#001 Pictorial and explanations on LCA standard components - 1 : How to select standard components

Category : Automation elements technology

July13, 2009
MISUMI's FA Mechanical catalog contains many components with similar appearances. However, they differ in design
specifications such as material, surface treatments, dimensional tolerances and shaft-end configurations.
= Example: Case of [1] Shafts, [2] Rotary shafts, [3] Rods, and [4] Posts / Stands =
Explanation
our groups above have the similar appearances but with different functions
[1] Shafts and [2] Rotary shafts are motion mechanism components as moving parts.
[3] Rods and [4] Posts / Stands are structural components as non-moving parts.
For the motion mechanism components, material and surface treatments can be specified for durability, and tolerances for dimensional accuracy
can be specified.

[Comparison table of four product groups]

Product name

Material
[JIS]
[ANSI]
[EN]

Hardness

Surface
treatment

O.D. tolerance and accuracy

equivalent
[S45C]
[1045 Steel]
[1.1191 /
C45E
(Ck45)]

Shafts
One end male thread
type
[SUS304]
[304
Stainless
Steel]
[1.4301 /
X5CrNi1810]

58HRC
56HRC
(Induction
hardening)

Hard Cr plating
HV750

Shaft O.D.: g6, f8 Circularity,

Straightness, Verticalness,
Concentricity can be Specified

Black oxide
Electroless nickel
plating

Shaft O.D.: g6 Circularity,

Straightness, Verticalness,
Concentricity can be Specified

[S45C]
[1045 Steel]
[1.1191 /
C45E
(Ck45)]

Rotary shafts One

end male thread
type

[SUS304]
[304
Stainless
Steel]
[1.4301 /
X5CrNi1810]
[SCM435]
[4137 Alloy
Steel]
[1.7220 /
34CrMo4]

Thick-wall ground
stainless steel pipe,
male thread type

[SUS304]
[304
Stainless
Steel]

Pipe O.D.: h8

[1.4301 /
X5CrNi1810]
[SS400]
[1018 Steel
Equivalent]
[1.0040 /
Ust.42.2]
Round posts One
end male thread
type

[SUS304]
[304
Stainless
Steel]
[1.4301 /
X5CrNi1810]

Black oxide
Electroless nickel
plating

Shaft O.D. : 0 -0.1

Organizing LCA mechanisms

The LCA is comprised of the following configuration, and this establishes the reference for the components'
functionality.
LCA = Mechanism + Actuator + Controller

Structural member is: Non-moving mechanical elements that support the entire mechanism. Drive mechanism is:
Moving mechanical elements.
In order to make proper product selections from the catalog, it is important to understand the specific characteristics
of the listed components. We will explain the characteristics of the standard components using visual information such
as photos and pictorials, hereafter. Usage examples of shafts will be explained with pictorials next.
#002 Precision Shafts
Category : Linear Motion Components
July14, 2009
Due to their simple structure allowing high dimensional accuracy in machining, shafts are used for high
precision linear guides. Misumi shafts feature:
Fit tolerance g6 (for requirement of precision motion with fine linear accuracy) or f8 (for use with grease or oil-lubricated bearings).
High surface hardness with employment of induction hardening and hard chromium plating.
Excellent circular tolerance and straightness plus concentricity and perpedicularity of finish ends.
A wide choice of end finishes.

Examples of linear motion applications using shaft(s)

a) Typical linear mechanism using two parallel shafts (see Figure 1 and Photo 1)
1.Using two shafts eliminates displacement, achieving high-precision linear motion capability and high load capacity. (See Photo 1)
2.Two types of bushings are available: linear bushings and oil-free bushings. Typically, linear bushings are used.
3.Oil-free bushings have high load capacity (compared to linear bushings) and are recommended for mechanisms subject to shock. Oil-free
bushings, however, have larger friction resistance compared to linear bushings (which contain linear ballbearings), and should not be used for
mechanisms subject to long continuous operations.

b)Linear mechanism using a single shaft (see Figure 2 and Photo 2)

1.With a linear mechanism using a single shaft, the shaft can serve as a motion guide involving linear and rotaty motions or as a linear guide by
restraining rotation. Figure 2 shows the latter case.
2.The linear mechanism prevents rotation because the cylinder piston is acting as a second shaft. Therefore this configuration is not suitable for
applications that require high load capacity. Photo 2 shows an example of using a linear shaft and air cylinder.
3.For a single-shaft mechanism, either long linear bushings (double-type or long-type) or oil-free bushings (for intermittent motions) should be
selected to obtain linear stability and high load capability.

