The Moffatt Products Engineer’s Guide for 2022

Moffatt Products is a global supplier of flex arms that serves a broad array of customers — from medical technology to law enforcement. In doing so, we’ve seen a flood of amazing ideas come from engineers, product designers, and, well, just plain old folks with good ideas. So what’s the common thread between all of these people and their successful product designs? They all were brought to fruition through the process, respect, and customer service that we extend to every client we work with.

We pride ourselves on helping our clients make their products a reality. No matter how big or small the job, the respect and trust that we share with every single one of our customers is real. We believe in our clients. We want you to feel like a part of our family when we work with you. Together we can do great things.

We want to understand what works best for you. This guide was created so that you could understand our process.

Great collaboration starts from a place of mutual understanding and respect. When you meet with us, we want to assess your goals for your project and how we can best help you reach them. For us, more information is usually the key to figuring that out. 

We created this guide with you, the engineer, in mind. Here you’ll find all sorts of info on how to optimize the design process, but also answers to flex arm-related FAQs. Like what? Glad you asked.

You’ll learn

• How to know if a flex arm is strong enough for use with your device
• The cost and flexibility of flex arms
• How to integrate USB or micro USB in flex arms
• When to use custom vs stock components
• Plus a whole lot more!

This isn’t a fixed document. It’s always changing as we adapt to new situations and breakthroughs. As we said, we learn best from listening and adapting to customers’ needs. If there’s one thing that 2020 taught us, it’s that no one can predict the future. Here’s our guide for how you can adapt, change, and thrive in 2022 and beyond.

How to use this guide

We wanted to create a place where all your questions can be answered quickly and easily, a place that felt a little more dynamic than an FAQ.

1. Use the sidebar guide to find a topic that interests you.
2. Click on that topic.
3. Read the summary. If it seems useful, click the link to the article.

It’s that simple! That being said, there’s no reason why you couldn’t read this whole post from start to finish in one sitting (kudos to you!), but if you’re like us — you probably want to graze first. Find which subjects interest you most. OK? Let’s get started.

The 5 Questions We First Ask All Our Clients

We believe that communication is THE most important part of a great collaboration. When we work with device manufacturers and product designers there is usually some basic info that we want to be ironed out in that first cal,l so we can better serve you. Here are five questions we’ll ask in our first call.

What you’ll learn in this post

• How we establish a timeline for development.
• If any NDAs are needed.
• How we discern how your flex arm will be used.

Read: The Five Questions We Ask All Our Clients.

How We Start the Design Process

Innovation doesn’t happen by accident — well, not usually. It happens because someone sees a problem, recognizes a solution, then works through the design process to get the job done. So how do we work with our partners and what do they need to know before starting the design process on a flex arm? Here’s our primer on where to start.

We at Moffatt Products like to say that anything with a payload of fewer than three pounds can potentially use a flex arm. There are nearly limitless applications for a flex arm — but most often it works best for devices that require minute adjustments or exact placement for its payload. We’ve worked with tons of different engineers from almost every industry you can think of. We’ve designed flex arm products for diverse enterprises as med-tech, food service, furniture/home furnishings, law enforcement, automotive, education, and tons more. The short answer is: if you have an idea and you think a flex arm could help — contact us. We’d love to brainstorm with you and come up with a solution.

What you’ll learn in this post

• Which industries are best suited to using flex arms
• What other parts Moffatt Products can fabricate for your product
• How we utilize material and coiling in our flex arms

Read: How We Start the Design Process

How We Figure Out if a Flex Arm is Strong Enough For Your Device

One question we’re often asked by clients is, “Will this flex arm be capable of holding the weight of our payload.” That’s a big deal, right? You can’t have a flimsy arm that won’t stay where it needs to go. While there are some cases when a flex arm isn’t the right fit (more on that later), more often than not the answer can be found by gathering more accurate information about the payload, making adjustments, and using a little ingenuity. Here’s how we figure out if a flex arm is strong enough for your product. It starts – as you might guess – with having accurate measurements.

What you’ll learn in this post

• The upper weight limit for any flex arm device
• How position and length of the arm can affect your device
• How we can mitigate any potential problems with strength and durability

Read: How We Figure Out if a Flex Arm is Strong Enough For Your Device

How to Keep Flexibility High (and Cost Low) on Your Flex Arm Device

Flex arms are like life: a series of tradeoffs and knowing where to find value. You can get the fast car, but the insurance will be through the roof (as will your spouse’s blood pressure). You can have a giant lawn, but someone is going to have to mow it.

Flex arms are like this too. You want a strong arm to support your payload, but you’re going to need arm adjustments to be as easy as possible. Just because there’s a trade-off though, doesn’t mean you should settle for an arm that doesn’t work the way you want it to.

