JP2018017357A - Linear motion guide device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a linear motion guide device capable of preventing leakage of lubricant sealed inside a slider, and intrusion of foreign matter to the inside of the slider, without increasing movement resistance of the slider.SOLUTION: A linear motion guide device 1 includes a guide rail 2 extending linearly, and a movable slider 3 guided in a state of straddling over the guide rail 2. On an opposite surface 8a to the guide rail 2 of the slider 3, formed is a flocked part 26 obtained by flocking plural fibers 27. The flocked part 26 is desirably formed in the entire region in a view from a slider movement direction on the opposite surface 8a to the guide rail 2 of the slider 3.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

  The present invention relates to a linear motion guide device used in a machine tool or the like, and more particularly, to a technique for improving the retention capacity of a lubricant.

  There is a linear motion guide device in which a C-shaped slider moves across a linear guide rail. In this type of linear motion guide device, a rolling element that is movable along an infinite circulation path of a rolling element provided on the slider rolls along the guide groove of the guide rail, whereby the slider is guided to the guide rail. Inside the slider, a lubricant for lubricating the rolling element infinite circulation path, the rolling element, and the guide groove of the guide rail is enclosed. In order to prevent leakage of the lubricant from the inside of the slider and entry of foreign matter such as cutting powder into the inside of the slider, it has been proposed to provide lips that are in sliding contact with the guide rail at both ends in the slider moving direction ( Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent No. 5673688

  If a lip is provided on the slider as in Patent Document 1, it is possible to prevent the leakage of lubricant and the intrusion of foreign matter, but friction between the lip and the guide rail occurs, and the movement resistance of the slider increases. For this reason, there exists a subject that the torque of the motor which is a motive power source of the linear motion mechanism which has a linear motion guide apparatus becomes high.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a linear motion guide device capable of preventing leakage of a lubricant enclosed in a slider and entry of foreign matter into the slider without increasing the slider's moving resistance. That is.

  A linear motion guide device according to the present invention includes a linearly extending guide rail and a movable slider guided by the guide rail, and a plurality of fibers are implanted on a surface of the slider facing the guide rail. It is characterized in that a flocked part is formed.

  According to this configuration, since the gap between the guide rail and the slider is blocked by the flocked portion, the lubricant inside the slider is prevented from leaking to the outside. Specifically, the lubricant located in the vicinity of the flocked portion inside the slider is trapped by the fibers of the flocked portion and held in a stable state so that the flocked portion seals the inside and the outside of the slider. Works and prevents lubricant leakage. Further, since the flocked portion functions as a hermetic seal, it is possible to prevent foreign matters such as cutting powder and dust from entering the slider from the outside.

In this invention, it is preferable that the flocked portion is formed in the entire region when viewed from the slider moving direction on the surface of the slider facing the guide rail.
In this case, the leakage of the lubricant from the gap between the guide rail and the slider and the entry of foreign matter can be prevented over the entire area when viewed from the slider moving direction.

In this invention, the said opposing surface in which the said hair transplant part was formed is good to be located in the edge part of the slider moving direction in the said slider. For example, when a seal member having an inner surface facing the guide rail via a gap is provided at the end of the slider in the slider moving direction, the flocked portion is formed on the inner surface of the seal member. .
When the hair transplantation part is formed at the above location, the inside and outside of the slider are shielded by the hair transplantation part at the end in the slider moving direction, so that there is less room for foreign matter to enter between the guide rail and the slider. .

In the present invention, it is preferable that the flocked portion holds a lubricant before use.
In this case, since the sealability between the inside and outside of the slider is good before the start of use, it is possible to prevent leakage of the lubricant and entry of foreign matter until the start of use. Moreover, since not only the lubricant enclosed in the slider but also the lubricant previously held in the flocked portion is utilized for lubrication, the linear motion guide device can be operated for a long time.

In this invention, the tip of the fiber of the flocked part may be in contact with the guide rail.
When the tip of the fiber in the flocked portion is in contact with the guide rail, the sealing performance of the gap between the seal member and the guide rail is further enhanced. Since the contact between the tip of the fiber and the guide rail is a light fiber, there is no great resistance when the slider moves.

