Motion Control – A Great Place to Work!

Cost-competitive Alternative to Pneumatics, Starting at $300 US/ea

Motion Control – Vaughan, Ontario, Canada – The New LDL Programmable Electric Linear Actuator from SMAC has been designed as a cost-competitive alternative to pneumatics.  A common trend in industrial automation is that users are looking for electric alternatives to their pneumatic components for a number of reasons: increased control, improved cycle life, and reduced operating cost.

The LDL series actuator features several innovative cost reduction elements that result in a list price starting at $300 US/ea. 

Motion Control – Open Aperture XY Alignment Stage

Van Nuys, CA – — Motion Control – New high resolution and high repeatability Alignment Stages have been released by Optimal Engineering Systems, Inc. (OES). Supplied with a standard 4 mm-per-turn ground lead screw, the AU200-200×200 Alignment Stages feature 200 mm (7.874 in.) of travel in both the X and Y axes. These low profile 80 mm (3.179 in.) high XY stages have a 250 mm x 250 mm (9.842 in. x 9.842 in.) open aperture.

Motion Control – “New Design” Pillow and Flange Blocks!

E. Longmeadow, MA  — Motion Control  – Linear Motion – Lubricating Stainless Steel and Self-Aligning Linear Ball Bearings has never been easier! “New Design” pillow blocks and flange blocks from LM76, features a lubrication fitting, and an alignment set screw in the pillow blocks and flange blocks, and the Stainless Steel and self aligning linear bearings are modified by having an alignment flat ground on the bearings’ outer shell and drilling a hole through the outer shell.

Lubricants can then be pumped directly inside of linear ball bearing races without having to remove the bearing from the shaft. The Pillow and Flange Blocks also have been designed to accommodate an encapsulated ETX Scraper Seals that prevents contaminants from getting inside the bearing and retains the lubricant in the bearing.

Motion Control – Miniature Voice Coil Servo Motors!

Van Nuys, CA – Motion Control – The GVCM-016-013-01 and GVCM-016-013-01M (Metric Version) Linear Voice Coil Servo Motors have been released by Moticont. These small 0.625 in. (15.9 mm) diameter Servo motors, also called Electric Cylinders, have a stroke length of 0.250 in. (6.4 mm), a high force to size ratio of 5.7 oz (1.6 N) continuous force and 17.9 oz (5.0 N) of peak force. The housings measures just 0.500 in. (12.7 mm) long and in the fully extended position the shaft extends 0.53 in. (13.5 mm) beyond the face of the housing. The ends of the shafts are threaded: 2-56 UNC-2B by 0.16 in. long and M2.2X0.45 by 4.0 mm long for backlash free connections.

These miniature linear servo motors feature high acceleration/deceleration, high speed, high reliability, and zero backlash.

Motion Control – Rod-style Electric Actuator!

Vaughan, Ontario, Canada — Motion Control Products — A new RSH electric hygienic rod-style actuator from Tolomatic delivers clean, continuous control to automation machinery. RSH actuators are designed to help improve repeatability, enhance quality, reduce contamination potential and increase flexibility of hygienic machine designs, particularly for the food, beverage, medical, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries.

Motion Control – Vertical Lift Stage

Van Nuys, CA – — Motion Control – The AT10-120 Motorized Vertical Stage from Optimal Engineering Systems, Inc. (OES) is a high resolution, low profile, high load vertical lift stage that can be easily integrated into almost any application. The large 220 mm x 140 mm (8.7 in. 5.5 in.) drilled and tapped platform has a vertical travel of 110 mm (4.3 In.).

The twin lead (right and left hand thread) precision ground screw and six guide rails provides smooth, flat (parallel to mounting surface), vertical motion, and high resolution to 5 µ (non-microstepping) and 0.50 µ (10 Microstep Driver), and repeatability is 10 µ at travel speeds of 5 mm/sec. Applications for the AT10-120 vertical lift stage include: Testing, inspection, assembly, sampling, laser drilling and machining in a broad range of industrial, medical, semiconductor, and research facilities.

