 years of experience using numerous CAD systems.

He has a diverse background, including mechanical engineering, CAD/CAM consulting, support, training, and technical writing.

Neil Bucalo is a Certified SolidWorks Support Technician.

"Our goal is to provide the SolidWorks user with specific information to become more efficient in the use of SolidWorks and its sheet metal capabilities.

The whole idea is to provide a first-class resource for SolidWorks users," stated Neil Bucalo.

"SolidWorks Corporation has made a tremendous stride with the release of its new SolidWorks 2006.

But the market just is not aware of all of the sheet metal tools and capabilities of this great CAD system." Co-author Bucalo has over 30 years experience in the sheet metal industry.

Joe Bucalo is the president and founder of Applied Production, a SolidWorks Solution Partner that develops software tools for sheet metal manufacturing, including ProFab and ProFold.

Sheet metal designers and manufacturers must increase their SolidWorks proficiency in order to get new products to market faster and achieve a higher return on their investments.

Now there's a new way to learn SolidWorks.

This new comprehensive course is a self-paced learning tool, using real projects that work through the design process step-by-step.

You can choose to follow the lessons from start to finish, or you can dive into just the lessons that interest you most.

'SolidWorks for the Sheet Metal Guy - Course 1: Part Creation' (list price: $64.95) is available now.

Sheet metal designers and manufacturers will surely benefit from 'SolidWorks for the Sheet Metal Guy' self-paced training book.

* About Sheet Metal Guy Sheet Metal Guy, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, was formed to help increase the productivity of sheet metal designers and manufacturers through education.

As a publisher of books and other materials, the company's primary focus is to provide high quality, cost effective, training for the design and manufacture of sheet metal parts and assemblies.

Sheet Metal Guy is focused on designing easy to understand, self-paced training books for all knowledge levels of 3D CAD software users.
http://www.manufacturingtalk.com/news/shv/shv101.html

Danser Sheet Metal Renews Commitment to State

2008-07-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

MURPHYTOWN -- One of West Virginia's best-kept secrets could be a family-owned sheet metal fabrication shop in Wood County.

For the past 72 years, Danser Inc. has made a name for itself around the country and in other parts of the world, said Christopher Pfeiffer, executive vice president. Although few of Danser's customers are in the Mountain State, the company's owners and employees are committed to West Virginia.

"Less than 5 percent of our business is within 100 miles of this facility," he said. "We're bringing fresh money into the state."

Family Business

When it was founded, Danser was much like any other sheet metal fabricator at the time, Pfeiffer said.

"In 1936, we started out as a sheet metal company that did roofing and siding -- the typical stuff sheet metal companies do," he said. "We did that into the '40s."

Then, after World War II, the company had an opportunity to do some work on the kilns at the Corning glass plant in Parkersburg, Pfeiffer said. That project changed the company's focus.

"We started working on high-temperature kilns all over the world," he said. "That's one of our specialties. ... We do no (heating, ventilation, air-conditioning) work, roofing or siding."

Today, Danser remains a family-owned operation, Pfeiffer said. He is part of the fourth generation that has run the company.

"I think that one-tenth of 1 percent of family-owned businesses make it to the fourth generation," he said.

The reason for the company's success is the people with whom he has surrounded himself, Pfeiffer said.

"To run a company, you have to be the dumbest guy at the table," he said. "You have to hire smart people -- the best candidate for each position."

Those people include the engineering staff, welders and others, Pfeiffer said. Today, Danser employs about 140. That is double what it was just three years ago.

The number of employees increased because sales increased, he said. Today, the company has worked on projects across the country and has exported or installed systems in Canada, China, Egypt, Iran, Vietnam and other counties.

"We've worked in Saudi Arabia," he said. "We sent a foreman there to install a system. When we did a job in South Africa, we sent a crew and their families there for three or four months."

Some of the company's work is closer to home. Some of Danser's largest customers are brick kilns located across the country, Pfeiffer said. And the company has completed projects at DuPont's Washington Works just south of Parkersburg.

