Technical Articles & News

Principles, selection, installation, wiring, accuracy and troubleshooting — plus typical applications in injection molding, hydraulics, wind power and steel.

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Latest Technical Articles

2026-10-09 · Technical Q&A

Where to Mount a Magnetostrictive Displacement Sensor: The Wrong Position Moves Both Stroke and Accuracy

On the same machine, the reading is always the distance between the fixed end of the rod and the magnet, so where the unit sits is where the datum sits. Mounted on the frame, mounted on the moving carriage, or with both ends moving — the three arrangements measure three different things. This covers what each pattern actually measures, the three checks to run once position is fixed, and how far a measuring line may sit from the axis of motion before angular error starts to dominate.

2026-10-09 · Technical Q&A

Replacing a Magnetostrictive Displacement Sensor in a Hydraulic Cylinder: Record Before You Remove

Replacing a unit fitted inside a hydraulic cylinder usually goes wrong for two reasons that have nothing to do with technique: nobody recorded the old dimensions before removal, and nobody recalibrated after fitting. This walks through the sequence — the four confirmations before touching anything, the three dimensions and one datum to record while the old unit is still in place, the surfaces that must not be marked during removal, and why recalibration matters more than the swap itself.

2026-10-09 · Technical Q&A

A 500 mm Stroke, So Why Order a Longer Range: Working Out Range from Cylinder Stroke

Ordering range to match the stroke is one of the most common selection errors. A 500 mm stroke ordered as 500 mm leaves both ends unreadable, because nominal range is not usable length — each end carries a fixed dead zone that has to be deducted. This covers the three-step calculation from stroke to ordered range, why the dead zone cannot be estimated from experience, and the checks to run before the order goes out.

2026-10-06 · Technical Q&A

Discontinued and Out of Stock: Finding a Replacement Magnetostrictive Displacement Sensor

The unit on an ageing machine has failed, the model is out of production, and nobody stocks it. The machine is otherwise fine and the whole job is stuck on one part. This is common in retrofit work and it is solvable, but the order of steps matters. Replacement selection starts with five mechanical dimensions — flange hole spacing, rod diameter and thread, real stroke, pressure rating and wiring form — and only then moves to electrical parameters. Which values must match, which can flex, and what has to be redone after fitting.

2026-10-06 · Technical Insights

Cold and Warm Readings Differ: Thermal Expansion or Magnetostrictive Displacement Sensor Drift

One reading in the morning, another at noon, a third in the afternoon — and range, zero and wiring all check out. When a cold machine and a warm machine read differently at the same mechanical position, there are two sources: the structure itself is expanding as it heats, and the magnetostrictive displacement sensor drifts with temperature. The two differ by an order of magnitude, and confusing them sends you adjusting in the wrong direction. Three field tests separate them.

2026-10-06 · Technical Q&A

How Much Off-Centre Is Too Much: Telling Coaxiality, Parallelism and Squareness Apart

Walk the full stroke by hand and the reading shudders at one or two fixed stretches while the rest is steady. A new unit behaves the same way. This is rarely the part — it is the rider magnet sitting off-centre on the rod. Eccentricity is not simply a weaker signal: it modulates the return amplitude at the phase where the offset is greatest. Coaxiality, parallelism and squareness are defined first, then how much is allowed, how to measure it, and how to adjust.

2026-10-06 · Product Knowledge

Measuring Displacement on a Testing Machine: Pairing with Load and Surviving a Million Cycles

Displacement measurement on a testing machine is not the same as on a production machine. What is wanted is a zero that is still in place after hundreds of thousands of cycles, and a displacement value that can be matched to a load value at every instant. This covers the three hard requirements, why synchronisation with load matters more than accuracy, and the four places that actually give trouble over long cycling.

2026-09-29 · Technical Insights

Why One Divider Valve Cannot Keep Two Cylinders Together: Four Errors Open Loop Never Corrects

Two cylinders push the same beam. The command is identical, the valves are identical, and the beam still runs crooked. The problem is not tuning. A divider valve synchronises by splitting flow, and with no position value anywhere in the circuit four errors stay uncorrected: the flow split itself, flow shifting under asymmetric load, oil compressibility, and internal leakage plus oil temperature drift. The position difference keeps accumulating along the stroke until something else stops it.

2026-09-29 · Technical Insights

Mechanical, Divider Valve or Servo Closed Loop: Choosing Between Three Ways to Sync Cylinders

Every multi-cylinder sync scheme reduces to one of three: enforce it with structure, split the flow, or close a loop on position. All three work, in different territory. Mechanical sync is easiest when spans are short and strokes are small, a divider valve is enough when the load is symmetric and the tolerance loose, and servo closed loop becomes unavoidable once the load is asymmetric or the tolerance reaches a few parts in a thousand. A three-step test decides which applies.

2026-09-29 · Technical Q&A

Don't Touch the Magnetostrictive Displacement Sensor Yet: Four Layers to Check in Order

When sync drifts out, the two most convenient actions on site are changing control parameters and swapping the magnetostrictive displacement sensor. Both are usually wasted effort. The correct order is bottom-up through four layers: mechanical backlash and distortion, then hydraulic split, leakage, oil temperature and trapped air, then mounting and calibration of the position feedback, and only then control parameters. A ten-minute static versus dynamic split narrows the direction first.

2026-09-22 · Product Knowledge

Anti-Vibration Mounting Clips for Injection Moulding Sensors: 42.5 mm Hole Pitch, 3.5 kgf·cm Torque, 13 Steps

Both sensors on an injection moulding machine — clamp and injection — are isolated by a pair of anti-vibration mounting clips. The original factory guide turns on two numbers that have not changed in over a decade: a 42.5 mm hole pitch and a tightening torque of 3.5 kgf·cm. Torque has to be applied with a slipping-type driver and stopped at the click — too much crushes the elastomer, too little leaves the screw unseated. Each pack contains two clips and four washers, and not one washer can be skipped. The guide closes with the two site causes of a driver that clicks without clamping: a broken tap left in the hole, or poor thread quality.

2026-09-22 · Technical Insights

Ten Injection Presses, One Jittering Ejector Sensor: A Thin Mounting Plate Acting as a Tuning Fork

We ran all ten injection moulding machines on site up to maximum ejector speed. Only one reading jittered; the other nine stayed steady. The cause was not the sensor: on that smaller machine the mounting plate was not rigid enough and too thin, so at speed the plate resonated like a tuning fork and fed high-frequency vibration down the cantilever into the sensor core. A replacement sensor would not have helped. Fitting an anti-vibration base cleaned the waveform immediately. A second, separate fault turned up in the same batch: installation over-travel, with the slider passing the black mark on the housing at the bottom of the stroke on several machines.