The installation and maintenance of miniature linear guides require careful attention to the method. To achieve better results, it is important to first install the guide on a flat surface, select suitable components, and use miniature linear guides. These guides can help with many mechanical engineering operations.
The bracket should wrap around the top and both ends of the guide rail to support the components of the machine tool. At least four brackets are needed for the micro linear guide. The steel balls roll back and forth in the direct groove, which distributes the wear of the micro linear guide to each steel ball, extending the operating life of the linear guide.
Pre-loading can improve the stability of the guide rail system and divide it into the guide rail. This time-sharing loss depends on the effect force on the steel ball. If the pre-loading time is too long, the movement resistance of the miniature linear guide will increase, and this time-sharing loss will also increase. Therefore, during the installation process, it is important to pay attention to the direction and position.
Among the various accuracy indicators of linear guides, the geometric accuracy and guiding accuracy are more important. The geometric accuracy of the guide rail includes the straightness of the guide rail between the vertical plane and the horizontal plane, the parallelism between the outer surfaces of the guide rail, and the verticality between the guide rails. The error mainly depends on the geometric accuracy of the guide rail itself and the fit clearance of the guide rail. The fit clearance of the guide rail mainly depends on the structural type of the guide rail, the surface roughness, the stiffness of the guide rail, and the influence of thermal deformation. The main factors affecting the accuracy of the guide rail are as follows:
- Straightness of the guide rails: It directly affects the parallelism of the guide rail surface and the verticality between the guide rails.
- Rigidity of the guide rail: Contact deformation, partial deformation, and self-deformation will occur on the guide rail under force. The contact deformation is caused by the microscopic inhomogeneity of the guide rail plane. Local deformation generally occurs in places where the stress is concentrated. The deformation of the guide rail itself is the overall deformation of the guide rail under the effect of external load, which is related to the material and layout of the guide rail.
- Surface roughness of the guide rail: It mainly depends on the material, hardness, and grinding process of the guide rail.
- Structural type of the guide rail: It directly affects the accuracy indicators such as the positioning accuracy and repeat positioning accuracy of the machine tool.