JP2000104735A - Linear guide device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a linear guide device that is easy to adjust in the pre- loading of its loaded rolling elements. SOLUTION: A slider has slits 21 each extending from the bottom of a loaded-rolling-element raceway 16 formed in the internal surface of the slider or extending widthwise into a wing 20 of a slider body 12A, so that each slider body wing 20 is equipped with spring properties, which evenly pre-load rolling elements 33 fitted in the loaded-rolling-element raceway 16 of the slider. The size of the slits 21 can be selected properly for easy adjustments to the pre- loading of the loaded rolling elements 33.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a linear guide device in which a slider is relatively moved along a guide rail by rolling of a rolling element inserted between the guide rail and a slider laid on the guide rail. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional linear guide device of this type is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-292515. In this device, as shown in FIG. 7, a slider 2 is straddled on a guide rail 1, and a number of balls 3 and 4 as rolling elements are interposed between the two. The ball 3 rolls along with the movement of the slider 2 in a load ball rolling groove 5 provided on the side surface of the guide rail 1 and a load ball rolling groove 6 provided on the inner surface of the slider 2 opposed thereto. While circulating infinitely through the circulation path 7. Roller 4
A load roller raceway surface 8 provided at a ridge portion where the upper surface 1a and the side surface 1b of the guide rail 1 intersect, and a load roller rolling groove 9 provided at a corner portion of the slider inner surface 2a opposed thereto.
Infinitely circulates through the circulation path 10 while rolling along with the movement of the slider 2.

As described above, by using not only the balls 3 but also the highly rigid rollers 4 as rolling elements of the linear guide device, a linear guide device having a high load-loading capability can be obtained.

[0004]

In the above-mentioned conventional linear guide device, the rollers 4 roll on the load roller raceway surface 8 provided on the ridge of the guide rail 1 so as to be inclined. Loads from two directions, a direction and a lateral direction, can be received by the rollers 4 having a high load capacity. However, on the other hand, there are the following problems.

The rolling element rolling groove 5 on the outer side of the guide rail 1 and the load rolling element raceway surface 8 on the ridge, the load rolling element rolling groove 6 on the inner side of the slider 2 and the load rolling element rolling groove on the corner part. 9 means
Each must be processed separately. Therefore, the rolling element rolling groove 5 of the guide rail and the slider 2 opposed thereto
It is difficult to ensure the relative positional accuracy with the load rolling element rolling groove 6, and the size of the groove gap (that is, the space serving as the load rolling element passage) formed by the two rolling element rolling grooves 5 and 6 varies. The preload applied to the rolling elements (load rolling elements) in the groove gap becomes too large or too small. In other words, it is difficult to adjust the preload of the load rolling element to an appropriate value.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a linear guide device capable of easily adjusting the preload of a load rolling element by imparting a spring property to a sleeve of a slider.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a method in which a slider is straddled on an extended guide rail having a rolling element rolling groove extending axially on an outer surface thereof.
The slider has an endless rolling element comprising a load rolling element rolling groove facing the rolling element rolling groove of the guide rail and a rolling element circulation path communicating with both ends of the load rolling element rolling groove via curved paths. A linear guide device that includes a circulation path and relatively moves the slider along the guide rail through the rolling of a large number of rolling elements loaded in the rolling element infinite circulation path;
A slit cut in the width direction of the main body sleeve of the slider from the groove bottom of the load rolling element rolling groove on the inner surface of the main body of the slider is formed over the entire length of the main body of the slider. And a constant-pressure preload is applied to the rolling element row in the load rolling element rolling groove facing the guide rail and the slider by the spring property.

[0008]

[Function] In the case of a linear guide device, since it is difficult to ensure the relative positional accuracy between the rolling element rolling groove of the guide rail and the rolling element rolling groove of the slider, the rolling element rolling groove of the guide rail is opposed to the rolling element rolling groove. The position error with the load rolling element rolling groove provided on the slider tends to increase, and an appropriate preload is applied to the load rolling element by adjusting the spacing of the rolling element rolling space, which is the gap between the two grooves. However, in the case of the present invention, a slit formed in the sleeve of the slider imparts springiness to the slider, and the rolling element row loaded in the load rolling element rolling groove with the springiness. Since the configuration is such that a constant pressure preload is applied to the load roller, the preload adjustment of the load rolling element can be easily performed depending on the size of the slit.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 6 show an embodiment of the present invention. On a substantially prismatic guide rail 11, a slider 12 having a substantially U-shaped cross section is straddled so as to be relatively movable in the axial direction. The slider 12 is the slider body 1
2A and an end cap 12B detachably fixed to both ends in the axial direction.

