JP3412559B2 - Linear guide device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of a linear guide device used for machine tools, industrial machines, measuring instruments, etc., and more particularly to a linear guide device which enables lubrication and rust prevention of guide rails for a long period of time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, for example, a linear guide as shown in FIG. 5 is known. This comprises a guide rail 1 extending in the axial direction, and a slider 2 movably straddled on the guide rail 1 and having a substantially U-shaped cross section. Two ball rolling grooves 3 extending in the axial direction are formed on both side surfaces of the guide rail 1. In the slider body 2A of the slider 2, ball rolling grooves (not shown) facing the ball rolling groove 3 are formed on the inner surfaces of both sleeve portions thereof. A large number of balls as rolling elements are rotatably loaded between the ball rolling grooves facing each other, and the slider 2 moves axially on the guide rail 1 through the rolling of the balls. It is designed to move.

A ball return passage (not shown) penetrating in the axial direction is formed in the thickness of the sleeve portion of the slider body 2A, and end caps 2B having a substantially U-shaped cross section attached to the front and rear ends of the slider body 2A. In addition, a U-shaped curved path that connects the ball return path and the ball rolling groove 3 is formed to form an endless ball circulation path.

The ball rolling between the guide rail 1 and the slider 2 travels in the ball rolling groove as the slider 2 advances, moves to one end of the slider body 2A, and is guided there to a curved path. It makes a U-turn to move to the other end of the slider body 2A via the ball return passage, is guided there to the other curved path, makes a reverse U-turn this time, and repeats the circulation returning to the inside of the ball rolling groove.

Incidentally, g in FIG. 5 is a grease nipple for supplying a lubricant to a ball rolling portion or the like inside the slider 2. By the way, when foreign matter such as dust, dust, and cutting chips enters into a gap interposed between the guide rail 1 and the slider 2 which is slidably mounted on the guide rail 1 and adheres to the ball rolling groove surface or the like, The smooth rolling of the ball is hindered. Therefore, the side seal 10 is attached to the outer end surface of the end cap 2B as a sealing device for preventing foreign matter from entering through the gaps at the front and rear ends in the moving direction of the slider 2.

The conventional side seal 10 is generally
For example, a nitrile steel or urethane rubber seal member is welded to a reinforcing steel plate having a U-shaped cross section, which is normally attached to the end caps 2B at the front and rear ends of the slider 2 by bolts, respectively. Rail 1
The outer surface of the slider 2 is slidably contacted with the outer surface of the slider 2 to prevent foreign matter from entering from both front and rear ends thereof.

When the linear guide is installed in a particularly dusty place, two standard side seals, which are usually used as one sheet, are assembled in an overlapping manner to improve the sealing performance and the performance of wiping off adhering foreign matter. There is.

[0008]

However, even in the sealing device in which the two side seals are stacked and assembled as described above, dust is extremely abundant as in the case of wood processing.
Sufficient sealing performance cannot be obtained in severe environments such as
There was a problem .

[0009] The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the conventional linear guide device, over
It is an object of the present invention to provide a linear guide device that exhibits excellent sealing performance even in a harsh environment .

[0010]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A contract for achieving the above-mentioned object.
In the linear guide device according to the invention of claim 1, a member having a space inside is attached to a side in the moving direction of the slider which is straddled over the guide rail and relatively linearly moves on the guide rail.
In the space of the member, of the shape close to the outer surface of the guide rail
It is characterized in that a plurality of porous members are arranged so as to be stacked . The invention of claim 2 is the linear guide device according to claim 1.
In the storage, the porous member was impregnated with a lubricant.
It is characterized by The invention of claim 3 is the same as claim 1 or 2.
In the linear guide device described above, the porous member is
It is almost U-shaped, and its central recess is the outer surface of the guide rail.
Characterized by the shape and dimensions that surround and closely contact
It

In the linear guide device of the present invention, when the slider moves, the lubricant is supplied from the member containing the lubricant to the outer surface of the guide rail, so that the guide rail is rustproof and the groove surface of the guide rail is lubricated. It can be done over a long period of time.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The same or corresponding parts as in the conventional case are designated by the same reference numerals. FIG. 1 shows a standard side seal plate mounted on the end surface of the linear guide in the moving direction of the slider 2. The side seal plate 10 is a means for adhering or baking a seal plate 11 made of rubber or synthetic resin to the outer surface of a side seal reinforcing plate (not shown) made of a substantially U-shaped thin steel plate that matches the outer shape of the end cap 2B. It is fixedly formed in.

The seal plate 11 has a U-shape protruding inward from the side seal reinforcing plate, and has a shape of a seal lip which is in close contact with the inner peripheral edge of the central recess 12 for receiving the guide rail so as to surround the outer surface of the guide rail 1. Has L. That is, on both inner edges of the central recess 12 of the seal plate 11 facing each other, one lower side semi-arc shaped ball rolling groove 3 formed on the side surface of the guide rail 1 and a cage escape of the groove bottom. A groove sliding contact projection 1 having a shape that matches the shapes of the ball rolling groove 3 and the cage escape groove 3a so as to be in close contact with the groove 3a.
3 are projected.

Further, in the corner portion of the central recess 12, a quadrant which is in close contact with the upper quadrant-shaped ball rolling groove 3 formed at the ridge where the upper surface and the side surface of the guide rail 1 intersect. A circular groove sliding contact projection 14 is provided so as to project. Of the inner peripheral edge of the seal lip L, the portions other than the groove sliding contact projections 13 and the groove sliding contact projections 14 are formed in a size and shape capable of sliding contact with the upper surface of the guide rail 1 and the flat portions on both side surfaces.

