Take the Wheel: Exploring the Possibilities of Guide Wheel Systems
March 11, 2009 by Editor
Filed under Linear Guides
by Dan Fletcher, Applications Engineer, Bishop-Wisecarver Corporation
After more than 40 years of use in thousands of applications ranging from the saw mill to the clean room, and from light to heavy loads, guide wheels have proven features that meet performance, durability, and cost requirements in a variety of demanding conditions.
Linear guide systems are chosen for an application based partly on their precision and speed, but also on a host of other operating conditions such as environment, length, duty cycle, and temperature, to name a few. One type of linear motion system that should not be overlooked is guide wheel systems; in many applications and environments they have significant advantages.
Guide wheels operate in a variety of environments. Most notable for their ability to outperform re-circulating ball technology in harsh environments due to their contained ball circuits, they also have other less known advantages. Applications with noise level requirements can benefit from decibel level reductions by as much as 20% compared to other re-circulating ball technologies. This can be a critical design advantage in medical equipment such as magnetic resonance imaging and scanning equipment.
The guide wheels’ smooth motion is a result of several features: a constant radius ball bearing path; the use of carbon, stainless steel, and composite components; and the antifriction double-row angular-contact bearings. The steel versions permit fast acceleration (up to 5 gs) and high speeds (up to 5.5 m/s), while composite polymer versions provide an economical choice for low noise, smooth motion, chemical environments, and light load applications.
