Tolomatic | Extreme Force Electric Motion
RSX50: 50 Tons of Precise Electric Force
The newest RSX actuator doubles the force capacity of the RSX25 while keeping a remarkably similar footprint.
New from Tolomatic
Hydraulic-class power, electric control
Built around Tolomatic's high-precision planetary roller-screw technology, the RSX50 is designed for high-force, high-cycle work where manufacturers want measurable motion and force without hydraulic leaks, fluid handling, and maintenance complexity.
A major jump in power density
Tolomatic rates the RSX50 for maximum force of 100,000 lbf (445 kN), twice the 50,000-lbf rating of the RSX25. Maximum published stroke is 25 inches (630 mm), and maximum speed is 17 in/sec (432 mm/sec).
Its compact high-force package opens an electric path for pressing, punching, stamping, timber processing, injection molding, and other demanding industrial processes traditionally served by hydraulics.
Force
100,000 lbf
Up to 50 tons of controlled linear force for heavy industrial duty.
Stroke
Up to 25 in
A published maximum of 630 mm, with extended options available by request.
Speed
Up to 17 in/sec
Electric motion with repeatable positioning and measurable force control.
Built for demanding production environments
The RSX family uses Type III hard-coat anodized aluminum housings and offers an IP67 option for protection against dust and water ingress. Tolomatic positions the platform around precision, ruggedness, lower energy use, simplified maintenance, and consistent performance across industrial temperature ranges.
Read the official announcement: Tolomatic launches the RSX50.
Bring us the application
BEA can help turn force requirements into a practical motion solution
Britton Electronics & Automation can help evaluate the load, stroke, speed, duty cycle, environment, mounting, motor and drive, controls, and safety requirements behind your application. We can also help compare an RSX electric solution with an existing hydraulic approach and coordinate the automation components needed around it.
Contact BEA to discuss a new high-force machine or a hydraulic-to-electric conversion.
Fortress Safety | News & Insights
Why ISO 14119:2024 Calls Them Interlocks, Not Safety Switches
A machinery-safety perspective from Fortress Safety, summarized for BEA customers.
Vendor perspective
Interlocks are engineered safety controls
Fortress Safety describes an interlock as a mechanical, electrical, or other device that prevents hazardous machine functions from operating under specified conditions. Interlocked guards help bring hazards to a safe state before a person enters a safeguarded area.
The 2024 standard recognizes five interlock types
According to Fortress Safety's article, ISO 14119:2024 classifies interlocking devices by their operating and actuation principles. The notable addition is Type 5 for trapped-key interlocking devices, expanding the previous four-type classification.
Fortress notes that trapped-key systems can enforce an access sequence or control energy sources. Selection still begins with the machine's risk assessment and must account for the environment, required reliability, probability of failure, control-system integration, and measures that discourage defeat.
1. Assess the task and hazard
Identify how people interact with the machine and where motion or hazardous energy creates unacceptable risk.
2. Select the interlock type
Match the device and actuation principle to the application, required safety function, and operating environment.
3. Integrate and validate
Consider the complete safety-related control system, resistance to defeat, applicable standards, and application-specific validation.
Why the terminology matters
The phrase safety switch remains common in industry, but Fortress explains that it is broad and can be ambiguous: a switch is a component inside a device, while an interlocking device has defined safety functions, design requirements, and performance expectations.
Using the standards-based term helps engineers, machine builders, operators, and suppliers discuss the complete protective function more precisely.
Why listen to Fortress
Machinery-safety experience behind the article
Fortress Safety says it has specialized in machinery safety and interlocking since 1977 and participates in standards-development work involving BSI, ANSI, and ISO. The source article is written by Stefano Tommasone, PhD, Fortress Content Manager and a B11 Licensed Machinery Safety Specialist.
Read the full vendor article: Interlocks in Machinery Safety and the Role of ISO 14119.
Bring the application to BEA
Britton Electronics & Automation can help connect machine-safety requirements with practical control, electrical, and automation choices. Final device selection, required performance, and validation must be based on the specific machine and the standards and regulations that apply to it.
Functional Safety as a Performance Strategy for Automotive Machines
Machine safety | Build protection into automotive automation from the start
✓ Safety belongs in the machine concept
Festo's recent functional-safety article argues that automotive machine safety should not be added after the core design is complete. When safety is integrated early, engineers can address protection, machine availability, energy use, validation, and future changes as parts of one architecture.
That is especially relevant in automotive and e-mobility production, where high throughput, flexible layouts, controlled motion, valuable processes, and interaction between people and machines must coexist.
1. Assess the real application
Start by identifying where the actual process creates risk. A precise, application-specific assessment helps establish the required safety level and reduces guesswork later in the project.
2. Match functions to architecture
Define the needed safety functions around the machine's motion profile, layout, and operating modes. This helps balance protection, flexibility, and complexity without automatically overspecifying the system.
3. Implement for performance
Circuit design and component selection affect response time, diagnostics, restart behavior, fault handling, and output. Good implementation protects people while supporting reliable production.