Danser manufactures a wide range of products, including recirculating air systems, pollution control systems and spiral-wound ductwork. The company has patented a process called Vacuduct, which is a method for producing vacuum-formed duct insulation.

Lean Shop

Pfeiffer credits a new management philosophy for the recent growth spurt. He first was exposed to the "lean manufacturing" while working for a Japanese auto parts supplier.

"It's the Toyota manufacturing model," Pfeiffer said. "It's the Japanese model efficiency in manufacturing."

The "lean philosophy" is aimed at reducing wasted time and energy in the manufacturing process, Pfeiffer said. Basically, shops that use the lean system keep each piece moving until it is completed.

At first, Pfeiffer didn't believe the lean model would work in a custom sheet metal shop. A friend convinced him otherwise.

"We were spending 96 percent of our time on other things: ordering, receiving and moving a project," he said. "Our customers don't want to pay for that."

After deciding to give the new philosophy a try, the company made two promises to its workers, Pfeiffer said. The first was that there would be no job cuts. The second was that they weren't going to implement the new system then sell the company.

"A lot of them were skeptical," he said. "But as they saw production increase, they became believers."

A key part of "lean" is communicating with workers, Pfeiffer said. The company regularly posts information about sales, production and safety on the shop floor.

Continuous Improvement

Although production and sales have increased because of "lean," Pfeiffer said the company still has a long way to go.

"Toyota is the best in the world at it," he said. "Last year, they were at 50 percent (time spent on other things). We've gotten to maybe about 90 percent. We have a long, long, long way to go. We've seen continuous improvement. We're constantly evaluating ourselves."

Because of the success Danser has had with the lean principles, Pfeiffer is eager to let other companies know how it's done.

"(In Parkersburg) we have the Mid-Ohio Valley Safety Council," he said. "I'd like to see a Lean Manufacturing Council. We could learn from each other."

Since Danser found success with the lean philosophy, it would have been easy for the company to pick up and relocate to another state or even another country, Pfeiffer said. That option was never considered, however.

"Our goal is to make something that is sustainable and something that is part of this state," he said.

Danser recently had a "Believe in America" campaign, which has increased pride in the company and the country, said Emily Klodowski, director of marketing.

"This group is proud to be here," she said. "They believe in American companies."

The lean ideals could lead to a revolution for American manufacturing, Pfeiffer said.

"I really believe we're engaged in the next American industrial revolution," he said. "I really believe our greatest days are yet to come."
http://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=41343&catid=165

Metal Gear Online Short - Saving Sargent Quackers

2008-07-12T23:05:00.001-07:00

Understand the Metal Chemistry of Porphyrinoids

2008-06-28T19:14:00.000-07:00

The examination of porphyrins and phthalocyanines and their metal complexes remains a pillar of the chemical sciences spanning fundamental chemistry and applications to biological chemistry and design of advanced materials. While the chemistry of the metalloporphyrins and metallophthalocyanines has been extensively explored, the metal chemistry of many of the analogs and isomers of the porphyrin macrocycle has only recently matured into a significant field. With recent significant advances in the organic chemistry of aromatic polypyrrolic macrocycles, leading to the easy availability of porphyrin analogs and isomers, research into the metal chemistry of these compounds is allowing a deeper understanding of their role in biochemistry and the development of new molecules with exciting applications in medicine, catalysis, materials science, and sensors. Metal Chemistry of Porphyrinoids summarizes these recent synthetic developments, particularly in respect of metallation strategies for freebase porphyrinoids, as well as progress towards applications in areas such as sensor and optical materials, catalysis and medicine. This reference summarizes those developments as well as progress towards a variety of applications which mirror the many uses of normal porphyrins and phthalocyanines. Applications discussed include sensor and optical materials and medical applications, including radiopharmaceuticals and photodynamic therapy.

