Hello, and welcome to another episode of Engineer To Engineer!
Today on Engineer To Engineer
You'll be hearing from our product manager, Ryan Middlebrook,
as he discusses the differences and benefits
of two of our core rolling element linear guides.
He'll also briefly explain some various applications
that each linear guide can be useful for.
Let's go join Ryan.
The first is a round rail linear bearing assembly.
This product is great for low to moderate load requirements,
low to moderate accuracy requirements,
and it also allows you to move a load over an unsupported gap.
It doesn't have to be continuously supported
and it will tolerate some misalignment
as well as deflection.
It's typically used in a parallel configuration
meaning that you have to have to rails in parallel
with four bearings, two bearings per rail.
and is typically used in a range of different applications.
for different reasons
3D printing for example
is a frequent user of this technology because
it can't traverse a clear span.
So an unsupported area and still support the load.
Additionally, in packaging where you may have a sealer opening and closing
to seal a plastic bag or some other type of packaging material
where you're not able to support the axis
is an ideal application for this type of guide technology.
It also has a relatively lower rolling resistance than a square rail product
because the end seals on the bearings make minimal contact
with the inner race or linear shaft
generating a low level resistance.
The balls in the loaded circuit
generate a relatively lower load capability
than what you might find in a square rail guide product
because it is a point-to-point contact between the ball and the round linear shaft.
That brings us to our next technology,
which also uses a loaded ball technology but in a different fashion.
On the inner race
you may be able to see here
that this product has a ball conforming groove.
This groove matches the diameter of the loaded ball in the bearing
in order to maximize the surface contact
the ball has with the inner race.
What this facilitates is that it allows
a maximum transfer of load from the carriage to the inner race.
So in effect, it's able to generate a higher load capability per ball
because of the higher surface contact with the inner race.
So whereas with the round rail product
you have a point-to-point contact,
this is more indicative of a line-to-line contact.
and therefore generates a higher load capability.
The benefits of this product, in addition to the higher load capability,
are that it can be used in a single rail configuration,
we have a range of different flange styles,
and additionally, carriage styles,
to accommodate different envelope requirements
The trade off is that it has to consistently be mounted to a machine metal surface
and continuously supported
because it cannot tolerate any of the deflection or potential misalignment
that a round rail bearing can tolerate.
You'll typically see these used in machine tool type applications
They are great for moderate to high load requirements
moderate to high accuracy requirements
and therefore they're used in a range of different applications that require that criteria.
Well, that does it for this episode of Engineer To Engineer.
We hope you've found this helpful
and if you have any questions about our linear guides
or any of our other products,
feel free to post it on our social media.
That way, everyone benefits from seeing your question as well as our answer.
You can also reach us directly through engineering@misumiusa.com
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In the meantime, check out some of our other videos, our social media,
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You can find the links to all of those in the description below.
Thanks for joining us and we'll see you in the next video.