On the flat upper surface 111 of the guide rail 11,
Two parallel load roller raceway surfaces 13 extending in the axial direction are provided at intervals substantially to the full width of the rail. On the left and right outer surfaces 112 of the guide rail, a substantially trapezoidal concave groove 15 for accommodating a ball retainer 40 to be described later is formed in the axial direction over the entire length of the rail. On one side of the slope, an approximately 1/4 arc-shaped shallow load ball rolling groove 16 extends in the axial direction.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, a load roller rolling groove 18 having a rectangular cross section opposed to the load roller raceway surface 13 of the guide rail is formed on the slider body 12A. A load ball rolling groove 19 having a substantially semicircular cross section is formed on the inner side surface 122 of the sleeve portion 20 and is formed on the inner surface 122 of the guide rail.

Further, an inner slit 21 and an outer slit 22 are formed on both inner and outer side surfaces of the sleeve portion 20 of the slider body 12A along a virtual horizontal plane passing through the center of the left and right load ball rolling grooves 19. Have been. The inner slit 21 is cut at a predetermined depth from the groove bottom of the load ball rolling groove 19 on the inner side surface 122 toward the inside of the sleeve thickness, for example, using a metal saw. The outer slit 22 may be cut, but can be formed at the same time when the outer shape of the slider body 12A is subjected to the drawing process. By providing these slits 21 and 22, the sleeve 20 of the slider body can be elastically deformed, and its spring rigidity can be arbitrarily set by changing the cutting depth of the inner slit 21 in particular.

At the center of the upper surface 123 of the slider body 12A, a dovetail groove 23 having substantially the same width as the guide rail 11 is formed over the entire length in the axial direction.
The bottom surface 231 has two parallel roller circulation grooves 24 corresponding to the load roller rolling grooves 18. As described above, since the roller circulation grooves 24 are formed as open grooves that open on the upper surface of the slider body 12A,
It can be easily processed from the outside of A. The open groove is formed as an axial through-hole by inserting the cover 25 into the dovetail groove 23 and closing it, and serves as a return passage for the rollers 26 as rolling elements. The roller 26 is chamfered at one ridge to be larger than the other ridge, and is loaded into the load roller rolling groove 18 and the roller circulation groove 24 with the chamfered slope 261 inside.

A roller holding plate 28 is attached to the inner flat surface 121 of the slider body 12A so that the rollers 26 loaded in the load roller rolling grooves 18 do not fall off when the slider 12 is removed from the guide rail 11. ing. The left and right sides of the rectangular plate are chamfered so that the slope 2
81, the slope 281 is engaged with the chamfered slope 261 of the roller 26 to prevent the roller 26 from falling off. A semi-tube rivet 29 is used to attach the roller holding plate 28. That is, the slider body 12
A, two rivet through-holes 30 penetrating from the upper surface 123 of the inner surface 121 to the inner surface 121 are provided at intervals in the axial direction.
The two semi-tube rivets 29 respectively inserted into the counterbore holes 282 of the roller holding plate 28 applied to the roller 21 are passed through the respective rivet through holes 30, and the rivet of the lid 25 whose upper end is attached to the upper surface of the slider. It is caulked with a counterbore hole 251 for caulking. A slight gap is provided between the semi-tube rivet 29 and the rivet through hole 30, and the rollers 26 and the holding plate 28
Fine adjustment of the positional deviation between the two.

