July 09, 2009
June 17, 2009
Faster Datasheets in Prospector
In the last few months we've made some changes to Prospector to help make it more user friendly. Yesterday we released new software that creates datasheets much faster. Prospector datasheets used to take 2 seconds to be created, but now take only 50 milliseconds- and every second counts!
Login to Prospector (or register here if you don't have an account) to check out our new zippy datasheets!
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May 06, 2009
Where to Buy Plastic
Find out where to buy any of the over 80,000 plastic materials listed in Prospector.
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PS- Be sure to join us for live educational training webinars.
April 20, 2009
Meet the New Prospector at NPE 2009!
If you're planning to attend NPE 2009 in Chicago, IL this June, we invite you to stop by our booth in the West Hall (W128031) to meet the new Prospector. Of course, we'd like to meet you too!
- The IDES Team
April 14, 2009
Selecting Materials Based on Filler Percentage
Here's a 60-second video on using Prospector's Property Search to select plastic materials based on fillter percentage.
April 13, 2009
How to Compare Plastics
April 10, 2009
How does IDES update its data?
IDES Prospector is updated once a week, every Thursday at 4pm MST. Here's how we get our data:
- Direct, regular imports from the material manufacturer
- Suppliers like Dow, PolyOne, and Teknor Apex use tools provided by IDES to manage their data and update Prospector.
- We use a software that constantly monitors websites for over 200 manufacturers. Anytime they add or remove materials or change data we update Prospector too.
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How do I know which materials in Prospector Have Curve Data?- 1 quick answer and 3 extra tips
Q: The icons are gone in Prosepctor! How do I know which materials have curve data?
A: Hover over any material name on a results table and the quick connect box will appear. If curve data is available for that material the link labeled 'curve data' is blue; if none is available it's grey.
More Tips:
1. Display curve data as a column on any search results table for quick reference
- click on 'Preferences' in the grey menu bar at the top of any page in Prospector
- click 'edit my custom results' under the results header
- a page will pop up that looks like the Property Search
- click on the folder labeled 'General Properties'
- click on the magnifying glass labeled 'multi-point data'
- close the window & go to any results table
- locate the drop down menu labeled 'columns' found on the left side of any results table header
- select 'my properties' in this list to quickly reference which of the materials in your results set has curve data available
- if you don't see any right away click on the column header to sort the curve data to the top
2. Search for curves by type or generic family
- click on the Curve Data icon on Prospector's homepage
- select the data you want (creep modulus vs. time, flexural DMA, etc)
- select the generic family
- click 'view results'
- hover over any material name and click on the 'curve data' link
3. Add curve data to a list of requirements in the Property Search
- click on the Property Search icon
- build a list of requirements based on over 400 properties
- open the General Properties folder
- click on the 'multi-point data' magnifying glass
- choose only the curves you want OR drag your arrow down the list to highlight all curve types
- click view results
- all materials in your results set will have curves available
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April 09, 2009
Prospector Quick Fixes
Prospector's new release is designed to make finding the plastic information you're after even easier - but if you're having trouble logging in, loading pages, or opening a datasheet, try these trouble shooting tips:
+ Try a different browser like Firefox (which we highly recommend!).
+ Add http://prospector.ides.com/ as a trusted site.
- In Internet Explorer, click on Tools, then Internet Options.
- Click over to the Security tab, and then click on the green check mark that says "Trusted Sites".
- Click the Sites button, and enter the above url. (Hint: uncheck the box that says "Require Server Verification"...). View this photo
+ Delete your cookies and file cache.
- In IE, go to Tools and Internet Options.
- On the General Tab under Browsing history, select Delete.
- Choose what you'd like to delete from this window. View this photo
Additional tips:
+ Allow third party cookies
+ Hit CTRL + F5 to refresh the JavaScript on the page
+ Look for a warning or error message about JavaScript, (you should see an icon at the bottom left of the browser window) Privacy/security (look for an icon at the bottom right side of the screen), or blocked content (this will appear in the "info bar" at the top of the window. Contact us with the details.
+ Run a Windows Update and restart your system. If your system hasn't been updated for quite some time, you may need to repeat this step more that once.
+ Clean up all spyware and adware. Here are some free tools you can find on Google: AdAware, Spybot - Search and Destroy, and Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool.
+ Check with your IT Department to make sure that a firewall or proxy-server is not blocking Prospector`s functionality in some way.
If you're still having trouble, don't fret! Take a deep breath, and give us a call at: 800.788.4668 or +1.307.742.9227. Feel free to contact us by email as well.
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Comparing Generic Families in Prospector
Yesterday I had someone call who simply wanted to compare HIPS to GPPS. He didn't have any specific grades, manufacturers, or products names in mind- just the generic family. We recently released a new version of Prospector which includes the ability to view and compare typical values for all the generic families in our database. To compare two generic families through Prospector give this a try:
- Log into Prospector and click on the Fast Look Up icon
- Choose the first generic family, in this case PS (HIPS) from the second drop down menu labeled 'Generic Symbol'
- Use the 'Manufacturer/Supplier' drop down menu and choose 'Generic' which indicates all the generic family data provided by IDES
- Click search, find Generic PS (HIPS) on the results table and put a check mark next to it
- Return to the Fast Look Up and start a new search
- This time select PS (GPPS) under 'Generic Symbol' and select 'Generic' as the manufacturer again
- Click search, find Generic PS (GPPS) on the results table and put a check mark next to it
- Click the 'Compare' button in the search results header to open your generic comparison
-Melissa Jones
800-788-4668 x214
