Tech Tip: Linear Slides Twin Rod Series - Quick Start from AutomationDirect

When you see a Twin Round Shaft slides next to a Compact slide you get a good idea of just how massive these guys are. They can handle normal loads of up to 920 pounds down and 644 pounds up because the rails are fully supported the entire length of the actuator. They can also support 920 pounds in the transverse direction and is even better in the Roll, Pitch and yaw directions. With 200 pounds of thrust capability this guy can move some serious loads around because they use a point two pitch carbon steel ball screw. This adapter plate is setup specifically for any AutomationDirect NEMA 23 stepper motor. You just screw it in with some 10-32 screws and your’re ready to go. Everything else is ready to go out of the box. Just plug it into your favorite stepper drive system and you are up and running. The maximum rated speed for this guy is 6 inches per second which looks like this. Of course, you probably don’t want to be throwing around nine hundred pound loads much faster than that anyway, Richt? So that works out well. For the record, I’m using this stepper drive for this demo because it has an analog input. I then took a joy stick out of a toy at home and wired it like this. And we’re using this power supply to drive it all. These stepper drives get configured using the free SureStep software from AutomationDirect. The serial cable comes with the drive and I used this USB to serial cable from AutomationDirect since my computer doesn’t have a serial port. We cover how to use the SureStep configuration software in detail in a separate video, but the main thing to note for this demo is we put the drive in this velocity mode to get it to respond to the analog input, We unselect this check box so it is always running, and select this chck box so we can put the speed in here. I want the joystick’s center to be zero velocity so I click on the Advanced tab and then click on Auto Offset. It tells me to make sure the joystick is centered, and then it uses the voltage it reads as the zero velocity reference. Looks like we’re just under two and a half volts – perfect. I’m using this motor … this drive …and I’ve already selected the right com port so I hit download. I’m not worried about inertia for this demo – again we cover how to do that in a different video Now we just play with the joy stick and watch the system respond. It’s very responsive to the analog input from the joystick and the actuator feel really solid and smooth. There is a set of rails that can be used with these slides in 12, 24 and 36 inches in both these end supported versions and fully supported versions. Both handle the same load in the down direction, but the end supported rails handle more load in the up direction because the pillow blocks go all the way around the rail. The advantage of the fully supported rails is they ensure there will be no flexing of the rail under heavy loads, which is handy in applications where you need that extreme precision. Each length rail is also available in different diameters which support different loads. And since all of these rails and slides have moving parts, there are repair kits for the linear actuators and for the pillow blocks on the slides. There is a separate video that shows you how to refurbish the linear slide with the repair kit. If you need any help with linear actuators from AutomationDirect, please contact AutomationDirect’s free award winning tech support during regular business hours. They will be happy to help. And don’t forget the forums. There are lots of folks there that love to share their years of experience. Just don’t post any quests directed at AutomationDirect’s support team there – they don’t monitor the forums on a regular basis.