Christopher J. Ziegler is an assistant professor of chemistry at The University of Akron. He was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied under Kenneth S. Suslick on synthetic porphyrin chemistry. He then moved to MIT, where he worked as a National Institutes of Health NRSA Fellow with Stephen J. Lippard researching the antitumor drug cisplatin. Prof. Ziegler has been at The University of Akron since 2000, and now works on the metal chemistry of porphyrin isomers, such as N-confused porphyrin, and analogs, such as corrole, porpholactone, and thiaporphyrins. G. Richard Geier III is an assistant professor of chemistry at Colgate University. He was a National Institutes of Health Graduate Training Fellow in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Washington. His graduate studies under the direction of Tomikazu Sasaki entailed the preparation and study of a metalloporphyrin-peptide hybrid mimic of the cytochrome P450 family of enzymes. He then performed postdoctoral research with Jonathan S. Lindsey at North Carolina State University on the course of key reactions leading to meso-substituted porphyrins. The research provided insight into fundamental reactions while also affording practical observations such as the discovery of an efficient synthesis of N-confused porphyrin, and the identification of mild acid catalysts for condensations involving dipyrromethanecarbinol species. Prof. Geier has been at Colgate University since 2000, and now studies reactions leading to porphyrinoids with altered structures relative to porphyrin, such as corrole and [34]octaphyrin(1.1.1.0.1.1.1.0).
http://findarticles.com/

sheet metal forming

2008-06-14T04:30:00.000-07:00

Platinum Metal

2008-05-26T06:16:00.000-07:00

The name platinum is derived from the Spanish word "platina," which means "little silver." An off-white metal, platinum is flexible and can be molded into almost any shape. It is also very expensive and rare but useful in many industrial as well as decorative processes. The metal has the same properties as glass when it comes to malleability. This metal is not only used in jewelry but also for other purposes such as in catalytic converters and medical applications because it resists oxidation in air at any temperature. However, it can be corroded by cyanides, halogens, sulfur, and caustic alkalis.

Platinum has extraordinary resistance to chemical attacks, excellent high-temperature characteristics, and stable electrical properties. All these properties are very useful in industrial applications.

There are six naturally occurring platinum isotopes, and the most abundant are platinum-194, which accounts for 33% of the platinum on the planet; platinum-195; and platinum-196. The others are platinum-198, platinum-192 and platinum-190 which are the rarest of them all. The latter is faintly radioactive, with a half-life of seven hundred billion years, while the other five are non-radioactive.

This metal is also called a noble metal and is not damaging to the human body. However, the different platinum salts can be extremely harmful. These salts can cause cancer, DNA impairments, hearing damage, and allergic reactions.

Platinum is also used in numerous industrial applications, particularly in the automobile sector for curbing pollution. On a worldwide scale, the demand for platinum still surpasses the supply. Platinum has become one and a half times costlier over the past ten years, and the prices are less unpredictable than those of gold. Gold prices are influenced by many unrelated influences such as central bank guidelines, bullion, currency movements, and speculative activities.

Platinum, on the other hand, is like any other product, and its value is not influenced by extraneous factors.
http://www.ezinearticles.com/

Strong as sheet metal

2008-05-09T23:22:00.000-07:00

A company that recently completed work on the Statehouse has been providing sheet metal work from the same location in Topeka since 1952.

Stevenson Co. made repairs to the copper roof of the exterior of the east and west wings of the state Capitol and improved the lay light, which is a glazed opening in the ceiling to admit light near the House chambers.

The company, with 25 employees, is working for a London firm to prepare a platform for a food processing facility in Mexico. The platform will be 8 feet by 20 feet and 75 feet long and will be shipped in sections.
It's made of painted structural carbon steel. The decking is aluminum tread plate, and the handrail is stainless steel.

"A lot of our work is in Topeka, then the U.S. and a little bit out of the country," Joseph Pennington, president, said. "Most of our business is through word of mouth, and we do have great partners."

He also said some business comes through the company's Web site.

"We do no residential work," Pennington said.

Stevenson Co. employs craftsmen and welders to fabricate and install sheet metal inside and outside businesses.

The company works mostly with food processing plants, making tanks for liquids, bins for products, conveyors and chutes that come off of conveyors.

The chutes have been made for raw ingredients, brass casings and food items for people and animals. The company also makes wall panels, stairs, mezzanines and ladders.

