As with ball bearing slides rolls roll between two precisely ground and hardened sides.
The individual balls are lead through a ball cage in order to prevent obstruction. The rollers are arranged reciprocally in the cage. Roller bearings are as the ball bearing slides terminate guiding mechanism where the rollers cover 0,5-times of the way of the translating object. Due to good rolling features (they lack static and sliding friction) crossed roller bearings are perfectly suited for precision adjustment units. In contrast to ball bearing slides they provide a significant higher stiffness and load capacity.

 

 

On a hardened and ground surface balls roll in guiding grooves.
Arriving at the end of the guide body the balls are carried back by an integrated recirculation to the beginning of the guide body. Therefore the guidance system achieves travel ranges that are a multiple of the guidance body`s dimensions. The travel range is only limited by the terminate length of the guide surface. Adjustment and zero backlash respectively are achieved by adjusting screws. No static or sliding friction occurs with correct adjustment.

 

With the conception of a positioning system the basic question of a necessary drive system occurs. Different parameters are relevant to the choice. They differ depending on type of problem.Deciding factors are:

• speed of translation
• smoothness of running
• resolution
• occurring load moments
• range of capacity