In the present invention, the fibers are preferably made of synthetic resin, for example, polyamide.
Synthetic resins are not chemically swelled or dissolved by oil, are chemically stable, can produce a large amount of homogeneous fibers, and can be obtained at low cost, and are therefore suitable for use in flocking. Among these, polyamide is more preferable because it is excellent in impact resistance and wear resistance.

  A linear motion guide device according to the present invention includes a linearly extending guide rail and a movable slider guided by the guide rail, and a plurality of fibers are implanted on a surface of the slider facing the guide rail. Therefore, it is possible to prevent leakage of the lubricant encapsulated in the slider and entry of foreign matter into the slider without increasing the slider movement resistance.

It is a perspective view of the linear motion guide apparatus which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which looked at the linear motion guide apparatus from the slider moving direction. (A) is the III-III sectional view of Drawing 2, and (B) is the IIIB section enlarged view. It is IV-IV sectional drawing of FIG. It is sectional drawing which fractured | ruptured the same linear motion guide apparatus in the plane perpendicular | vertical to a slider moving direction. It is VI-VI sectional drawing of FIG.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a linear motion guide device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view of the linear motion guide device as viewed from a slider moving direction. The linear guide apparatus 1 includes a guide rail 2 that extends in a straight line, and a slider 3 having a C-shaped cross section that is guided by the guide rail 2 and is movable while straddling the guide rail 2.

  The guide rail 2 has a first track groove 4 formed of a concave groove having a substantially arc-shaped cross section along the longitudinal direction at a ridge line portion where the upper surface 2a and both side surfaces 2b intersect. In addition, a second raceway groove 5 formed of a concave groove having a substantially semicircular cross section is formed in parallel with the first raceway groove 4 at the upper and lower intermediate positions on both side surfaces.

  3A is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line IV-IV in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 4, the slider 3 includes a slider body 6, end caps 7 and 7 that are detachably fastened to both ends of the slider body 6 in the slider moving direction, It consists of seal members 8 and 8 mounted on the outer surfaces of the end caps 7 and 7 in the slider moving direction. The seal member 8 is attached to the end cap 7 by a bolt 9 (FIG. 2).

  FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the linear motion guide device 1 cut along a plane perpendicular to the slider moving direction. The slider body 6 has sleeve portions 6 a that hang outward from both side surfaces 2 b of the guide rail 2, and the first track groove 4 and the second track groove 5 of the guide rail 2 are formed on the inner surface of the sleeve portion 6 a. A first load raceway groove 11 and a second load raceway groove 12 facing each other are formed. These load raceway grooves 11 and 12 are both concave grooves having a substantially semicircular cross section. In addition, a first rolling element return path 13 and a second rolling element return path 14 that are parallel to the first load raceway groove 11 and the second load raceway groove 12 are formed in the sleeve portion 6a. ing. These rolling element return paths 13 and 14 are each formed of a through-hole having a circular cross section.

  6 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line VI-VI in FIG. As shown in the figure, the first load raceway groove 11 and the first rolling element return path 13 are connected via a first curved path 15 in the end cap 7. The first curved path 15 includes a semicircular recess 17 formed on the contact surface of the end cap 7 with the slider body 6, and a semicylindrical return guide 18 disposed at the center of the recess 17. It consists of a gap part between. Both the inner peripheral surface of the recess 17 and the outer peripheral surface of the return guide 18 are concave grooves having a semicircular cross section, and the first curved path 15 is a through hole having a circular cross section. The second load raceway groove 12 and the second rolling element return path 14 are also connected via a second curved path 16 similar to the first curved path 15. The end cap 7 and the return guide 17 are made of a synthetic resin that can be injection-molded, for example.

  The first load raceway groove 11, the first rolling element return path 13, and the first curved path 15 constitute a first rolling element endless circulation path 21, and the second load raceway groove 12 and the second The rolling element return path 14 and the second curved path 16 constitute a second rolling element infinite circulation path. A plurality of rolling elements 23 are accommodated in the rolling element infinite circulation paths 21 and 22 so as to freely roll. The rolling element 23 consists of a ball.

  Lubricants such as lubricating oil are enclosed in the rolling element infinite circulation paths 21 and 22 and the slider 3 formed by the space between the slider body 6 and the end cap 7 and the guide rail 2.