For the outside of buildings, the company makes metal roofs, flashing and gutters for industrial plants.

It also makes siding in different colors, finishes and metals.

After assessing the customer's needs, the company makes items to the customer's specifications. In Topeka, the company will deliver and install small items. Larger items will be sent by truck.

The company can ship worldwide.

Stevenson Co. has 32,475 square feet, including an office space, four shops and a storage area.

The main shop is a fabrication shop, where copper, aluminum, stainless steel and carbon steel is cut and pieces are welded together to create custom fabricated sheet metal parts.

Another shop does what the main shop does, plus painting.

A third shop works with all stainless steel; the fourth is a special projects shop.

In 1952, Russell B. Stevenson bought a small tin shop.

The company has grown through the years, acquiring more shops and remodeling but still has the same address. It even has the same telephone number as it did then, with the addition of two extra numbers in front.

"It's a real family business," Pennington said. "Dear old granddad used to work here."

His grandfather, Wiggie Pennington, worked for Russell B. Stevenson.

His father, Jerry Pennington, bought the company and was owner and president, and his brother, Tim Pennington, works there now as a sheet metal worker.

Pennington and his brother are one of three sets of brothers who work for the business. The other sets of brothers are Galen and Melvin Lister and David and Jeff Dechand.

The Dechands' father, Don, also worked for the company.

During 55 years in business, the company has seen ups and downs.

"It seemed that for my business, after 9/11, companies were more focused on security equipment than processing equipment," Pennington said. "We now have more orders than we used to after 9/11."
http://findarticles.com/

metal: beyond the myths

2008-04-26T21:33:00.000-07:00

Building owners are beginning to understand metal's benefits, including low life-cycle costs and appealing designs

Just a few years ago, metal roof and wall systems were often relegated to industrial or agricultural districts where looks usually don't really matter. However, times and technology have changed that mindset, say industry sources. More and more, building owners are discovering that metal is a fashion statement - in many ways.

Metal has emerged as cost-efficient roof and wall material that can save building owners money and look good doing it. And it has environmental benefits as well.
The major factors in selecting any roofing or wall materials should include the initial costs for material and labor, impact on the job site schedule, finish, possible moisture intrusion, expected life of the material and energy costs.

"Contrary to popular belief among owners, metal has an advantage," says Rick Mowrey, director of marketing and business development for Centria and chairman of The Metal Initiative. "Most owners think metal is a high cost material because they think it needs to be replaced every 20 years or has poor energy costs and needs lots of maintenance. These are old myths and misconceptions."

Metal does have a higher initial cost compared to other materials, such as a single-ply system. However, once other life-cycle costs are factored in, the overall costs are significantly cheaper, he says.

Once owners understand that metal is less expensive in the long run, maintenance usually is the next hurdle.
"When you start comparing metal to flat roofs, you should be comparing on a life-cycle cost basis," says Blake Batkoff, national accounts sales manager for Petersen Aluminum. That really means maintenance. If you put a metal roof on a building, you don't have to touch it."

The first thing building owners will notice about metal is that it continues to look good over time "because it doesn't wear out," says Sid Peterson, vice president of sales and marketing for Alcoa Architectural Products.

That means coatings are important, particularly for steel or aluminum systems. Many of the coating systems in use today have warranties up to 30 years. If they are recoated after 30 years, the building owner can expect "long-term function for many years," says Todd Miller, president of Classic Metal Roofing Systems.

Some buildings erected in the early 196Os using predecessors to today's products are still functioning well, he says.

With metal, maintenance is one less thing facilities executives have to worry about, these manufacturers say.

'Very little is spent on maintenance. One of metal's greatest benefits is that its maintenance costs are very low, and in most cases, there aren't any," says Toy Henson, The Metal Initiative's director of marketing.

"Metal roofs clean themselves in a good rain storm," says Batkoff.

'Wall panels need to be cleaned," says Peterson. "Glass cleaners can streak so you have to clean the panels after you clean the glass, but that's it. If you don't spend a lot of money maintaining it, life-cycle costs naturally go down."