#003 Installing Shafts I : Variables in Execution

Category : Linear Motion Components
July15, 2009
Installation of shafts depends on the design of the shaft holder that is constrained by the structure of the entire
mechanism, requirements for ease of assembling and disassembling, and the limitation of the size of the mechanism.
(1)Reference planes of the base plate on which shafts are to be installed
Shafts must be installed parallel to the reference planes so that the linear table can move accurately. Usually, the
upper face and one end face of a shaft holder fixing plate (e.g., base plate) are used as the reference planes. (See
Figure 1)

(2)Shaft holders and shape of shaft ends

Shape of shaft ends suitable for the structure of your mechanism should be selected.
In the case of Figure 1, the base plate does not have any reference for positioning, thus two shafts are made parallel
by the adjusting them during their installation.

Shape of shaft ends

Select straight type shaft ends. The shafts are fixed by shaft holders, thus the shaft ends do not need special
machining.
Installing the shaft holders
1.Fix two shaft holders for securing the first shaft perpendicular to the face of the base plate.
2.Put one shaft through the bushing on one side of the movable table, install it onto the shaft holder, and fix the shaft to the shaft holder.
3.Put the other shaft through the movable table bushings, and temporarily loosely fasten the two shaft holders with fixing bolts.
4.Slide the movable table slowly to confirm that the table moves smoothly before you tighten the fixing bolts firmly.

Shape shaft ends

Figure 3 shows the structure in which the shaft is installed perpendicular to the shaft fixing plate to allow the air
cylinder to move without adding any load.

Note: In order to install two shafts perpendicular to the shaft fixing plate, shafts with stepped and tapped ends are
used. Dimensional accuracy and concentricity of the shouldered section allow the shafts to be fixed at a right angle.

#004 Installing Shafts II : Practical Examples

Category : Linear Motion Components
July24, 2009
Two cases will be introduced in terms of design features and maintainability. In case 1, the shafts are directly
installed, and in case 2, the shafts are installed via shaft holder brackets.
Case 1 (See Figure 1)
The structure of the shaft with retaining ring groove is as follows:
1.The two bores on each of the two shaft fixing plates, through which both ends of the shafts are fixed, determine the parallelism of the two shafts.
Therefore, the distance between the two bores on the shaft fixing plates should be specified with tolerance.
2.The precision of the shaft installing bores on the two shaft fixing plates must be specified with clearance fit (H7) that is required for precision
fitting with minimal rattling.
3.Be sure to use large fixing bolts to secure the relative positions of the shaft fixing plates to the base plate.
4.The distance between the two retaining ring grooves on the shaft ends (distance L selectable in units of one millimeter) must be slightly longer
than the outer distance between the two shaft fixing plates but without allowance in the longitudinal direction of the shafts.

Case 2 (See Figure 2)

The structure of the shaft holder bracket is as follows:
1.The parallelism of the two shafts is determined by the parallelism of the shaft holder bracket fixing plates (via which both ends of shafts are
fixed) and by the precision of installing intervals of the shaft holder brackets.
2.Shaft holder brackets can be installed by tapping the shaft holder bracket fixing plates.
3.This structure assures high rigidity as the precision flanges hold the shafts.
4.Depending on the shape of the shaft ends on the opposite side, a variety of assembling procedures are possible. When shaft holder brackets are
used for both sides, installation should be made by temporarily fixing the shafts, movable units and shaft holder brackets on the fixing plates
before securing the plates on the peripheral structure. Also, be aware of the complexity of disassembling and maintenance of the shafts before
starting the design of your mechanism.

