INTRO TO LINEAR GUIDES - LINEAR MOTION #5 | MECH MINUTES | MISUMI USA

INTRO TO LINEAR GUIDES - LINEAR MOTION #5 | MECH MINUTES | MISUMI USA http://www.misumiusa.com In today’s session of “Mech Minutes”, we will wrap up our focus on Linear Guides with a look at one last topic. In this episode we will be looking at things to consider when mounting linear guides and how to set yourself up for a successful installation. We will begin this lesson by looking at the standard mounting configuration of linear guides. It is most common to use linear guides in sets of two rails with two blocks each. This configuration provides stable support at each corner of a rectangular plate as well as encouraging even load distribution. The primary or master rail is the linear guide rail that is assembled and aligned first, followed by the subsidiary rail which should be aligned to the master rail. Linear guides should be mounted to rigid, milled surfaces with a base reference edge for setting the straightness of the linear guide master rail. The accuracy of the linear guide will be dependent on the straightness of the machined reference edge plus the running parallelism of the linear guide as defined by the accuracy grade. If machining costs are a priority, consider using dowel pins rather than a base reference edge, however, there’s tradeoff for ease of assembly because there is less surface to conform the rail. When machining the base, it is important to reference the allowable height error tolerance between the master and subsidiary rail. The maximum height should not exceed the corresponding error based on the linear guide size and preload. Just like rail parallelism, if this spec is exceeded, the L10 life will decrease or the linear guides will bind. The subsidiary rail should be aligned to the master rail using a dial indicator or jig according to the rail parallelism error allowance specifications listed in the catalog. If the rails are not aligned within the specification L10 life will decrease or the linear guides will bind. Miniature linear guides and linear guides with a preload are much less forgiving than standard size linear guides. Linear guide selection should not only depend on the ability to handle a load or the size but also the ability to machine a base and align the rails within the error allowance. Choose a linear guide that best suits your application after considering these mounting guidelines as well. We have now concluded our series on Linear Guides. We hope you now have the knowledge to make better decisions when selecting a linear guide and will design machines that last long and achieve their intended performance. ================================= Subscribe to our channel: http://bit.ly/Us2mJ6 BLOG: http://blog.misumiusa.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/usa_misumi https://www.instagram.com/misumiusa/ G+: http://bit.ly/1nQPnvV FB: https://www.facebook.com/misumi.usa LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/misumi INTRO TO LINEAR GUIDES - LINEAR MOTION #5 | MECH MINUTES | MISUMI USA