Linear Guides for Industrial Equipment: Key Benefits, Uses, and Selection Tips

All automated equipment moving payloads along an axis relies on linear motion solutions. That’s true of machines assembling microchips, positioning surgical imaging arms, loading workpieces on and off a conveyor, transferring robots across a factory floor, and everything in between.

For these solutions, a holistic approach to integrating linear motion components delivers the best performance. That’s because a well-engineered linear motion system balances competing design objectives while moving payloads over defined strokes with reliable precision throughout the equipment’s full service life. Where applicable, they also account for unique environmental challenges with specialty materials, sealing and lubrication, and tailored integration approaches. That in turn helps machine builders achieve cleanroom compliance in healthcare, lightweight construction in aerospace, resistance to contamination in food processing, to give just some examples.

This linear motion solution includes a Rollon® belt-driven gantry, Compact Rail linear guides, ball screws, MGB profile-rail guides, ELM Plus belt-driven linear actuators, and telescopic rails from Rollon.

What linear motion solutions actually include

Core to linear motion solutions are linear guides to constrain payload motion to a single axis. These include profile rails (with recirculating rollers) and track rollers (with steel wheels) to complement assemblies of all types. Telescopic linear guides are a third category that allow axis extension and retraction in confined spaces … though their specification depends on upfront machine-design work to accommodate their unique kinematics.

Mechanical drive elements interface with the electric motor and convert its torque into linear force. While there are exceptions, belt drives, such as those used in Rollon’s ELM-series actuators, are typically well suited for high speeds and long strokes. Ball screws, such as Rollon® Shuton-Ipiranga ball screws, for example, are a top choice for linear positioning with minimal backlash. Rack-and-pinion drives provide near-unlimited strokes, especially when rack sections are joined together, which is useful for heavy-duty transfer applications.

Rollon sells pre-engineered linear system solutions. Case in point: RTUs can be sourced from Rollon ready to install. This particular wall-mount RTU keeps the design’s motor and other elements out of the way of personnel.

Structural elements include extrusion profiles, housings, and beam structures that carry guidance and drive components. For example, heavy-duty aluminum and steel-frame structures available for certain gantry and robot transfer unit (RTU) linear motion solutions from Rollon are specifically designed to resist torsional loads. Because a wide variety of options are possible, Rollon applications engineers are equipped to give technology-agnostic input on the specifics of an install.

Actuators are complete linear motion solutions containing frame, linear guides, end bearings, and mechanical drive for easy-install modules that complement multi-axis Cartesian systems such as gantries and portals as well as robot transfer units or RTUs. The rugged self-supporting nature of some Rollon linear actuators renders them linear stages.

Linear systems with the highest level of pre-engineering include multi-axis Cartesian tables, circular systems (for precision conveyance), and the gantries and RTUs already mentioned. Through the “Actuators & Systems” tab, engineers can configure these linear motion solutions via the same myRollon portal they’d use for procuring components.

A Complete Portfolio Under One Engineering Umbrella

Rollon solutions are globally adopted in industrial automation, aerospace, medical equipment, and material handling — industries that all impose distinct requirements. That’s in part because Rollon doesn’t sell stock catalog components in isolation. Rather, it offers design engineers access to online configuration tools via the digital working platform myRollon, customization options, and support from application engineers. Machine builders can get technology, sizing recommendations and documentation from basic application data. In some cases, myRollon compresses weeks of catalog work into a single session.

How Rollon Leads in Supplying Linear Motion Solutions

On April 15, 1975, Rollon was founded to bring innovation to the linear-motion market. Founder Giuseppe Sacheli aimed to address an issue too common in the industry at the time — the premature failure of needle-roller linear guideways due to misalignment and impact loading.

In the more than 50 years since then, Rollon has grown into a global designer and manufacturer of linear guides, drives, and actuators.

When Rollon joined The Timken Company in 2018, it became the flagship brand for linear motion and beneficiary of a global manufacturing infrastructure with the testing resources and supply-chain depth of a $4.6-billion industrial group. Nadella, Chiavette Unificate, Durbal, Shuton-Ipiranga, and Rosa Sistemi acquisitions have since expanded the product range available to design engineers. Today, the company also leads in the production and development of customizable linear-motion offerings for automated equipment needing top performance, efficiency, and reliability.

For engineering assistance in specifying a complete linear motion solution, contact Rollon or visit my.rollon.com.