#005 Usage example of Shafts: Shaft collar and shaft combinations

Category : Linear Motion Components
July31, 2009
The shaft collars are useful in positioning applications for shafts and round posts. An usage example of stop position
for shafts is described here.
Example 1 (Fig.1)
Shaft stopper mechanism with shaft collars with integrated dampers is explained.

1.This example is a two shaft version of the single shaft linear motion system featured in Tutorial #002-b.
2.Since this is a cover open/close mechanism, the design does not account for excessive loads on the shafts and bearings.
3.The shaft has a pre-machined end needed for mounting: One end female thread type is selected. In order to prevent the mounting bolts from
loosening, use flat washers and spring washers.
4.Thrust type oil-less short bushing is chosen as linear bearings for intermittent operation.
5.Shaft collars with integrated dampers are selected to establish the cover's stop position. In order to provide flat surfaces where the urethane
dampers make contact, the oil-less bushings are fixed in place from below.
6.Although the moving cover is constricted by two shafts and an air cylinder rod, total of three shafts, the load is designed to be supported by the
linear shafts and linear bearings. Use a floating joint to tie the air cylinder rod to the cover to prevent unnecessary loads on the air cylinder.
7.The structural material and surface treatment for corrosion prevention selection should be made based on the usage environmental condition, as
well as reduction in cover weight for lightening the loads on the sir cylinder.
Below [Fig.1] and [Photo 1] show the design result following the guideline above.

#006 Stopper mechanism with shaft collars

Category : Linear Motion Components
August 7, 2009
A shaft collar retains itself on a shaft by clamping on it's circumference. This clamping shaft collars can be utilized as
stoppers for the linear motion mechanism. Benefit of utilizing the shaft collars as stoppers is that stop position can
easily be adjusted. Fig.1 shows a representative usage of shaft collar stopper mechanism, and the characteristics are
listed below.

A dual-shaft linear guiding system is driven by an air cylinder.

Slit-type shaft collars are used for the air cylinder position stopper. Two collars are tied together with a stopper plate for increased strength.
Stop position can easily be adjusted by loosening the slit-tightening screws on the collars.
Two linear shafts are tied together at ends with a connecting plate for increased structural strength.
Additionally, there are two mounting options available for the shaft collars: threaded hole type, and through hole type.
The collars can be fastened from either side of the stopper plate, as shown on [Fig.2] below.

#007 Selecting shaft holders

Category : Linear Motion Components
August14, 2009
L shaped shaft holders are available in four shaft mounting configurations. Characteristics for the four types are
organized below as selection references.
The holders in [Fig.1 Side insertion type] and [Fig.3 Separate type] have similar appearances with a difference only in
shaft mounting methods. It can be seen from the figures that the shafts are inserted/removed in different manners.
The difference affects the moving table assembly procedure and maintenance work. Chart below compares the
differences of the four types.
Name

Shaft mounting method

Characteristics

Standard Type
SHKLM

Shaft is held directly with a hex

socket set screw.

Shaft retention strength is not very high.

Not suitable for applications where rotation
and axial force in imparted on the linear shafts.

Slit type
SHKSM

Shaft mounting bore has a slit at

12 o'clock, and a screw tightens
the slit to retain the shaft.

Shaft retention strength is high and reliable.

The shaft can only be inserted horizontally,
causing limitations in assembly/maintenance
due to interferences with surrounding
mechanisms.

Side slit type

SHKWM
-See [Photo 1]-See [Fig.1][Fig.2]-

A slit is located on the side of

the shaft bore, and a screw is
tightened to clamp the linear
shaft.

Same as above.
This type differs from the top-slit type only in
the direction of the screw tightening direction,
but all three bolts can be tightened from above.

Separate type
SHKPM
-See [Fig.3]-

Shaft bore is horizontally cut

and made into two separate
pieces. Two screws are used to
clamp down on a shaft.

The linear shaft can be placed either from the

side or top, making for easier maintenance.
Higher complexity in work due to increased
part count.

