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How to account for shock and vibration loads in ball screw drives
Calculations of ball screw service life and permissible static load take into account loads and forces that are predictable and quantifiable — thrust loads due to acceleration, process forces, and...
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Industrial Ethernet basics for mechanical engineers
Ethernet networks are ubiquitous in our daily lives — allowing computers in office, school, and commercial environments to connect to the internet, share files, and access printers and other hardware...
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Industry first: XY stage with 800 x 800 mm open center
Intellidrives now offers open-center XY stages with travel of 600 x 600 mm and open center dimensions of 800 x 800 mm. The demand for a high accuracy, robust, open-frame stages is met with...
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Motion basics: How to define roll, pitch, and yaw for linear systems
Linear guides and systems — including Cartesian robots, gantry systems, and XY tables — are typically subjected to both linear forces due to downward, upward, and side loads and rotational forces due...
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Things to do this summer: Become a citizen scientist
Image credit: El Arroyo As cities, states, and countries begin to reopen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us will still face restrictions for some time regarding what businesses and...
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Linear guides with more rollers feature high load capacities
NB Corporation’s EXRAIL linear guide has more rollers in less space than other linear bearings, which increases load capacity and disperses the load more evenly. It has longer rollers for greater...
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New 20-mm linear stepper motors from Nippon Pulse
Nippon Pulse has introduced its smallest linear stepper motor yet, the PFL20 Linearstep. The PFL20 is a highly efficient, high thrust tin-can linear actuator with a 20-mm diameter and a bipolar...
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Linear motion in medical applications: Piezo motors for liquid handling robots
Piezo motors and actuators are used in a variety of medical applications, including liquid handling robots for laboratory testing and diagnostics, drug discovery, and biotechnology. Liquid handling...
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Linear motion in medical applications: Piezo actuators for non-contact...
In a recent article, we looked at how piezo motors are used in liquid handling robots for contact-based dispensing (also referred to as pipetting) of microliter and nanoliter volumes. But when the...
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How to specify pulleys for synchronous belt drives
When designing a belt drive system, the first step is to choose the most suitable belt for the application. But the pulleys also play an important role in the performance of the belt — especially in...
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igus develops new online shop for energy chains
igus has developed a new online shop for energy chains where designers can filter products by category, application, and specifications. The new shop also includes pricing, and allows designers,...
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Three important design considerations for Cartesian robots
If your application calls for a Cartesian robot, you have a wide variety of options, depending on the level of integration you want to undertake. And although pre-engineered Cartesian robots are...
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What are boxway slides and where are they used?
Recirculating linear guides get significant media attention, thanks to their versatility and wide range of uses. But linear guides based on sliding contact — namely boxway and dovetail slides — are...
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Electromechanical linear actuators feature embedded CAN bus support, PLC...
Thomson Industries, Inc. has unveiled their new Electrak MD, a more compact electromechanical actuator that retains all of the intelligence built into its larger counterparts. Mobile off-highway,...
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AutomationDirect adds inductive linear position transducers
Linear Variable Inductance Transducers (LVITs) from Alliance Sensors Group convert the linear displacement of an object into a proportional electrical signal output of 0 to 10 V or 4 to 20 mA...
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LinX M-Series electric actuators from ANCA Motion offer direct replacement of...
Pneumatics (and compressed air) are indispensable in many industrial applications. They’re cost-effective and easy-to-understand technologies that are rugged enough to run in even very challenging...
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ElectroCraft expands AxialPower family of linear actuators with the APES 17
ElectroCraft has recently expanded the AxialPower enhanced series of linear actuators to include a new high-performance 42mm (NEMA 17) frame size. This new linear actuator is highly configurable and: •...
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What are planar motors and where are they used?
Ironless linear motorImage credit: Rockwell Automation Linear motors are often described as rotary motors cut open and rolled out flat, so they produce motion in a straight line along one axis. Their...
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What are fixed and floating bearings in the context of linear motion?
There are two instances when the terms “fixed bearing” and “floating bearing” are used in linear motion: to describe the support bearings used on ball and lead screws, and to describe linear guides...
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Low-cost, high-performance alternative to rod actuators, pneumatic cylinders
Bell-Everman’s new ServoBelt RA is a high-performance, drop-in replacement actuator designed for applications that have traditionally used rod actuators, pneumatic cylinders or even linear motors....
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