Timing belts—also known as synchronous belts or toothed belts—are most often used in transporting, indexing, and positioning applications where high torque or force transmission and high acceleration rates are required. Unlike V-belts, which rely on friction between the belt and the pulley for power transmission, timing belts have positive engagement between the belt teeth and […]
Does my system need high accuracy or repeatability (or both)?
Question: “I’m designing a new linear motion system. Should I design it for high accuracy or repeatability? Or both?” Before we answer this question, let’s define accuracy and repeatability for linear systems… Accuracy In linear motion, there are two generally categories of accuracy – positioning accuracy and travel accuracy. Positioning accuracy specifies the difference between […]
Gearing and gearbox resources from motioncontroltips.com
Gears, and in particular, gearboxes, are common in linear motion applications, providing speed reduction and torque multiplication for systems driven by belt and pulley or chain and sprocket assemblies. The diversity of gear types and materials available for industrial applications makes it important (albeit somewhat challenging) for designers and users of linear motion systems to […]
Synchronous belt failures: Six ways they can occur
Synchronous belts can transmit high torque without the potential for slip, due to positive engagement between the teeth of the belt and the grooves of the pulley. But the performance of synchronous belt drive systems can be affected by installation errors, unexpected application conditions, or the use of components that aren’t suitable for the operating […]
Pulley balancing for belt drive systems: Is it always necessary?
As a pulley rotates, centrifugal forces act on the pulley, and if its mass is not evenly distributed around the axis of rotation – that is, if it is unbalanced – these centrifugal forces will also be unbalanced and cause the pulley to vibrate. (Uneven mass distribution can be due to imperfections in machining or […]
High speed linear actuators: What qualifies them as high speed?
Like many terms used in the linear motion industry – “heavy duty,” “miniature,” and “corrosion-resistant,” to name a few – there is no industry standard that specifies what constitutes a “high speed” linear actuator. Nevertheless, there are some general guidelines that manufacturers follow when classifying and marketing their actuators as high speed. These guidelines are […]
Maintenance-free chains for applications in conveying systems
iwis now sells Megalife maintenance-free roller and conveyor chains. The special characteristics of the Megalife chains allow longer replacement intervals and reduce maintenance costs and downtimes of conveying systems. The chains are used wherever relubrication is not possible or disadvantageous, for example in dry ambient conditions and on installations with restricted maintenance access. This includes conveying […]
Linear actuators: belt driven vs. rack and pinion driven
Belts and rack and pinions have several common benefits for linear motion applications. They’re both well-established drive mechanisms in linear actuators, providing high-speed travel over extremely long lengths. And both are frequently used in large gantry systems for material handling, machining, welding and assembly, especially in the automotive, machine tool, and packaging industries. Timing belts for linear […]
Continental introduces lighter-weight Conti Texsteel conveyor belting at NIBA Convention
Continental has introduced at the 2016 NIBA Convention, Conti Texsteel, an aramid textile reinforced line of conveyor belting for applications where high strength, low elongation and lighter weight are essential. Conti Texsteel, exclusive from Continental Select, is a very specific line of lightweight conveyor belting designed to provide belt strengths of a steel cord belt […]
Variable width and length linear axes
Now configure toothed-belt linear axes in customizable sizes To simplify product selection of maintenance-free, self-lubricating linear guides, motion plastics specialist igus has developed a modular construction kit for belt-driven DryLin ZLW linear axes. With the new “ZLW toolkit,” customers can customize their own solutions, including rail widths, system length, etc., even for small installation spaces. […]