Other than the types shown in the table above, there are four other shaft holders such as T-type, bottom mount type,
and side mount type. These can also be selected based on the perspective shown below.
Perspective for shaft holder selection
1.Assembly/maintainability
2.Placement relationship with surrounding components
3.Degree of mounted part strength
4.Ease of standardization

#008 Application examples on Hollow Shafts

Category : Linear Motion Components
August21, 2009
A hollow shaft has a hollow bore through the center of the shaft, and has the following characteristics.
Hollow shaft characteristics
1.The through bore can be utilized for various purposes.
2.Lighter in weight compared to solid shafts of the same diameter.
3.Notably, the through bore does not have high concentricity with the shaft, and cannot be used as an accurate guiding bore.
Each characteristic is explained in examples.
1Utilizing the through bore.
aCooling of the shaft.
In order to prevent the shaft temperature rise due to friction, fittings can be mounted on the ends to introduce various cooling medium (air, water,
etc.) through the hollow bore.

bGuiding electrical wire and other plumbing components.

Motor cables and air cylinder's air supply can be run through the bore in cases where way covers and other components are obstructing the
routes. (See [Fig.1])

2Lighter in weight compared to solid shafts of the same diameter.

For applications where the shafts reciprocate, the weight of the shafts affect the sizing of actuator's prime mover. Cost
reduction, energy savings, and motor heat reduction can be gained by keeping the prime mover as small as possible.
However, the hollow shafts generate louder noises when subjected to bearing motion, as compared to other shafts in
general.

#010 Breakthrough in ultra precision linear motion guides

Category : Linear Motion Components
September 4, 2009
Here, we'll introduce some most advanced linear motion guide technology, levels above the slide guides.
High definition displays such as PC monitors and cellular phone displays require sub-micron level accuracies (i.e. 0.3
micrometers or better). Most of these key components are manufactured using ultra precision molds. To manufacture
the molds, ultra precision machines that can achieve sub-micron level accuracies are used.
Typical examples of ultra precision machine.
Linear guide mechanism construction of the ultra precision machines can be categorized into the following two types.
aContacting slide guide ---- Rail and moving body move in contact
bNon-contacting slide guide --- Rail and moving body move without contact

aAbout contacting slide guide

[Photo 1] below shows a representative configuration for a contacting slide guide for an ultra-precision machine. It uses a V-groove hand
scraped by highly skilled operators and ultra precision grade roller bearings.

Moving body and the roller bearings are placed on the hand scraped V-groove, and repeated adjustments are made using a measurement
instrument.
This linear guide mechanism is driven by a ball screw. In order to negate any vertical errors that may be generated by the ballscrew deflection,
the ballscrew nut is retained by parallel springs and only linear force is transmitted.

bAbout non-contacting slide guide

shows an air bearing arrangement using Granite material typically used for surface
plates.

Since the granite material is of natural origin, changes over time can be neglected, insensitive to temperature variation caused distortion, and
vibration damping in nature.
The air bearing achieves ultra precise non-contacting linear guide by maintaining an air gap of approx. 6 micro meters with pressurized air.
The linear guide rail is a convex shaped block, and is hand finished by polishing for the final accuracy.

Air bearing rigidity and resonance avoidance must be taken in consideration for
the air pad design of the moving body [Photo 4].

Sliver colored rectangular objects are linear motors.

Completely non-contacting linear guide mechanism is comprised of air bearingsand linear motors.

In the ultra precision motion control world as shown above, controlling the environment is required such as
environmental temperature stabilization (i.e. within +/- 0.1 deg. C), independent foundation design for complete
isolation from any external vibrations, and dust-less environment.

#011 Bearing mounting/retaining method - 1

Category : Automation elements technology
September11, 2009
A bearing (rolling ball bearing type) needs to be retained in
three directions, radial, axial, and circumferential in relation
to it's housing and a shaft. The radial and circumferential
direction retention is mainly based on a concern on fit
tolerance selection (see Tutorial #103). The remaining "axial
direction" retention cannot be solved by press fitting of the
bearing. The axial retention methods will be explained here
with examples.

For instance, high speed bearings such as end bearings for ballscrews will require some measures against heat
expansion, but here we'll discuss bearing mounting methods for low to medium speed bearings.
(1) MISUMI's bearing mounting/retaining components
Following standard components are available.

Example 1 (See [Fig.1])

Mounting method for belt tension adjusting idler pulley bearing

The idler pulley is mounted with a cantilever pin. This example uses a nut tightened cantilever type.
Bearing retaining collar" is used to fix the idler pulley bearing.
A washer is placed between the bearing and the collar to provide an ample access to the collar's tightening screw.
The washer O.D. should match the O.D. of the bearing's inner ring.

Example 2 (See [Fig.2])

V-groove idler pulley mounting with a bearing end cap.

Flanged, screw mounted cantilever pin is

used.
The bearing end cap needs to match the
O.D. of the cantilever pin shaft.

#012 Bearing mounting/retaining method - 2

Category : Automation elements technology
September18, 2009
Example (See [Fig.1])
Here, an axial mounting method
of bearings is explained using a
linking mechanism
with bearingsmounted on two T
shaped bearing holders.

Three bearing retaining components used are marked with (*) below.

A metal washer is used on the tightening nut side of cantilever pin to hold against the inner ring of a radial bearing.
A bearing spacer is placed between the link arm and a bearing to support the link's rotation motion.
Bearing in the other bearing holder is fixed to the cantilever pin shaft by it's inner ring with a bearing end cap.

#013 Bearing mounting/retaining method - 3

Category : Automation elements technology
September25, 2009
Three bearing retaining components used are marked with (*) below.

Example 1 (See [Fig.1])

This is an example of rotating shaft

retention using a bearing holder set (Tshaped two bearing type, or bottom mount
two bearing type) and bearing nuts with
anti-loosening set screws. Loosening of the
bearing nut is prevented by use of a set
screw and a set piece made of copper alloy.
The set piece made of soft copper alloy is
first inserted in a screw hole, and a set screw
is tightened to crush the soft alloy piece on
the shaft thread to prevent the bearing nut
from loosening.

Example 2 (See [Fig.2])

This is an example using bearing holding
pins. A bearing holding pin holds against
the inner ring O.D. from the end side, and a
collar from the inside is pressed against the
inner ring O.D. of the bearing from the other
side to fix the bearing to the shaft.

#014 Usage examples - Locating pins / Guides - 5: Locating of various types of work
Category : Locating Technology
October 2, 2009
Locating techniques are shown here with silicon wafers (thin round disc) and printed circuit boards (thin rectangular
boards) as examples.
(1) Hints on how to determine the locating techniques
By properly selecting the following criteria, locating techniques for a variety of work can be determined.
a Select locating pin material and shapes based on understanding the work's specific characteristics.

example: hard, soft, easily scratched, easily cracked/broken, deformed/warped, electro-statically damageable, cannot be tested ...
bDetermine if the work itself possesses any reference feature.
example: has pilot holes for locating, and the holes are indexable from the reference feature
c Select locating pins/guides that match the methods for in and out-feed of work.

(2) Examples of locating various work pieces

Example - 1: Locating silicon wafers

Characteristics of the work piece

Thin disc shape with a partial notch.
Material is hard, and the disc's side could cause wears on the location pins.
Used in clean environment and cannot tolerate rust.
Tips is spherical shaped.
Tip is spherical shaped.
Work is located on it's sides.

In-feed and out-feed method

Work is automatically located so only the top side needs to be open for access.

Example - 2: Locating a PC board with pilot holes

Characteristics of the work piece

The work piece contains glass fiber and the locating pins will gradually wear.
Select locating pins that match the pilot holes.
Use a design that makes locating pin replacement possible.
Provide a slot on the fixture (work efficiency)

Locating reference
Locating holes provided on the PC board.

in-feed and out-feed methods

Give considerations to improved work efficiency since the operation will be manually performed.

Example - 3: Locating a PC board without pilot holes

Characteristics of the work piece

Same as Example - 2
Use plastic to avoid short circuits and electrostatic damages.
Select "Work Guides" as the locating method.
Select plastic for "Work Guides" material.
(Others omitted)

Locating reference
Select "Work Guides" instead of pins since the PC board is located on external features.