✓ Put the safety function closer to the motion
Festo highlights a shift from exclusively centralized safety concepts toward functions located closer to the actuator. Depending on the application, this can enable faster, more precise responses, simplify modular machine sections, increase layout flexibility, and improve machine availability.
Electric and pneumatic safety functions can both contribute. The right combination depends on the risk assessment, required behavior, machine architecture, and applicable standards. Safety decisions must be validated for the complete application.
Modernize without rebuilding everything
Existing equipment may need to meet updated safety requirements or internal standards. Festo notes that scalable concepts can support targeted retrofits, such as modernizing selected safety functions, improving diagnostics, or aligning specific machine sections with current requirements while preserving useful equipment.
Read the primary source: Festo's functional safety article for automotive machines.
How BEA can help
Britton Electronics & Automation can help evaluate machine-safety needs alongside controls, electrical, pneumatic, and motion requirements, then support practical component selection and system integration.
Contact BEA when planning a new machine concept or a focused safety upgrade for existing automation.
80/20 1010 T-Slotted Profile for Flexible Industrial Framing
Modular framing | Four open T-slots in a compact 1-inch profile
✓ Compact profile, four-sided access
The 80/20 1010 is a 1.00-inch by 1.00-inch fractional 10 Series square T-slot profile. One open T-slot on each face gives designers access from any direction for attaching brackets, panels, hardware, and other accessories.
Built-in align-a-grooves help position connecting profiles, and the extrusion is compatible with 80/20 10 Series fasteners.
Industrial applications
80/20 identifies machine guards, sound enclosures, work benches, panel-mount racks, and displays as suitable applications for the 1010 profile.
Aluminum construction
The profile uses 6063-T6 aluminum with a clear anodized finish. 80/20 lists a weight of 0.0424 pound per inch and a maximum length of 242 inches.
Configurable fabrication
Available machining selections include end taps, counterbores, access holes, and miter cuts, helping teams order framing prepared for the intended assembly method.
✓ Design around the complete assembly
The four open slots make the 1010 useful where mounting flexibility and access matter, but the framing member should be evaluated as part of the complete structure. Confirm span, loading, deflection, connection method, guarding requirements, panel loads, environmental exposure, and any motion or impact forces for the actual application.
80/20 lists equal X- and Y-axis moments of inertia of 0.0442 in⁴, a yield strength of 25,000 psi, and a modulus of elasticity of 10,000,000 pounds per square inch. Use the manufacturer's current engineering data and calculation resources when sizing a structure.
How BEA can help
Britton Electronics & Automation can help translate machine, guarding, workstation, panel-mount, and material-handling requirements into a practical modular framing design, including profile and hardware selection, integration with controls and electrical systems, and assembly support.
Supporting resource: 80/20 1010 product details and specifications.
Planning a machine frame, guard, enclosure, or workstation?
BEA supports industrial customers with modular framing, machine integration, controls, instrumentation, safety, and electrical solutions.
Call BEA to discuss the mechanical and automation requirements for your next build.
Rockwell Automation Expands Branch Motor Control with 140ME Devices
Motor control | Branch-circuit protection, panel simplicity, diagnostics, and maintainability
✓ What motor-control problem does the 140ME address?
Motor branch circuits need coordinated disconnecting, short-circuit, overload, and switching functions. When those functions are spread across multiple devices, panel layouts, wiring, commissioning, and troubleshooting can become more complex.
Rockwell Automation's new Allen-Bradley 140ME Motor Protective Switching Devices combine disconnect capability, magnetic short-circuit protection, electronic overload protection, and manual motor switching in one compact device.
Consolidated motor protection
Protection against overload, phase loss, and short-circuit conditions is combined with disconnecting and manual switching functions for a more coordinated motor branch.
Simpler panel implementation
A compact, multifunction device can help reduce component count, simplify installation, and preserve usable control-panel space for accessible wiring and service.
Clearer maintenance response
Visible status information and predictable trip behavior can help technicians identify faults, restore operation, and support consistent uptime.
✓ How does it fit into the larger motor-control architecture?
The 140ME is part of Rockwell Automation's Branch Motor Control and Protection portfolio. It is designed to work alongside 100-E Contactors, 140MT Motor Protection Circuit Breakers, and E100 Electronic Overload Relays as part of a coordinated in-panel motor-control architecture.
Within the latest EtherNet/IP In-cabinet Solution, connectivity through a 100-E Contactor communication module can make device-health information, operating data, and diagnostics available on the EtherNet/IP network. That visibility can support faster troubleshooting and condition-based maintenance while reducing conventional control wiring.
What should designers verify before applying it?
✓ Confirm motor full-load current, starting characteristics, and required trip class.
✓ Verify branch-circuit ratings, short-circuit current ratings, and upstream coordination.
✓ Plan contactor, protection, control-power, network, and enclosure requirements as one system.
✓ Document settings and diagnostic data so maintenance teams can respond consistently.
✓ How can BEA help?
BEA can help evaluate where the 140ME fits within new or updated motor-control panels, including device selection, protection coordination, contactor integration, EtherNet/IP connectivity, PLC programming, panel design, startup, and lifecycle support.