Motion Control – Tutorial

Considerations when specifying a linear slide for a new or existing application.

By Mike Quinn • LM76

When a design engineer has fully defined a linear-motion application’s requirements regarding travel length, speed, force, and accuracy as well as repeatability, the next question to answer is this:

Does an off-the-shelf linear slide (or a stock linear slide from a catalog) fully satisfy the application?

Off-the-shelf linear slides are advantageous for their quick delivery and lower cost than that of custom components. No wonder most linear-motion designs do in fact employ off-the-shelf linear slides from various component and system suppliers.

Motion Control – Harsh Environment Encoders

Non-Contact, Absolute-Position Linear and Rotary Position Sensors

Vaughan, Ontario, Canada — Motion Control Components – Netzer Precision Motion Sensors has taken a revolutionary position sensing technology, originally developed for harsh environment specialized applications, and made it available for today’s broader range of defense, homeland security, aerospace and instrumentation motion control requirements. Standard and customized rotary and linear electric encoders are also applicable for space and avionics, medical, automotive and a wide range of other applications.

Motion Control – Motorized Rotary Stage!

Van Nuys, CA —– Motion Control – Rotary Stages – A rotary stage is a component of a motion system used to restrict an object to a single axis of rotation. The terms rotary table or rotation stage are often used interchangeably with rotary stage. Our rotary stages provide accurate positioning performance in a low profile and compact footprint. They are perfect for the limitations and requirements of the laboratory and are also used in manufacturing environments. These stages are ideal for optics, measurement, alignment and other demanding applications.

Motion Control – Open Aperture Voice Coil Stage

Van Nuys, CA – Motion Control Components – The compact HCDS-025-038-02-B1-01 Voice Coil Stage from Moticont has a foot print of just 2.000 in. (54.0 mm) wide by 5.000 in (127.0 mm) long and features a positioning resolution of 1 micron and a 0.125 in. (3.175 mm) open aperture. This precision cross roller stage has a 0.97 in. (24.6 mm) range of motion with 1.0 lb. (4.4 N) of continuous force and 3.2 lb (14.2 N) peak force. The zero cogging, clean, quiet, efficient, low inertia, high acceleration, high speed voice coil driven stage has a built-in home switch for accurate initialization.

Motion Control – Ceramic Radial Bearings are FDA Compliant

E. Longmeadow, MA – LM76 is continuing to expand its FDA compliant radial and linear bearing product lines. CERAMICSPEED Bearing Units are the latest additions. Bearings used in the food and beverage industry have to be reliable, easily cleaned, and require only minimal maintenance. CERAMICSPEED Bearing Units featuring FDA-approved Si3N4 (Silicon Nitride) balls have extremely long service life as Si3N4 balls are 2 times harder than steel balls and 4 times smoother.

This means, CERAMICSPEED Bearing Units handle higher loads with less friction, resulting in longer life of the balls and the race. Balls made from Silicon Nitride do not change their shape under load and are not subject to spalling which can contaminate the foods or beverages being processed. They are also very tolerant of temperature extremes (-30OC to 100OC) and thermal shock.

Motion Control – Pick & Hold Solenoids

Van Nuys, CA – — Motion Control – A compact, PWM, high performance Pick-and-Hold Solenoid Driver Module, the PH-ET series from Optimal Engineering Systems, Inc. (OES) is designed to energize one or two solenoids independently. It avoids overheating of the energized solenoid coils even for indefinite hold times.

Motion Control – Open Aperture Voice Coil Motor

Van Nuys, CA – Motion Control – Low inertia hollow core voice coil or moving coil linear motors from Moticont feature high acceleration, precise positioning to less than one micron (0.00004 in.), high reliability, and low cost. The cleanroom friendly, non-commutated motors are available in 23 off-the-shelf standard sizes, Moticont hollow core voice coil linear motors have open apertures of 0.125 in. (3.2 mm) to 2.000 in. (50.8 mm).