  2 to 4, the seal member 8 is provided to prevent the lubricant from leaking from the inside of the slider 3 and foreign matters such as dust from entering the inside of the slider 3 from the outside. The inner surface 8 a of the seal member 8 is closer to the guide rail 2 than the inner surfaces of the slider body 6 and the end cap 7. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3B, the inner surface 8 a of the seal member 8 and the guide rail 2 face each other with a gap 25 therebetween. The inner surface 8a of the seal member 8 is a “facing surface facing the guide rail” in the claims.

  A flocked portion 26 is formed on the inner surface 8 a of the seal member 8 so as to close the gap 25. The flocked portion 26 is formed by flocking a plurality of fibers 27. As shown in FIG. 2, the flocked portion 26 is formed in the entire region when viewed from the slider moving direction on the inner side surface 8 a of the seal member 8. As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the inner surface 8 a of the seal member 8 on which the flocked portion 26 is formed is located at the end of the slider 3 in the slider moving direction.

  The tip of the fiber 27 of the flocked part 26 may be in contact with the guide rail 2 or may not be in contact. In general, the most preferable condition is whether the tip end of the fiber 27 is in contact with the guide rail 2 or not. In addition, it is desirable to hold the lubricant in advance in the state before the start of use in the flocked portion 26.

  The flocked portion 26 is formed by flocking short fibers. As a method for flocking, electrostatic flocking, electrostatic spraying flocking and the like can be employed. Electrostatic flocking is a technique in which an adhesive is applied to a processed material, an electrostatic field is created by a high voltage electrode, and short fibers are raised on the adhesive by the electrostatic attraction force. The feature of electrostatic flocking is that it can be processed easily and uniformly even in a complicated shape, and that the material of the flocking object such as metal, plastic, paper, etc. can be selected. Electrostatic spraying flocking is based on almost the same principle as electrostatic flocking, but the short fibers are tilted with respect to the substrate surface and fixed at a fixed angle by blowing the short fibers onto the adhesive layer with air. is there. Since electrostatic spraying flocking has a lower flocking density than electrostatic flocking, it can be flocked with a small amount of short fibers. For this reason, in the case of mass production, cost reduction can be expected by reducing the short fibers and shortening the time.

  The short fiber used for flocking is not particularly limited as long as it can be used as a short fiber for flocking. For example, (1) polyolefin resin such as polyethylene and polypropylene, polyamide resin such as nylon, aromatic polyamide resin, polyethylene terephthalate, Polyester resins such as polyethylene naphthalate, polyethylene succinate and polybutylene terephthalate, synthetic resin fibers such as acrylic resin, vinyl chloride and vinylon, (2) inorganic fibers such as carbon fiber and glass fiber, (3) rayon, acetate, etc. And natural fibers such as cotton, silk, hemp and wool. These may be used independently and 2 or more types may be used together. Synthetic resin fiber among these fibers for flocking is chemically stable and hardly swells or dissolves with oil, and can produce a large amount of homogeneous fibers and can be obtained at low cost. Suitable for use in. Among these, polyamide fibers are more preferable because they are excellent in impact resistance and wear resistance.

  The shape of the short fiber is not particularly limited as long as it does not interfere with other members that adversely affect the bearing function at the place where the flocked portion is formed. As a specific shape, for example, those having a length of 0.5 to 2.0 mm and a thickness of 0.5 to 50 dtex are preferable. A ratio of 10 to 30% is preferable. There are straight and bend (shape where the tip is bent) as the shape of the short fiber, and the cross-sectional shape is circular or polygonal. The bend shape can hold more oil than the straight shape. By using the short fibers having a polygonal cross section, the surface area can be made larger than that of the short fibers having a circular cross section, and the surface tension of the oil can be increased. It is preferable to select the shape of the short fiber according to each characteristic.

  Examples of the adhesive include an adhesive mainly composed of urethane resin, epoxy resin, acrylic resin, vinyl acetate resin, polyimide resin, silicone resin and the like. For example, urethane resin solvent adhesive, epoxy resin solvent adhesive, vinyl acetate resin solvent adhesive, acrylic resin emulsion adhesive, acrylic ester-vinyl acetate copolymer emulsion adhesive, vinyl acetate emulsion adhesive , Urethane resin emulsion adhesive, epoxy resin emulsion adhesive, polyester emulsion adhesive, ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer adhesive and the like. These may be used independently and 2 or more types may be used together.

