There’s an untapped automation potential for palletizing goods in production and other industries. Realizing this potential requires flexible, easy-to-use, and affordable cobot solutions that can adjust to different palletizing setups and generate rapid return on investment. To meet these demands, LINAK now offers the ELEVATE lifting column — a new product that extends the reach […]
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Comparing belt-drive types for automation applications
Synchronous belt drives dominate motion control designs for positioning and other precision functions. Here we detail V belts and other belt types used in industrial, robotic, and consumer designs for both linear and rotary axes. Modern flat belts are either endless (welded or otherwise closed into a hoop by the manufacturer) or open. Common on […]
Update on today’s belt drives
Belt drives have continued to evolve with new applications. Industrial belt drives in motion designs consist of rubber, engineered plastic, metal, or (most common) multi-material belts that wrap around drive pulleys — grooved or otherwise profiled wheels mounted on a shaft — in turn driven by electric motors. Powered by various motor types, belt drives run […]
Four-axis positioning stages with four motor options
OES (Optimal Engineering Systems Inc.) has added to their line of purpose-built stages. The new XYZR Series of Four-axes Stages are the integration of a: 15 mm, 30 mm, 50 mm, 75 mm, or 100 mm linear stages (in any combination) for the X, Y, and Z axes, and a 60 mm or 100 mm […]
Haydon Kerk Express online tool speeds up linear actuator selection
Haydon Kerk Pittman, a business unit of AMETEK’s Advanced Motion Solutions division, has debuted its new Haydon Kerk Express online linear actuator calculator. The Haydon Kerk Express tool joins the Pittman Express tool, released last year, and allows users to now identify and select the right linear actuator for their applications quickly and easily. When […]
The top linear motion posts of 2022
As the year comes to a close, the editors here at linearmotiontips.com (as, apparently, editors everywhere are prone to do) like to look back over the past year to see what our readers clicked on and read the most. As in years past, readers found our “back to basics” articles quite useful and so it’s […]
Linear motors find a home in CNC machines
For one manufacturer of CNC grinding machines, new high-performance linear motors replaced ball-screws and improved machine performance. It’s no secret that linear motors are highly effective motion devices. Linear motors can achieve high acceleration rates and long travel lengths with good thrust forces and extremely high positioning accuracies, while other drive mechanisms, such as belts, […]
Rediscovering ball splines for robust linear and rotary motion
Ball splines were once a staple for machine designers seeking an elegant way to integrate rotary and linear motion. Driven by pressures to speed their machines to market, many designers found it faster to implement prepackaged solutions in which rotary and linear motion shafts had already been integrated. By Charles Isaac • Thomson Industries Chris […]
New linear position detector series from Nidec
Nidec Machine Tool Corporation will launch the MPLS series, an inductive coupling principle-type linear position detector that determines a machine’s position and detects its feed digitally, on November 1st. Intended for compact machine tools, it uses a signal-detection method and integrates numbers of substrates to realize a simple structure that does not require scale wiring […]
A better control method for laser materials processing: Part 2 of 2
(This is the second article in a two-part series, the first of which can be found here.) Dr. Cliff Jolliffe Head of Automation Market Segment Physik Instrumente (PI) GmbH Modular controllers offer an easy and straightforward way to link a laser to multi-axis positioning systems. For instance, PI’s ACS Laser Control Module (LCM) introduces a […]