Motion Control – Profile Rail Stages

Van Nuys, CA – — Motion Control – Optimal Engineering Systems, Inc. (OES) has added five new profile single axis positioning stages to their AQ150 Series of linear stages. Available off-the-shelf in travel lengths of: 600 mm (23.622 in.), 700 mm (27.559 in.), 800 mm (31.496 in.), 900 mm (35.433 in.), and 1000 mm ( 39.370 in.), these stages are available with either a Two-Phase Stepper Motor or with a Three-Phase Brushless Motor with a Quadrature Incremental Optical Encoder.

Motion Control –  Triple-Axis Stage!

Van Nuys, CA – — Motion Control – Optimal Engineering Systems, Inc. (OES) offers a very low cost solution for the precise measurement of compound angles or the rotation of an object to precise angular positions.

The XAB-050-XX-01 integrates a two-axis Alpha-Beta goniometer on top of a single-axis linear actuator. The Beta-axis has a travel range of +/- 15 degrees with a rotation height of 50 +/- 0.2 mm.

Motion Control – Voice -Coil Stage

Van Nuys, CA – Motion Control – Components -– Moticont’s VCDS-051-089-01 series linear motion control voice coil stages feature a voice coil motor, a ball bearing linear slide, home switch, and an integral optical quadrature encoder with differential outputs. Measuring 13.5 in (342.9 mm) long x 4.00 in. (101.6) wide x 3.755 in. (95.4 mm) high, the VCDS-051-089-01 series stages have a linear travel of 2.20 in. (55.9 mm); a continuous force of 6.0 lbs (26.7 N) and a peak force of 19 lbs (84.3 N) (at a 10% duty cycle).

Motion Control – Linear Voice Coil Motor Tolerates Tilting

Van Nuys, CA — Motion Control – Moticont has added a new 1.25 in (31.8 mm) stroke linear DC motor to its series of LVCM Linear Voice Coil Motors. The new LVCM-051-051-06 Linear Voice Coil Motor has been designed with a larger radial air gap to tolerate the tilting and misalignment that can be experienced when clamping out of parallel objects or moving off-center loads. This compact linear motor is 2.000 in (50.8 mm) in dia. with a 2.00 in. (50.8 mm) long housing and at mid stroke is just 2.88 in. (73.0 mm).  Peak force is 9.5 lb (42.2N) at a 10% duty cycle and continuous force is 3.0 lb (13.3 N). Features of this low inertia, high acceleration / deceleration, clean, efficient, zero cogging, brushless voice coil servo motor makes it ideal for: Sorting, packaging, sampling, work holding and clamping, laser machining and drilling, wafer handling, and medical and pharmaceutical applications.

Motion Control – Joysticks

Van Nuys, CA – — OES (Optimal Engineering Systems, Inc.) has expanded its line of Joysticks for 1, 2 and 3 axis Stages and Actuators. These are easy to use, single-handed, ergonomic joysticks that provide proportional control of the X, Y, and Z axis of from one to three actuators. Low, medium, and high speed ranges are button selectable. The X, Y, and Z axis speeds are controlled by the tilt angle of the handle and the angle of rotation of the knob.

The maximum speeds may be set by the user via the supplied, easy to use GUI.

Motion Control – Micro-Sized Servo Drives!

Vaughan, Ontario, Canada — Motion Control Components — ADVANCED Motion Controls has released 7 new micro-sized FlexPro servo drives rated to output 60A continuous. The 60A continuous current rating is 33% higher than previous models for the same size making these our highest power-density servo drives to date. This offering includes PCB Mount, Machine Embedded, and Development Board-factors.

Motion Control – Metric Dimensioned Linear Voice Coil Motors!

Van Nuys, CA — Motion Control – Moticont has added Metric dimensioned motors to their popular LVCM Series of Linear Voice Coil Actuators! An example is the miniature LVCM-022-013-01M Linear Voice Coil Actuator. At 22.2 mm (0.875 in.) in diameter and at mid-stroke just 20.7 mm (0.81 in.) long, this new metric miniature voice coil actuator has a continuous force of 4.0 N (14.5 oz) and a peak force of 12.7 N (45.7 oz), and features a 6.4 mm (0.25 in.) stroke.