In the thickness of the lower portion of the sleeve portion 20 of the slider body 12A, an axial through hole having an inner diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the ball 33 which is another rolling element is provided at a position not to interfere with the inner slit 21. A hole is provided as a ball circulation path 34 in parallel with the loaded ball rolling groove 19. The end cap 12B is an injection-molded product of a synthetic resin material, and is formed in a substantially U-shape. A roller as a second curved path for connecting the load roller rolling groove 18 formed in the slider body 12A and the roller circulation groove 24 in parallel with the end face of the end cap 12B joined to the slider body 12A. A return curved path 35 (see FIG. 5) is formed. The curved path 35 is formed by fitting a semi-cylindrical return guide 351 into the center of a semi-circular recess provided on the joint end face. Further, a ball return as a first curved path for connecting the load ball rolling groove 19 and a ball circulation path 34 of a through hole parallel to the load ball rolling groove 19 to an end face of the end cap 12B joined to the sleeve portion 20 of the slider body 12A. The curved path 36 (see FIG. 6) is formed. This curved road 3
6 is also formed by fitting a semi-cylindrical return guide 361 into the center of a semi-circular recess provided on the joint end face.

The recesses 351a and 361a on the inner diameter side of the return guides 351 and 361 serve as lubricant passages, and are provided with oil supply holes 352 and 362 that open from the respective recesses 351a and 361a to the outer diameter side. End cap 1 above
By attaching 2B to both end surfaces of the slider main body 12A, the infinite circulation path and the load ball rolling groove 19, which include the load roller rolling groove 18, the circulation groove 24, and the return second curved path 35, are provided. An infinite ball circulation path composed of the ball circulation path 34 and the first curved path 36 for ball return is formed.

The ball retainer 40 shown in FIG. 1 is provided on the lower surface of the sleeve 20 of the slider body 12A so that the balls 33 in the load ball rolling grooves 19 do not fall off when the slider 12 is removed from the guide rail 11. It is mounted in a cantilever manner by using a fixed rivet 41, and holds the ball 33 on the free end side. This ball retainer 40
In a state where the slider 12 is assembled to the guide rail 11,
Because it is stored in the trapezoidal groove 15 on the side of the guide rail,
There is no interference with the guide rail 11. The ball retainer 40 of this embodiment has a rubber underseal 4
2 are integrally fixed and attached, and the seal lip is slidably contacted with the slope of the concave groove 15 to seal the lower part of the slider 12.

A side seal 43 is attached to the outer end surface of the end cap 12B, and slides on the upper surface 111 and the side surface 112 of the guide rail 11 so as to slide.
The seal before and after 2 is made. Reference numeral 45 denotes a slider mounting bolt hole, which is provided at each of the four corners on the upper surface of the slider body 12A to avoid interference with the roller circulation path 24 at the top of the slider body. A grease nipple 46 is screwed to the end cap 12B. The lubricant injected from here returns to each return guide 3 from an oil supply groove 47 formed on the joint side end surface of the end cap 12B.
51, 361 through the inner diameter side recesses 351a, 361a,
Roller return curved path 3 through oil supply holes 352 and 362
5 and the ball return curved path 36 are fed to the rollers 26 and the balls 33 respectively.

Reference numeral 48 denotes a mounting screw for mounting the end cap 12B to the slider body 12A.
Reference numeral 9 is provided on the end face of the slider body 12A. Also, 5
0 is the guide rail 11 when using the linear guide device.
Through holes for fixing bolts to a base or the like (not shown). Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described.

In the case of this linear guide device, the size of the cross section of the load ball rolling groove 19 of the slider body 12A is
It can be elastically expanded by the action of the inner slit 21 at the bottom of the groove. Now, the loaded ball rolling groove 16 of the guide rail 11 and the loaded ball rolling groove 1 of the slider body 12A opposed thereto.
When a ball 33 having a diameter slightly larger than the gap (space diameter) facing the gap is loaded in the gap (load ball rolling space) between the ball and the load ball rolling groove 19 by the action of the inner slit 21 described above. Is elastically expanded, and a proper amount of constant pressure preload is applied to the loaded ball 33. The magnitude of this constant pressure preload is determined by the inner slit 2
It can be adjusted by the size of 1. Therefore, the "springiness" of the inner slit 21 absorbs the error of the relative positional accuracy between the load ball rolling groove 16 of the guide rail and the load ball rolling groove 19 of the slider body, and is always appropriate. It is easy to apply a proper constant-pressure preload to the loaded ball.

