JP2005098355A - Linear motion guide device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a linear motion guide device, smoothly circulating rollers without any influence of dimensional error of a guide member. <P>SOLUTION: A positioning part for positioning the guide member for guiding rollers in the longitudinal direction of a guide rail in a predetermined position is provided on the inside surface of a slider, and positioning projections 32a to 32d engaged with the positioning part to position end caps 13a, 13b mounted at both ends of the slider in predetermined positions are provided on the end caps 13a, 13b. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a linear motion guide device that guides a linearly moving object in its moving direction, and more particularly to a linear motion guide device that uses a roller as a rolling element.

In a linear guide device using a roller as a rolling element, when an end cap is attached to the end surface of the slider, a connecting portion between the rolling element direction changing path formed in the end cap and the rolling element circulation path formed in the slider is provided. It is necessary to accurately position the end cap with respect to the slider so as not to cause a step. Therefore, for example, as disclosed in the following document, as shown in FIG. 17, the total length of the guide member 26 that guides the roller 16 in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail is made longer than the total length of the slider 12. The end caps 13a and 13b are positioned with respect to the slider 12 by fitting the portions into locking holes 38 formed in the end caps 13a and 13b.
JP-A-5-209618

However, in the linear motion guide device disclosed in the above document, since the end caps 13a and 13b are positioned via the guide member 26, the dimensional error of the guide member 26 and the mounting error of the guide member 26 to the slider 12 are small. In some cases, the positioning accuracy of the end cap is lowered when the dimensional error or the mounting error is large. Further, the one disclosed in the above document requires a bolt for fixing the guide member to the slider, and there is a problem that the number of parts and the number of assembling steps are increased.
The present invention has been made paying attention to such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a linear motion guide device capable of smoothly circulating a roller without being affected by a dimensional error of a guide member. And

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the rolling element track formed on the side surface of the guide rail and the rolling element track formed on the inner side surface of the slider are provided. In the linear motion guide device having a guide member for guiding a number of rollers provided in the guide rail in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail, a positioning portion for positioning the guide member at a predetermined position is provided on an inner surface of the slider, and the positioning is performed. The end cap is provided with positioning projections for engaging end portions and positioning end caps provided at both ends of the slider at predetermined positions.

According to such a configuration, even when the dimensional error of the guide member or the mounting error of the guide member to the slider is large, the end cap is directly positioned with respect to the slider, so that the positioning can be performed with high accuracy. The roller can be smoothly circulated without being done.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the linear motion guide device according to the first aspect, a locking hole portion or a locking protrusion portion is provided on a distal end surface of the positioning protrusion, and the guide member is engaged with the locking hole portion. Or a hole for engaging with the locking protrusion.

According to such a configuration, since the guide member can be fixed to the positioning groove of the slider without using bolts or the like, it is possible to reduce the number of parts and the number of assembly steps.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the linear motion guide device according to the first or second aspect, the end cap body having an outer direction changing surface for changing the direction of the roller is opposed to the outer direction changing surface of the end cap body. The end cap is constituted by a return guide having an inner direction changing surface, and the positioning projection is provided on the end cap body.

According to such a configuration, the parallelism between the rolling element track side tip (scooping portion) and the rolling element track surface of the outer direction change surface in a cross section perpendicular to the moving direction of the roller, which greatly affects the circulation, is accurate. The roller can be circulated more smoothly because it is obtained well. The invention according to claim 4 is the linear motion guide device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the roller formed on the inner surface of the slider. The moving body track and the positioning part are characterized by being ground by a single grindstone at the same time. By adopting such a configuration, the positioning part can be easily processed with high accuracy, and simultaneous processing is performed. By doing so, the time required for grinding can be shortened.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a linear motion guide apparatus having a plurality of rollers between a rolling element track formed on a side surface of a guide rail and a rolling element track formed on an inner side surface of the slider. A positioning portion formed parallel to the rolling element track of the slider, and positioning protrusions for engaging the positioning portion and positioning end caps positioned at both ends of the slider at predetermined positions. By adopting such a configuration, it becomes easier to evaluate and manage the positioning accuracy of the positioning part with respect to the rolling element track of the slider, so that higher accuracy can be achieved, Furthermore, it leads to highly accurate positioning of the end cap.

According to the linear motion guide device of the first and fifth aspects of the present invention, the end cap can be accurately positioned with respect to the slider even when the dimensional error of the guide member or the mounting error of the guide member to the slider is large. The roller can be smoothly circulated without being affected by the dimensional error.
According to the linear motion guide device according to the second aspect of the present invention, the guide member can be fixed to the positioning portion without using a bolt or the like. Therefore, in addition to the effects described above, the number of parts and the number of assembly steps can be reduced. .
According to the linear motion guide device according to the invention of claim 3, since the parallelism in the cross section perpendicular to the moving direction of the roller can be obtained with high accuracy, the roller can be circulated more smoothly in addition to the above-described effects. it can.
According to the linear motion guide device of the fourth aspect of the invention, the positioning portion can be processed easily and with high accuracy, and the time required for grinding can be shortened by simultaneous processing.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 to 11 show a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 and 2, reference numeral 11 denotes a guide rail 11 of the linear motion guide device according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The guide rail 11 is a slider that moves relative to the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11, and 13a and 13b are at both ends of the slider 12. On the left and right side surfaces of the guide rail 11 which are attached end caps, planar rolling element tracks 14 a and 14 b are formed in a strip shape along the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11.

