Ray Barnes reports on rodless pneumatic cylinders that have been incorporated into a plastic thermoforming machine for making panels for caravans. Planetary gearboxes are excellent alternatives to in-line and parallel shaft gearboxes, offering high-calibre products at a reasonable price. Here, Giovanni Zinzani looks at a redesigned series of gearboxes. The Humaniform range of servo-controlled air muscle actuators, available from Merlin Systems, feature closed-loop position control to provide both lower cost and simpler installation than traditional rotary and linear servomotor based solutions. The design concept for the EMA linear actuators was to provide a compact unit, which delivered powerful, smooth and precise linear motion for low to medium duty applications with loads up to 10kN. Astrid Vosberg gives an insight into specialised high pressure hydraulics dealing with pressure ranges above 400bar. A new range of dry running antifriction precision linear bearings is guaranteed to be free of organic lubricants, sulphur-containing solid lubricants and are also free of soft metal coating lubricants. A groundbreaking new design of wheel disc for off-highway vehicles has been developed by three companies working together: GKN Wheels, Corus and SSAB Swedish Steel. Vast sums of money are spent on developing machinery that goes faster, but it has to be remembered that unless a process runs at a constant speed, overall cycle time can also be reduced by improving the stopping time. Ray Barnes reports on rodless pneumatic cylinders that have been incorporated into a plastic thermoforming machine for making panels for caravans. Planetary gearboxes are excellent alternatives to in-line and parallel shaft gearboxes, offering high-calibre products at a reasonable price. Here, Giovanni Zinzani looks at a redesigned series of gearboxes. The Humaniform range of servo-controlled air muscle actuators, available from Merlin Systems, feature closed-loop position control to provide both lower cost and simpler installation than traditional rotary and linear servomotor based solutions. The design concept for the EMA linear actuators was to provide a compact unit, which delivered powerful, smooth and precise linear motion for low to medium duty applications with loads up to 10kN. Astrid Vosberg gives an insight into specialised high pressure hydraulics dealing with pressure ranges above 400bar. A new range of dry running antifriction precision linear bearings is guaranteed to be free of organic lubricants, sulphur-containing solid lubricants and are also free of soft metal coating lubricants. A groundbreaking new design of wheel disc for off-highway vehicles has been developed by three companies working together: GKN Wheels, Corus and SSAB Swedish Steel. Vast sums of money are spent on developing machinery that goes faster, but it has to be remembered that unless a process runs at a constant speed, overall cycle time can also be reduced by improving the stopping time.