A rack and roller pinion system is a variation of a standard rack-and-pinion. It takes the traditional rack and pinion concept and advances it by replacing spur gear teeth with bearing supported rollers that engage a unique rack tooth profile. Rollers ride the rack-tooth surfaces with repeatability to about 2.5 μm from one direction (or […]
FAQs + basics
Filament extrusion machine builder gets industrial-grade performance with custom gearing and a PWM drive
Filabot, a manufacturer of plastic-extrusion machines for the 3D printing market, has just released its new and improved EX6 filament extrusion machine. The Filabot EX6 improves overall extrusion process control and consistency compared to previous models, by adding features which are standard on industrial-scale extruders. The EX6 has a higher output compared to other systems […]
Controller-drivers steer stepper-motor-driven sample-transfer machine
Gatan Inc. makes specimen-preparation equipment and recently built an alpha prototype of a new machine. The iPrep prototype mounts to a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and shuttles samples back and forth between a processing chamber and SEM receiving dock. Within the processing chamber, two broad-beam ion guns polish samples. The iPrep’s automated transfer mechanism allows […]
Spur gears: What are they and where are they used?
Spur gears are a type of cylindrical gear, with shafts that are parallel and coplanar, and teeth that are straight and oriented parallel to the shafts. They’re arguably the simplest and most common type of gear – easy to manufacture and suitable for a wide range of applications. The teeth of a spur gear have […]
Application: Gearboxes drive an innovative PARKPLUS AGV-based automated parking garage
PARKPLUS is a designer and builder of both mechanical and fully automated high-density parking setups for North America. The manufacturer recently developed an advanced parking system based on free-roaming battery-operated AGVs with omnidirectional maneuverability. Drivers pull their cars into a vehicle-receiving area and onto a large waiting platform called a tray. Then an AGV goes […]
What is pitch line velocity and why is it important?
In gearbox sizing, it’s important to determine the required input speed in rpm and ensure that it doesn’t exceed the gearbox’s maximum speed capability. But the linear velocity of the gear teeth, known as pitch line velocity, also plays a significant role in gearbox performance. Pitch line velocity is measured at the pitch line of […]
What are PCI motion control cards?
PCI stands for peripheral component interconnect (PCI.) It is a computer bus for connecting together various hardware devices. A PCI motion control card is simply a card that is PCI compatible, that is, one that plugs into a PCI bus on a PC or industrial PC. In fact, for motion control cards, the most common […]
How to get Functional Safety certification by using encoders on robot joints?
Designers of machines and industrial equipment are taking safety seriously. Even though the European market was the first to mandate functional safety for industrial machinery and automation, design for safety is now a global engineering concern. The basis for functional safety is the need to reduce the risk of injury in industrial machinery and systems, […]
Worm gears: What are they and where are they used?
Worm gears are found in industrial applications, heavy equipment, and even consumer applications. Although their efficiency is relatively low, they can provide very high reduction ratios and, in many cases, are self-locking. Worm gears are constructed of a worm and a gear (sometimes referred to as a worm wheel), with non-parallel, non-intersecting shafts oriented 90 […]
Rack and Pinion Drive System: What Is It?
A rack and pinion drive system consists of a rack (or a “linear gear”) and a pinion (or “circular gear”). The teeth of a rack and pinion drive can be straight or helical, although helical teeth are often used due to their higher load capacity and quieter operation. For a rack and pinion drive system, […]