Further, since the load roller raceway surface 13 of the roller 26 is provided on the horizontal upper surface 111 of the guide rail 11, not only can the processing be facilitated, but also the roller circulation path 24 can be arranged directly above the load roller raceway surface 13. Since the space can be provided, the interval between the load roller raceway surfaces 13 becomes narrower than in the conventional example, and as a result, the width of the slider 12 can be reduced, and the device can be made more compact.

Further, since the load applied from above the slider 12 is received vertically by the two rows of load rollers, the load capacity with respect to the upward load is larger than that of the conventional example. Guide rail 11 of this linear guide device
When the slider 12 mounted on the roller is moved in the axial direction, the rollers 26 loaded in the load roller rolling grooves 18 become
The roller 12 moves on the load roller raceway surface 13 on the upper surface of the guide rail 11 in the same direction as the slider 12 at a speed lower than the moving speed of the slider 12 with respect to the guide rail 11. At this time, the external upward load applied to the slider 12 is transmitted to the guide rail 11 via the rollers 26 and the load roller raceway surface 13. Therefore, the balls 33 arranged on the side are
Is not loaded. The roller 26 moves with the movement of the slider 12 and makes a U-turn on the return curved path 35 when reaching one end of the load roller rolling groove 18. Subsequently, the roller return curved path 3 on the opposite side passes through the roller circulation groove 24.
5 and then make a U-turn again to load rolling groove 18
And the circulation of rolling while rolling on the load roller raceway surface 13 is repeated.

On the other hand, the ball 33 loaded in the load ball rolling groove 19 moves the slider 12 in the same direction as the slider 12 while rolling in the load ball rolling groove 16 on the side surface of the guide rail 11. Move at a slower speed.
At the end of the slider 12, the end cap 1
2B, a U-turn is made on the ball return curved path 36, and then passes through the ball circulation path 34 to the opposite ball return curved path 36, where the U-turn is performed again, and the loaded ball rolling groove 16 is formed. Return to and repeat the circulating movement while rolling.

In the above-described embodiment, two rows of rollers are provided to receive an upward load. However, the present invention is not limited to this. One row of rollers using long rollers in the width direction of the slider receives the upward load. It is good also as composition.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In the linear guide device, a slit cut in the width direction of the sleeve portion of the slider from the groove bottom of the load rolling element rolling groove provided on the inner surface of the slider is formed over the entire length of the slider body, and a spring is formed on the slider sleeve portion. And a constant pressure preload is applied to the rolling element row loaded in the load rolling element rolling groove facing the guide rail and the slider with the spring property, so that the load can be reduced by adjusting the slit. A predetermined constant pressure preload can be applied to the rolling element row loaded in the moving element rolling groove, and the preload adjustment of the load rolling element can be easily performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an embodiment of the present invention with an end cap removed.

FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. 1 with an end cap attached.

FIG. 3 is a side view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a cut-away right half of an end cap of a conventional linear guide device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 01 Guide rail 12 Slider 16 Load rolling element rolling groove 18 Load rolling element rolling groove 19 Load rolling element rolling groove 21 Inner slit 22 Outer slit 24 Rolling element circulation path 34 Rolling element circulation path 26 Rolling element 33 Rolling element 34 Rolling element Moving body circulation path 35 Curved path 36 Curved path

Claims (1)

[Claims] A slider is straddled on an extended guide rail having a rolling element rolling groove extending in an axial direction on an outer surface, and the slider is provided with a load rolling element opposed to the rolling element rolling groove of the guide rail. A rolling element infinite circulation path comprising a rolling element rolling groove and a rolling element circulation path communicating with both ends of the load rolling element rolling groove via a curved path is provided. In the linear guide device for relatively moving the slider along the guide rail through the rolling of the rolling element, a width direction of a main body sleeve of the slider from a groove bottom of the load rolling element rolling groove on the inner surface of the slider. Is formed over the entire length of the main body of the slider so as to impart springiness to the sleeve portion of the main body of the slider. With the springiness, the rolling in the load rolling element rolling groove facing the guide rail and the slider is performed. Set to the moving object row Linear guide device being characterized in that a configuration providing a preload.