  The operation of the linear motion guide device 1 having the above configuration will be described. When the slider 3 moves while being guided by the guide rail 2, the rolling elements 23 roll along the raceway grooves 4 and 5 of the guide rail 2 and the load raceway grooves 11 and 12 of the slider 3. The rolling element 23 that has moved to one end of the load raceway grooves 11 and 12 passes through the curved raceways 15 and 16 on one end side, the rolling element return passages 13 and 14, and the curved raceways 15 and 16 on the other end side, thereby loading the raceway groove 11. , 12 to the other end. The surfaces of the raceway grooves 4 and 5, the load raceway grooves 11 and 12, the rolling element return paths 13 and 14, and the curved paths 15 and 16, and the surface of the rolling element 23 are encapsulated in the slider 3. Lubricated by.

  Since the gap 25 between the guide rail 2 and the seal member 8 of the slider 3 is blocked by the flocking portion 26, the lubricant inside the slider 3 is prevented from leaking to the outside. Specifically, the lubricant located in the vicinity of the flocked portion 26 inside the slider 3 is captured by the fibers 27 of the flocked portion 26 and held in a stable state, so that the flocked portion 26 is connected to the inside and outside of the slider 3. Acts as a hermetic seal to prevent lubricant leakage. Further, since the flocked portion 26 functions as a hermetic seal, it is possible to prevent foreign matters such as dust from entering the slider 3 from the outside.

  When the tip of the fiber 27 of the flocked portion 26 is in contact with the guide rail 2, the sealing performance of the gap 25 is further enhanced. Even if the tip of the fiber 27 is in contact with the guide rail 2, since the contact is a light fiber, there is no great resistance when the slider 3 moves. Even if the tip of the fiber 27 is not in contact with the guide rail 2, a labyrinth seal effect can be obtained. can do. When the tip of the fiber 27 is not in contact with the guide rail 2, there is an advantage that the resistance when the slider 3 moves is smaller than when the fiber 27 is in contact.

  When the lubricant is held in the flocked portion 26 before the start of use, the sealability between the inside and the outside of the slider 3 is good before the start of use. Can be prevented from entering. Further, since not only the lubricant enclosed in the slider 3 but also the lubricant previously held in the flocked portion 26 is utilized for lubrication, the linear motion guide device 1 can be operated for a long time.

  As in this embodiment, if the gap 25 between the guide rail 2 and the seal member 8 is blocked by the flocked portion 26 over the entire area when viewed from the slider moving direction, leakage of lubricant and foreign matter from the gap 25 Can be prevented over the entire area when viewed from the slider moving direction.

  Moreover, when the hair transplant part 26 is formed in the inner surface 8a of the seal member 8 as in this embodiment, the inside and the outside of the slider 3 are shielded by the hair transplant part 26 at the end in the slider moving direction. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the room for foreign matter to enter between the guide rail 2 and the slider 3.

  As mentioned above, although the form for implementing this invention based on embodiment was demonstrated, embodiment disclosed this time is an illustration and restrictive at no points. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Linear motion guide apparatus 2 ... Guide rail 3 ... Slider 8 ... Seal member 8a ... Inner side surface (opposite surface with a guide rail)
25 ... Gap 26 ... Flocked portion 27 ... Fiber

Claims (8)

A linearly extending guide rail and a slider that is guided by the guide rail and is movable;
A linear guide device characterized in that a flocked portion formed by flocking a plurality of fibers is formed on a surface of the slider facing the guide rail.   The linear motion guide apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the flocked portion is formed in the entire region when viewed from the slider moving direction on the surface of the slider facing the guide rail.   3. The linear motion guide device according to claim 1, wherein the facing surface on which the flocked portion is formed is located at an end portion of the slider in a slider moving direction. 4.   The linear motion guide device according to claim 3, wherein a seal member having an inner surface facing the guide rail via a gap is provided at an end of the slider in the slider moving direction, and the seal member is provided on the inner surface. The linear motion guide apparatus in which the said hair transplant part is formed.   The linear motion guide device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the flocked portion holds a lubricant before use.   The linear motion guide device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a tip of the fiber of the flocked portion is in contact with the guide rail.   The linear motion guide device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the fiber is made of a synthetic resin.   The linear motion guide device according to claim 7, wherein the synthetic resin is polyamide.

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