Supporting resource: Rockwell Automation 140ME product announcement.
Planning a motor-control panel or protection upgrade?
Britton Electronics & Automation helps industrial and municipal customers evaluate, integrate, commission, and support practical motor control, electrical protection, PLC, networking, and panel improvements.
Call BEA to discuss your motor-control, panel-design, or maintenance support needs.
Endress+Hauser Celebrates New US Facilities and Partner Growth
Vendor news | Process instrumentation, local support, training, and customer resources
✓ Why does this vendor news matter?
Endress+Hauser announced the inauguration of two new US facilities, marking an investment in regional support, training, collaboration, and long-term customer service.
For BEA customers, vendor investments like this matter because process instrumentation projects depend on more than hardware. Application support, training access, service resources, and strong representative relationships all affect how well systems perform over time.
Greenwood, Indiana
The Endress+Hauser USA Innovation Center and George E. Booth Co. headquarters opened as a 108,000-square-foot commercial office and light-industrial facility designed to support sales, service, training, and customer engagement.
Edgemont, Pennsylvania
A new campus supports Eastern Controls and includes expanded Process Training Unit and Innovation Center resources for hands-on process automation learning.
Customer support network
The announcement reflects continued investment with sales and service representative partners that help customers apply measurement technology in real facilities.
✓ What technology and support does this strengthen?
Endress+Hauser process instrumentation supports flow, level, pressure, temperature, analytical measurement, gas detection, and control valve applications across industries such as water, wastewater, food and beverage, chemical, oil and gas, and life sciences.
✓ Use vendor training resources to improve application knowledge before projects start.
✓ Coordinate instrumentation selection with local sales and service support.
✓ Plan commissioning, documentation, calibration, and lifecycle support early.
✓ How can customers use this?
BEA can help customers apply Endress+Hauser instrumentation as part of practical automation systems, including device selection, panel integration, PLC and SCADA connectivity, startup support, and maintenance planning.
Supporting resource: Endress+Hauser US facilities announcement.
Need help applying process instrumentation?
Britton Electronics & Automation helps industrial and municipal customers evaluate, integrate, commission, and support practical controls, instrumentation, networking, safety, and electrical improvements.
Call BEA to discuss your process measurement, automation, or maintenance support needs.
Phoenix Contact Technology Alliance Program Expands EP Raptor Platform
Industrial networking | EP Raptor, validated applications, and OT cybersecurity
✓ What problem are we solving?
Industrial networks are carrying more control, monitoring, security, and edge-computing workloads. As those systems grow, owners need compatible applications that can be validated for industrial use instead of treated as one-off software experiments.
Phoenix Contact's Technology Alliance Program supports the EP Raptor platform by connecting validated third-party applications with industrial network switching and computing hardware.
Stronger application ecosystem
Validated partner applications can expand what the EP Raptor platform can support in industrial environments.
Better OT visibility
Cybersecurity, asset management, incident response, and network monitoring tools can help teams see and manage risk more clearly.
Cleaner integration path
An alliance program can reduce uncertainty when adding third-party software to critical industrial networks.
✓ What technology supports the solution?
The program focuses on interoperable applications for Phoenix Contact's EP Raptor Series of industrial network switches and the broader industrial computing ecosystem.
TAP is built on a simple principle: customers who rely on Phoenix Contact's substation-grade hardware can choose the applications that best fit their operational and cybersecurity needs.
✓ Review the industrial network architecture and connected assets.
✓ Match cybersecurity, monitoring, and application needs to validated platform capabilities.
✓ Plan deployment, documentation, and long-term support before adding tools to critical networks.
Who is included in the first wave?
As part of the program's first wave, Phoenix Contact has formed partnerships with:
- CyVault™ a global OT/ICS cyber defense leader offering advanced, comprehensive protection and industry-first OT/ICS CyberSOC as a Service for industrial organizations and critical infrastructure, with Adaptive Automated Incident Response.
- EmberOT helps industrial companies see threats clearly, safeguard vital systems, and emerge more capable.
- Industrial Defender provides robust OT asset management and compliance automation for critical infrastructure operators.
- JPEmbedded delivers advanced communication and cybersecurity solutions for power systems and industrial networks.
- PCItek delivers integration consulting, solutions, and products to the utility industry.
- Radiflow protects industrial sites by providing unified visibility, real-time threat detection, and automated risk management.
- SyskeyOT provides customer-centric cybersecurity solutions for OT/IACS networks.
Phoenix Contact had previously announced partnerships with Xona and Forescout, which are also part of TAP.
✓ How is the solution implemented?
BEA can help customers evaluate industrial network hardware, cybersecurity requirements, application integration, and support expectations before deploying new OT tools.
Supporting resource: Phoenix Contact Technology Alliance Program information.
Need help applying this in your facility?
Britton Electronics & Automation helps industrial and municipal customers evaluate, integrate, commission, and support practical controls, instrumentation, networking, safety, and electrical improvements.
Call BEA to discuss your controls, automation, networking, or maintenance support needs.