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Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2009 31
Marta modular system
MARTA system is a fully automated two-axis welding machine, manufactured by
the Italian company GEM, in sizes up to 4,800 x 1,500mm. The rigid machined
frame ensures high accuracy, absence of vibrations during working and
resistance to external stresses. The modular design meets individual requirements
and improves manufacturing flexibility for frequent product changes.
The welding gun is of the C type, with two opposed cylinders in the standard
version, fitted with electrode bars in order to weld several crosses at the same
time. The machine can be fitted with a rotary welding head to follow irregular
shapes, and a lower NC axis for changing the electrode height so that it is
possible to weld components with different working levels. The C gun can have
more cylinders, working individually or two by two. The electrodes can be
mounted at 90° or side by side, in order to speed up the production. A medium
frequency inverter (1,000 Hz) is available on request for high welding quality.
The steel linear slides are of the re-circulating ball type while a Siemens brushless
motor coupled with pinion and precision rack provides the system drive.
The machine is fitted with two working stations, side by side. This system
increases the productivity of each operator as the machine welds while the
operator unloads/reloads. The constant current welding control will store up to
63 different welding programs. The CNC is connected to an ergonomic terminal,
which is used to manually operate the machine, especially for the teach-in
programming. A fixed guard protects the working area, while the loading/
unloading station is fitted with a double photoelectric cell barrier.
GEM Srl – Italy Fax: +39 011 9241002
Email: Website :
The MARTA system from GEM m m
Camera cables with BendBright-XS
Draka Communications’ BendBrightXS technology is now an integral feature
of its SMPTE 311M hybrid camera cables with integrated optical fibres. It is
believed that this enhancement will make transmission cables for video signals
considerably more robust and more appropriate for HDTV broadcasting
environments. BendBright-XS is a technology for optimising optical fibres in
which a special field-confining trench ensures that the optical beam remains in
the centre of the cable even when the latter is subject to extreme stress – for
instance by bending and pressure.
As BendBright-XS effectively eliminates faults originating in fibre optic cables,
loss of transmission during live broadcasts can be virtually excluded.
Introduced in 2002 as “BendBright”, the XS-variant is the latest upgrade to the
technology, offering, it is claimed, a hundred times bending improvement over
standard single mode fibre cables. The Society of Motion Picture and
Television Engineers has defined SMPTE 311M as an official transmission
standard. The standard specifies that such camera cables are capable of
transmitting high-resolution HDTV signals in addition to the usual standard
television images. They are also suitable for high-speed recording, such as
that used for the extreme slow-motion sequences taken at sports events.
Draka Holding NV – The Netherlands Fax: +31 2056 89899
Email: Website: