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Today, let’s talk about rack and pinion vs ball screw. In the field of machinery, this has always been a controversial topic – should use rack and pinon or ball screw? As we all know, the role of the two is to convert the rotary motion into a linear motion system to move and position the machine, so they have been applied in many industries. Let’s analyze the application of rack and pinion and ball screw in CNC router industry.
Part 1: Rack and Pinion Drive System
What is Rack and Pinion Drive System?
A rack and pinion drive system is means that there is a rack that is bolted onto the sides of the machines and pinion, or cog/gear, that meshes with the rack. As the pinion turnover, the machine moves. In the CNC Router industry, the helical (angled) racks are widely used for merging to drive.
What Is the Advantages of Rack and Pinion Drive System?
☺ It has good rigidity, large bearing capacity, high transmission precision, and can be connected with infinite length. No matter how long it is, there will be no spiral oscillation.
☺ High speed, transmission speed up to 2m/s.
☺ The design of inclined rack enables the rack to mesh more teeth. The design of inclined rack makes the movement more stable, the friction is smaller, the clearance is smaller, and the transmission efficiency can reach more than 96%.
☺ Easy to replace. This is a huge advantage, especially for end users, and workers can be easily replaced without special skills or knowledge.
What is the Weakness of Rack and Pinion Drive System?
The requirements of machining accuracy and processing technology are relatively high. If the processing technology and processing technology can not reach, there will be high friction and potential gap between rack and pinion. Fortunately, with the progress of production technology, such as the improvement of milling, grinding and heat treatment process, the transmission accuracy and bearing capacity of the rack and pinion are greatly improved.
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Part 2: Ball Screw Drive System
Ball screw is the most commonly used transmission element in tool machinery and precision machinery. Its main function is to convert rotary motion into linear motion or torque into axial repeated force. At the same time, it has the characteristics of high precision, reversibility and high efficiency. Due to its small friction resistance, ball screw is widely used in various industrial equipment and precision instruments. The ball screw is composed of screw, nut, steel ball, prepress, reverser and dustproof device.
What is the Advantages of Ball Screw Drive System?
☺ Higher exercise efficiency
The driving force of the ball screw is only one third of that of the sliding screw, which has a higher movement efficiency, so it can save more electricity.
☺Accuracy improvement
Ball screws are all made by high-level mechanical equipment in a coherent way, with higher production accuracy.
☺ Micro feed can be achieved
The ball screw uses ball motion, so the running torque is small, and there is no creeping problem such as sliding motion, so it can ensure accurate micro feed.
☺No side clearance and high rigidity
The ball screw can be preloaded, because the preload can make the axial clearance reach a negative value, thus achieving higher rigidity.
☺High speed feed
Ball screw can realize high-speed feed / (movement /) because of its high efficiency and low heating.
What is the Weakness of Rack and Pinion Drive System?
☹If the ball screw is short, its accuracy is very high. But if the ball screw is longer, the spiral vibration will deteriorate with the increase of length and speed. Therefore, ball screw is suitable for short axis, such as Z axis of CNC router. This can give full play to its advantages of high precision.
☹As for the speed of the ball screw, compared with the rack and pinion drive, the acceleration of the ball screw can not be too fast, and it can not maintain a high speed.
☹Ball screws are less rigid, and their power transfer efficiency is about 78% – 88%.
☹It can’t lock itself. Especially for the vertical lead screw, due to the self weight inertia force, the moving parts can not self lock after the transmission stops, so it is necessary to add a brake device.
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Summary
In summary, about the topic of Rack And Pinion VS Ball Screw, I think you have the idea about how to choose them. Generally speaking, for the small size CNC machine, such as 2X2, 2X3, 2X4 ft size machine, XYZ axis can be all ball screw, but for the big size machine, such as the 4X8, 5X10 or bigger size machine, XY axis rack and pinion and Z axis with ball screw is a more reasonable.