What you’ll learn in this post

• 3 Tips for more flexibility in your flex arms
• How to keep the price point down
• Why flex arms still might be your cheapest option

Read: How to Keep Flexibility High (and Cost Low) on Your Flex Arm Device

Custom vs Stock Flex Arms: How to Know Which is the Right Choice

One question that we receive often is, “Do I need a custom flex arm part for my device?” While each situation varies (and deserves to be evaluated on its own merits), we thought it might be helpful to open up a little bit so you can see what goes into our thought process with clients. Wow, a long sentence there. Too long? Here’s the short version: we have four questions that we might ask to understand if you need a custom flex arm solution — or if we have a stock item that will work just fine.

What you’ll learn in this post

• How timeframe can affect custom vs stock
• How USB cable functionality can play a part
• What each option looks like price-point-wise

Read: Custom vs Stock Flex Arms: How to Know Which is the Right Choice

How we integrate USB and Micro USB Into Our Flex Arms

A USB flex arm is a great addition to any electronic device that needs precise adjustments that will stay in place for a small payload. That means they have a ton of different applications, from safety shields to magnifying glasses. One area that we’ve seen a ton of growth in recent years has been the application of flex arms in industries like medical technology, where the flex arm is often used to support small electronic devices (amongst other uses).

While we’ve been doing electronic flex arms for years – after all the Moffatt lamp has been in existence for many decades – it’s worth talking about how these new developments affect our side of the equation. So what are the ways that flex arms are being used in these devices, and how do we adapt them to their new jobs? We’re glad you asked. Let’s dive in.

What you’ll learn in this post

• Different applications for USB flex arms and micro USB devices
• What challenges your device may face during development
• How a USB flex arm can affect your devices aesthetics

Read: How we integrate USB and Micro USB Into Our Flex Arm

What’s a Variable Strength Flex Arm and Why Does My Device Need it?

To explain a variable strength flex arm, you have to understand this concept first. Our engineers have a saying, “It’s not about having the strongest flex arm, it’s about matching the strength of a flex arm to the job that needs to be done.” It makes sense for a couple of reasons. You don’t want to pay extra to design something that holds MORE weight than what you need. You also don’t want to pay for something that won’t be able to make fine adjustments, if that’s what your device requires — which could happen if your flex arm is too strong.

That’s exactly why we created the variable strength flex arm. With it, you get the best of both worlds, strength, AND flexibility. So what is it? Even the name, “variable strength flex arm” might not be immediately recognizable, and yet it’s one of the flex arms we create most often for our clients. Here’s what you need to know to understand if a variable strength flex arm might be right for your device.

What you’ll learn in this post

• Different applications for USB flex arms and micro USB devices
• What challenges your device may face during development
• How a USB flex arm can affect the aesthetics of your device

Read: What’s a Variable Strength Flex Arm and Why Does My Device Need it?

How to Know When Prototyping is Done and it’s Time to Start Production

We work with clients in a ton of different industries — from law enforcement to med tech. They all have one thing in common: they want to have the absolute best result possible before they reach their product launch window. That means taking time and care during prototyping so that everything can go as smoothly as possible.

While often there’s a clear-cut deadline for when something has to be done, we thought we’d explore a question we get quite often during exploratory phone calls: How can you tell prototyping is done for a flex arm device? Let’s start at the beginning of the process first.

What you’ll learn in this post

• The steps of our prototyping phases
• The terminology we use during prototyping
• How build schedules and orders work after prototyping is finished

Read: How to Know When Prototyping is Done and it’s Time to Start Production

How Moffatt Products Meets Demands During High Volume Production

Moffatt Products is blessed to work with all sorts of clients — from prototyping with small startups to high volume production for large medical equipment and device manufacturers. Each of these projects requires unique solutions, but one thing we get asked about a lot is: how is a company like Moffatt Products equipped to handle high volume production for flex arm devices. Fortunately, we’re a design firm equipped to manufacture in-house.

Big or small, every project we take on starts at the same place: with an idea. Our clients come to us at a variety of stages, but there’s always a cadence to how these projects go. In simplest terms, it might look like this.

What you’ll learn in this post

• The steps of our prototyping phases
• The terminology we use during prototyping
• How build schedules and orders work after prototyping is finished

Read: How Moffatt Products Meets Demands During High Volume Production

Still have some questions? Check out our free ebook

The engineer’s checklist was designed with you in mind. Flex arms are a great option for engineers that need precise adjustments from their devices. Unfortunately, some flex arms don’t live up to that expectation. How do you know what to look for? Moffatt Products has made flex arms for three generations, spanning a wide array of industries and applications. Our Ebook, The Engineer’s Checklist, will help you understand how to make sure you make the right choice.