Hello, I’m Jim Ford, Southco’s Product Manager for Hinges and Positioning Technology (the hinge guy).
When most people think of hinges, they envision a simple door opening and closing motion. Add in a little dash of what we like to call “positioning technology” and suddenly the humble hinge becomes much more.
Want your light door to feel more substantial, want to eliminate vibration, need to make a heavy door lift with ease. Engineered positioning technology can do all that and more.
I’ve worked on “hinge” solutions for nearly two decades, and have seen applications expand well beyond basic hinges to include a wide range of mechanisms, including devices that provide tilt and swivel action, movable mounting arms for things like lights, cameras, and displays, as well as a lot of high tech “hinges”
Have an interesting positioning hinge or motion management challenge? Bring it here and we can start the discussion.
A recent trip to Japan and China reminds me of an old truth. Every person and place has unique qualities, yet at their core people are more alike than not. I'd like to thank my wonderful local hosts, in all the places I visited who made an extra effort to make me feel welcome, and show me some of the things that make their countries, companies, and people special.
In customer visits, and facility tours, working with design engineers, manufacturing engineers, and sales and marketing professionals, one thing came through time and time again. Everyone has a desire for and ease of use and convenience. Where this desire meets the uniqueness of each individual - personal preference, physical size, strength, etc. - there is often a need for
position control to deliver an ergonomic solution
Southco's positioning technologies, from constant torque hinges, to our new
AV series Dynamic Mounting Arms are a great way to make displays, doors, and devices conform to the physical needs of the user.
Have ideas or questions on how positioning technology can enhance your product? Post your thoughts here.
I am very pleased to announce the introduction of Southco's newest product family, the
AV-D30 Series Dynamic Mounting Arm.The release
of Southco's new AV series display mounting arms brings a set of features that allows users to position displays in applications where conventional "home theatre" type mounts simply don't meet the customer needs.
With the integration of the
positioning technology first developed in Southco's line of constant torque hinges into every joint, the AV series arms gain the ability to precisely control all user operating efforts.
Want mount a display in a moving vehicle? The AV-D30 series will ensure the arm stays in position when subject to normal braking loads.
Have a wall that isn't quite level? The Dynamic Mounting Arm stays exactly where you position it, with no drift.
Positioning a touchscreen? The integrated positioning technology makes sure the display stays put, even as users press on the screen, while still allowing easy, tool free repositioning of the display.
Want to see the AV-D30 in action? Check out these
installation and
features and benefits videos.
Customers often come to us looking for a simple way to ensure a door or panel stays closed. For light weight panels and access doors, bi-stable mechanisms provide a great alternative to a conventional hinge and slam latch arrangement.
The action of a bi-stable mechanism is familiar to anyone who has every used a typical "flip phone" style cell phone. Close the cover and it snaps shut, lift the cover and it flips open.
In the design stage, Southco's G7 bi-stable hinges can easily be integrated into most smaller plastic doors, adding proven hold-open, hold-closed functionality. This allows designers to provide reliable, easy, and intuitive access, without the need for a separate latch. In addition, the bi-stable functionality drives doors closed, eliminating the possibility of leaving a cover or panel slightly ajar.
For more detail and installation examples, visit out website at www.southco.com/class/g7-bi-stable-embedded-hinges-7631.html
For many years, we have been providing customers with custom position control hinges with an integrated counterbalance feature. Adding counterbalance to a
constant torque hinge can provide several benefits. The counterbalance can allow users to lift a heavier lid with fingertip ease, or can help stabilize and resist user input forces on touchscreen displays.
Seeing this demand time and time again, we set out to make counterbalancing available in a standard product. This allows customers large and small to access the best in positioning technology, without the additional engineering and tooling costs associated with custom designs.
We are honored to have our new
ST-12C series hinges recognized with the receipt of Design News' Golden Mousetrap Award for 2009. To read the full story you can visit the
Design News website.
With the current global economic situation, too many good people may have heard these words in an unpleasant context. In the world of hinges and positioning technology, however, there are ways we can prevent the door from hitting us, and in the process introduce a real product differentiator.
Many applications use constant torque hinges to hold doors in position, giving the end user hands-free unencumbered access. Let me use a couple of scenarios to illustrate...
Imagine that you need to open a door to access the inside of an enclosure and make some repairs. Now imagine that the enclosure is outside, and you've just climbed a 20 foot ladder, on a stormy day to reach it. A gust of wind comes along causing the door to slam into your hand, making you drop your screwdriver to the ground. As you climb back down to retrieve the tool, the value of a well placed positioning hinge becomes clear.
Ever try to fill up a bag with rolls from a grocery store bulk bin? Easy right? Just hold the tongs in one hand, the bag in the other hand, and hold the lid of the bin open with your third hand. Plus, if your kids are curious like mine, you might want to hold onto them with the fourth hand to avoid having the orange display turn into a citrus tsunami.
Using the right hinge can change the user experience from one of frustration, to one of ease. In tough times, these little differentiators can help separate the products that ultimately win a customer's loyalty from those that didn't quite make the grade.
Have questions or ideas on how you can use positioning technology, post your thoughts here!
This week, I had a conversation with a designer about what type of position control hinge to use for a small access door. It's something I'm asked often, and the answer is usually another question. What do you want the user to experience when they open the door?
I've found that the right solution usually ends up depending as much on who will use the product, as it does the technical aspects. The designer's application was a small door, about half the size of a typical shoebox lid, which conceals a series of controls. The challenge being how to hold the door open while the user accesses the controls to adjust certain settings.
There are many ways to achieve this goal, with each different hinge mechanism providing a unique "feel" for the end user.
A constant torque hinge provides smooth motion, and allows the door to stay in any position. By selecting different torque values we can also customize the operating effort. Which torque is "right" depends on end user preference. In a consumer product application, a light, easy operating effort may be best, while for a similar door, in a piece of off highway equipment a higher effort may be desired, both to fit the robust image of the product, and to provide more positive feedback to operators with gloved hands.
A detent or bi-stable hinge can ensure the door will stay in a specific known position or "snap" open and closed like a typical flip style cell phone.
After a discussion of all the options we found a solution that achieved all the designer's original goals, plus provides some nice to have features to differentiate from competitors.
Want to see some more ways to use positioning technology? Check out the video at: http://lp.southco.com/DesignHouseVideo-CEMA.html
In the access hardware business, we often talk about the benefits of choosing an off the shelf product. When a designer can find a catalog product that meets their needs, this often translates to the quickest delivery, lowest product cost, and least engineering effort. A real win for everyone involved.
As with most rules, however, there can be exceptions. Consider this recent example where a custom engineered solution offered a cost savings:
A customer came to us looking for a simple torque hinge to position an LCD display panel. While any number of of Southco's standard position control hinges would have been more than adequate to meet the customer's need, taking a deeper look at the application uncovered new opportunities.
By considering the whole application, we identified an opportunity for cost reduction. By designing a custom housing which matched the industrial design of the product, we allowed the customer, to eliminate a cosmetic cover whose sole purpose was to conceal the hinge mechanism. The result - the custom solution reduced total components, and saved on both tooling and product cost.
For more design ideas and application examples, take a look at my recent article in machine design:
http://machinedesign.com/article/don-t-come-unhinged-over-enclosure-design-1023
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