  The rolling element tracks 14a and 14b are formed obliquely with respect to the side surface of the guide rail 11, and the inclination angles thereof are perpendicular to each other. Further, the rolling element tracks 14a and 14b are respectively opposed to planar rolling element tracks 15a and 15b (see FIG. 2) formed on the inner surface of the slider 12, and the rail side rolling element tracks 14a and 14b and the slider side are respectively opposed. A large number of rollers (also referred to as “rollers”) 16 serving as rolling elements are provided between the rolling element tracks 15a and 15b.

  When the slider 12 relatively moves in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11, the roller 16 rolls between the rail-side rolling element tracks 14a and 14b and the slider-side rolling element tracks 15a and 15b. It rolls on the rolling element direction change path 17 (refer FIG.3 and FIG.4) formed in the cap 13a. The rollers 16 are made of metal or ceramics, and separators 18 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) are provided between the rollers 16.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the separator 18 has concave rolling element contact surfaces 19 that come into contact with the peripheral surface portion of the roller 16 at both ends in the front-rear direction. Grease or the like is provided at the center of the rolling element contact surface 19. A lubricant reservoir groove 20 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) for storing the lubricant is formed. The separator 18 is made of resin, and arm members 21 (see FIGS. 5 to 7) that extend in the front-rear direction of the separator 18 are provided on the left and right side portions of the separator 18. The arm member 21 is made of resin, and its entire length is about 50 to 98% of the diameter of the roller 16.

  The slider 12 has block-shaped sleeve portions 22 (see FIG. 2) on both sides of the guide rail 11, and through-holes 23 a and 23 b having a circular cross section are formed in each sleeve portion 22 along the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11. It has been drilled. These through holes 23a and 23b are formed in the sleeve portion 22 with a hole diameter larger than the axial length of the roller 16, and the roller 16 rolling on the rolling element direction changing path 17 of the end cap 13a has the through holes 23a and 23b. After rolling a rolling element circulation path 24 (see FIGS. 3 and 4) formed of resin inside 23b, it rolls and circulates in a direction change path (not shown) formed in the end cap 13b. It is like that.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the slider 12 has positioning grooves 25 a to 25 c as positioning portions on the inner surface of the sleeve portion 22. These positioning grooves 25 a to 25 c are formed on the inner surface of the sleeve portion 22 in parallel with the rolling element tracks 15 a and 15 b of the slider 12, and the rollers 16 are provided in the longitudinal direction of the guide rail 11 in the positioning grooves 25 a to 25 c. The guide members 26a to 26c (see FIG. 2) for guiding are positioned. Of the positioning grooves 25a to 25c, the positioning groove 25b is provided between the positioning groove 25a located on the upper side and the positioning groove 25c located on the lower side. Further, the rolling element tracks 15a and 15b and the positioning grooves 25a to 25c of the slider 12 are simultaneously ground by a single grindstone 27 as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the end caps 13 a and 13 b have an end cap main body 28 having an outer direction changing surface 29 for changing the direction of the roller 16, and an inner direction changing facing the outer direction changing surface 29 of the end cap main body 28. The end cap body 28 includes positioning guides 25a or 25c for positioning the end caps 13a and 13b at predetermined positions. The return guides 30a and 30b have a surface 31 (see FIG. 11). Protrusions 32a to 32d (see FIG. 10) are provided. These positioning projections 32a to 32d are formed integrally with the end cap body 28, and a locking hole portion 33 (see FIG. 10) is provided on the distal end surface of each positioning projection 32a to 32d.

  The guide members 26 a to 26 c are formed in a rod shape, and the total length of the guide member 26 b positioned in the positioning groove 25 b among these guide members 26 a to 26 c is substantially the same as the total length of the slider 12. On the other hand, the total length of the guide members 26a and 26c positioned in the positioning grooves 25a and 25c is slightly shorter than the total length of the slider 12, and positioning protrusions 32a to 32d are provided at both longitudinal ends of the guide members 26a and 26c. A projection 34 (see FIG. 2) that engages with the locking hole 33 is provided. At both ends in the longitudinal direction of the guide member 26b, holes 36 (see FIG. 2) that engage with the projections 35 (see FIG. 10) provided on the back surfaces of the end caps 13a and 13b are provided.

