Reduce Friction in Machine Guard Doors

EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The word ‘hybrid’ is used in engineering to describe a system where two technologies are combined together. igus® has now achieved this with a completely new type of cost-effective hybrid linear bearing that both rolls and slides.

The new hybrid bearing, DryLin® WJRM, was developed with the goal of reducing driving force, especially in applications involving the manual adjustment of machine-guard doors, partitions and adjustable locks, or for light handling tasks. For this purpose, igus took the advantages unique to sliding and rolling movements and combined them.

A self-lubricating plastic, sliding sleeve bearing ensures the hybrid linear system is robust, dirt and moisture resistant, lightweight and low cost. Meanwhile, a maintenance-free polymer roller brings ease of use to applications where heavy machine doors up to 110 pounds have to be adjusted manually. The required driving force is reduced by a factor of 4 to 5 due to this roller bearing, which carries the main load. This makes manual operation much easier.

The new hybrid bearing is the latest extension to the tried-and-trusted DryLin W linear guide range from igus. The extremely compact system was modeled by igus’ design engineers in such a way that the rollers fit inside the linear profile without increasing height, which remains at a low profile 0.71 inches (18 mm). Standard linear guide profiles can be used, which are available in three styles for shaft diameters of 0.39 (10 mm): as individual rails for more flexibility and as double rails for fast installation without time-consuming alignment. The latter comes with a distance between rails of 1.57 inches (40 mm) or 3.15 inches (80 mm). The hybrid bearing housing is made from blue-chromed die-cast zinc.

DryLin W is a flexible, modular linear guide system made from hard-anodized aluminum profiles, die-cast zinc housings, stainless steel or aluminum and plastic plain bearing materials. The wide variety of different combinations within this easy-to-install system allows users to optimize available design space. DryLin W linear guides work without lubrication as dry-running systems and do not require maintenance during operation. They use plastic liners made from iglide® J or iglide J200, both of which are extremely low wear and have a very low coefficient of friction. They are also chemical resistant, vibration dampening and absorb negligible amounts of moisture.

igus
www.igus.com

Thomson RoundWay® Linear Roller Bearings

WOOD DALE, IL –Thomson introduces the RW64-V RoundWay® Linear Roller Bearing. The newest and most robust member of the innovative RoundWay family, the RW64-V is a 4 in. version boasting a dynamic load capacity of 70,000 lbf (310,800 N) – more than 20x the load capacity of a conventional linear ball bearing, even at extreme operating temperatures (up to 500°F; 260°C) and speeds (up to 100 ft/s; 31 m/s).

“Thomson RoundWay Linear Roller Bearings are specifically engineered to withstand extreme loads, speeds, temperature and contamination, and have the unique advantage of providing high load capacity without the installation costs typically associated with Profile Rail products – and with significantly greater resistance to environmental contaminants,” says Ellen Steinbrunner, Product Manager. “RoundWay users will also benefit from what we call the ‘RoundRail Advantage’ – a round shaft enables the bearing to rotate, thereby eliminating the potential for induced torsional stresses and facilitating reliable and robust operation, even when mounted on less-than-ideal surfaces,” she says.

Thomson RoundWay Linear Roller Bearings operate on Thomson 60 Case® LinearRace® shafting, and are available in sizes ranging from ½ in. to 4 in. to satisfy varying application needs. They feature concave rollers to reliably handle extremely high loads (up to 70,000 lbf), with a 10 million inch L10 rated travel life. And where conventional linear bearings and guides are limited to top speeds of 10 ft/s, RoundWay chain-link rollers enable high travel speeds up to 100 ft/s (31 m/s). Additionally, the unique chain-link design also enables their use in severely contaminated applications such as metal removal, paper and wood processing, and granite quarrying – applications in which metal chips, paper flour, wood chips and abrasive dust would otherwise quickly destroy conventional linear bearings and guides.

All steel and iron construction promises increased rigidity and durability in extreme environments, even at operating temperatures up to 500°F (260°C). A lateral self-alignment feature means that RoundWay bearings may be out of parallel as much as 0.1875 in., where Ball Bushing Bearings and Profile Rail products require significantly greater parallel alignment to operate. This makes them well suited for use in gantry systems where it is difficult to maintain the necessary 0.001 in. or better parallelism tolerances needed over long rail lengths that may be spread far apart.

Thomson RoundWay Linear Roller Bearings also feature an eccentric trunion pin that enables pitch self alignment for reliable operation in inaccurate mounting surfaces, and ± 0.030 in. height adjustment that can be used to set preload in “locked-in” arrangements – ideal for applications requiring maximum stiffness and minimal deflection. A recirculating ground roller assembly has the ability to span across gaps in a shaft for quicker and more efficient pallet changing in assembly and packaging systems. The recirculating ground roller assembly also provides a dynamic co-efficient of friction of 0.005 and a height tolerance of ±0.003 in. to allow for energy efficient, high load and precise linear motion, with smoother, quieter operation than anti-friction linear bearings and guides.

Learn more in the new Thomson RoundWay Linear Roller Bearings brochure.

Thomson
www.thomsonlinear.com