MACHINE BUILDING 2008, 13th and 14th February, NEC

Demand for HepcoMotion® multi-axis systems and sub-assemblies is growing year on year. A typical request would be for an aluminium framework forming a chassis onto which is mounted any combination of the HepcoMotion® products. And within each of the company’s product lines there is considerable scope for selecting the optimum component or system for the job. This includes a wide selection of corrosion resistant products that allow the creation of bespoke systems for food, scientific and electronic manufacturing sectors.

At Machine Building 2008 HepcoMotion® will emphasise this capability as well as its exceptionally wide range of off-the-shelf linear motion components for customers with in-house design and assembly facilities. The company’s flagship GV3 universal linear motion system is a natural choice for bespoke system specification as it offers such a wide range of sizes, types and precision grades to meet most automation application needs. As a result an optimum linear solution can be specified that suits most performance criteria and budgets.

Naturally several new products will be highlighted at Machine Building 2008 and amongst them will be the recently extended Utilitrak® linear motion system. This highly economical linear guide provides a narrow, compact profile that is well suited to a variety of production environments where smooth, high speed motion is required. And now thanks to the introduction of standard bridge connections parallel Utilitrak systems can be installed with ease.

Utilitrak is an ideal choice for running two systems in parallel where one slide uses DualVee guide wheels and other MadeWell™ crowned rollers. As precise parallelism is difficult to achieve it is not uncommon for mounting surfaces to be slightly out of true. The Utilitrak design compensates for these mounting errors and does not require absolute parallelism for accurate operation.

DualVee Motion Technology™ has also been subject to further development to extend its application potential. The various new options that have been introduced as a result of this initiative will benefit light duty applications in the clean rooms through to rugged transport systems working in hostile environments. This linear guidance technology is now more flexible and even more cost-effective.

The introduction of a long carriage version of the HepcoMotion® SBD Sealed Belt Drive considerably widens the scope of this proven linear system. As well as offering higher capacity it is more rigid and therefore has greater positioning accuracy. And for those seeking a streamlined system with the ability to accommodate multi-directional loads it provides a good solution. These benefits are in addition to those inherent in the SBD design whose purpose is to meet the needs of high loads and demanding duty cycles.