In such a configuration, when the end caps 13 a and 13 b are attached to the end surface of the slider 12, the positioning protrusions 32 a to 32 d provided on the end caps 13 a and 13 b are positioned on the positioning grooves 25 a or 25 c formed on the inner surface of the slider 12. The end caps 13 a and 13 b are positioned at predetermined positions with respect to the slider 12.
Therefore, in the first embodiment described above, the end caps 13a and 13b are accurately positioned with respect to the slider 12 even when the dimensional errors of the guide members 26a to 26c and the mounting errors of the guide members 26a to 26c to the slider 12 are large. Therefore, the roller 16 can be smoothly circulated without being affected by the dimensional error of the guide members 26a to 26c.

Further, in the first embodiment described above, the locking hole 33 is provided on the distal end surface of the positioning protrusions 32a to 32d, and the protrusion 34 that engages with the locking hole 33 is provided in the guide members 26a and 26c. Thus, since the guide members 26a and 26c can be fixed to the positioning grooves 25a and 25c of the slider 12 without using bolts or the like, the number of parts and the number of assembly steps can be reduced.
Furthermore, in the first embodiment described above, the positioning protrusions 32a to 32d are provided on the end cap body 28, so that the positional relationship between the direction changing path 17 and the rolling element tracks 15a and 15b, particularly when the rolling element is a roller. Since the parallelism between the scooping portion and the rolling element track in a cross section perpendicular to the traveling direction of the roller 16 that greatly affects the circulation can be obtained with high accuracy, the roller 16 can be circulated more smoothly.

In the above-described embodiment, the locking hole 33 is provided at the distal end surface of the positioning protrusions 32a to 32d. However, the locking hole 33 is provided at both ends in the longitudinal direction of the guide members 26a and 26c, and the locking hole 33 is provided. A protrusion 34 that engages with the positioning protrusions 32a to 32d may be provided on the tip surface. Further, the positioning grooves 25a and 25c may have a shape as shown in FIG.
Moreover, although guide member 26a-26c was formed separately in embodiment mentioned above, as shown in FIG. 13, it is good also considering guide member 26a-26c as an integral structure. Further, the guide members 26 a to 26 c may have a cage function for holding the roller 16 on the rolling element track side of the slider 12. In the embodiment described above, the three positioning grooves are provided on the inner surface of the slider. However, as shown in FIGS. 14 to 16, the number of positioning grooves formed on the inner surface of the slider 12 may be one. .

1 is a perspective view of a linear guide apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view of the linear guide apparatus shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the III-III line of FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the IV-IV line of FIG. It is a side view of the separator shown in FIG. It is a top view of the separator shown in FIG. It is a front view of the separator shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a partial front view of the slider shown in FIG. 2. It is a figure which shows the state which grinds the positioning groove | channel of FIG. 8 with a grindstone. It is a rear view of the end cap shown in FIG. It is sectional drawing which follows the XI-XI line of FIG. It is a figure which shows the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 4th Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 5th Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the 6th Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating a prior art.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Guide rail 12 Slider 13a, 13b End cap 14a, 14b Rail side rolling element track 15a, 15b Slider side rolling element track 16 Roller 17 Rolling element direction change path 18 Separator 19 Rolling element contact surface 20 Lubricant accumulation groove 21 Arm member 24 Rolling element circulation path 25a to 25c Positioning groove (positioning part)
26a to 26c Guide member 27 Grinding stone 28 End cap body 29 Outer direction change surface 30a, 30b Return guide 31 Inner direction change surface 32a to 32d Positioning projection 33 Locking hole portion 34 Protrusion portion

Claims (5)

Linear motion guide having a guide member for guiding a number of rollers provided in a longitudinal direction of the guide rail between a rolling element track formed on the side surface of the guide rail and a rolling element track formed on the inner side surface of the slider. In the device
A positioning portion for positioning the guide member at a predetermined position is provided on the inner side surface of the slider, and positioning protrusions for engaging the positioning portion and positioning end caps provided at both ends of the slider at the predetermined position are provided on the end. A linear motion guide device provided on a cap.   The linear motion guide device according to claim 1, wherein a locking hole or a locking protrusion is provided on a distal end surface of the positioning protrusion, and the protrusion or the locking that engages the locking hole on the guide member. A linear motion guide device characterized in that a hole for engaging with the protrusion is provided.   3. The linear motion guide device according to claim 1, wherein the end cap body has an outer direction changing surface for changing the direction of the roller, and the return has an inner direction changing surface facing the outer direction changing surface of the end cap body. A linear guide device comprising the guide and the end cap, wherein the positioning projection is provided on the end cap body.   The linear motion guide device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the rolling element raceway formed on the inner surface of the slider and the positioning portion are ground and finished simultaneously by one grindstone. Linear motion guide device. In the linear motion guide device having a number of rollers between the rolling element track formed on the side surface of the guide rail and the rolling element track formed on the inner side surface of the slider,
A positioning projection is provided on the inner surface of the slider in parallel with the rolling element track of the slider, and positioning projections that engage the positioning portion to position end caps positioned at both ends of the slider at predetermined positions. A linear motion guide device provided on the end cap.

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