On the plate surface of the side seal plate 10, there are formed a counterbore through hole 15 through which the mounting bolt B1 for the end cap 2B is inserted, and a grease nipple through hole 16 similarly provided with a counterbore. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the spacing member 20 interposed between the two side seal plates 10. The spacing member 20 of this embodiment is formed of, for example, a thin steel plate, and has dimensions of the front surface 20a and the back surface 20b.
The shape is a U-shape having substantially the same size as that of the side seal plate 10 of FIG. 1 in which the seal lip L protruding to the inner peripheral edge of the central recess is removed, and the width of the side surface 20c thereof, that is, the thickness of the spacing member 20. The thickness T is arbitrary, but is preferably about twice the thickness of the side seal plate.

Thus, the front surface 20a, the back surface 20b, and the side surface 2
A U-shaped space 21 surrounded by 0 c is formed inside the spacing member 20. In order to attach the spacing member 20 to the slider, a bolt hole 22 penetrating the front surface 20a and the back surface 20b is provided, and a connector screw through hole 23 for attaching a grease nipple is provided.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the linear guide device of the present invention. Here, the side seal plate 10
The spacing member 20 is usually used by being attached to both front and rear ends in the moving direction of the slider 2, but the following description will be given on the one end side according to the assembly order.
First, the side seal plate 10a is applied to the end surface of the end cap 2B of the linear guide slider. A ring-shaped collar 25 is provided in the through hole 15 with the spot facing of the side seal plate 10a.
Fit and fill the counterbore. Further, a ring-shaped collar 26 is fitted into the grease nipple through hole 16 to fill the spot facing.

Next, the spacing member 20 is placed on the surface of the side seal plate 10a so as to overlap, and the guide rail 1 is inserted into the slider 2 so as to project from the central recess 12 of the side seal plate 10a to the outside. After that, another side seal plate 1
0b is applied to the surface 20a of the spacing member 20, the mounting bolt B1 is passed through the counterbore through hole 15 of the side seal plate 10b, the bolt hole 22 of the spacing member 20 and the through hole 15 of the other side seal plate 10a. After passing through each hole, it is screwed into a screw hole (not shown) provided on the end surface of the end cap 2B and tightened. As a result, the side seal plate 10a, the spacing member 20, and the side seal plate 10b are integrally stacked and fixed to the end surface of the slider 2.

Finally, the connector bolt B2 is passed through the grease nipple through hole 16 of the outer side seal plate 10b, and the through holes 23 of the connector screw of the spacing member 20 and the through holes 16 of the other side seal plate 10a are inserted. After the passage, the end cap 2B is screwed into a screw hole provided in the end face of the end cap 2B, and the grease nipple g is screwed into the female screw 26 of the connector bolt B2.

Thus, the side seal plates 10a, 10b
Seal lip L of the guide rail 1 contacts the side surface of the guide rail 1, the groove surface of the ball rolling groove 3 thereof, the groove surface of the cage escape groove 3a and the upper surface of the guide rail, respectively.
Seal the front and rear openings of the facing surface of the slider,
Prevents dust from coming in from the front and back. In this case, since the space 21 formed by the spacing member 20 is provided between the two side seal plates 10a and 10b, the sealing performance is better than that obtained by simply adhering the two side seal plates 10 together. Excellent sealing performance such as foreign matter wiping performance.

In the above embodiment, the spacing member 20 is
A plurality of porous members 30 made of felt or open-cell type sponge having a shape as shown in FIG. 4 are arranged in a stacked manner to further improve the sealing performance. The porous member 30 is substantially U-shaped, and the central recess 31 has a shape and size that surround the outer surface of the guide rail 1 and are in close contact with each other, and the side seal mounting bolt B1.
Through hole 32 and through hole 33 for connector bolt B2
Is provided.

By accommodating and mounting the porous member 30 in the spacing member 20, there is an advantage that the dustproof performance and the wiping performance of the outer surface of the guide rail are further enhanced. Further, the space member 20 is provided with an oil supply hole 24 so that the porous member 30 contains a lubricant. Therefore, the lubricant contained in the porous member 30 gradually exudes and is automatically supplied to the sliding contact surface of the guide rail 1. As a result, the lubrication effect on the groove surface of the ball rolling groove 3 of the guide rail 1 and the rust preventive effect on the outer surface of the guide rail can be obtained, and a smooth operation can be obtained for a long period of time.

Further, front and rear side seals 10a, 10b
It is possible to adopt a configuration in which the sealing pressure of is changed. Effective sealing is possible by making the front side sealing pressure slightly higher than the rear side sealing pressure. That is, since the front and rear side seals are fixed via the U-shaped spacing member and the lip portion is elastically supported, even if the sealing pressure is increased, the excessive runout of the seal lip due to the deflection of the surface of the guide rail Damage is prevented.

The linear guide device to which the present invention is applied may be of any type as long as the slider 2 is mounted over the guide rail 1; for example, in the above embodiment, the ball rolling groove 3 has one side. Although two rows are described, one row on one side or two or more rows may be provided. In that case, it goes without saying that the groove sliding projections 13 and 14 of the side seal 10 are also formed in accordance with the ball rolling groove 3.

Although the case where balls are used as the rolling elements has been described, the invention can be applied to the case where rollers are used.

[0026]

As described above, in the linear guide device of the present invention, a member having a space inside is attached to the side of the slider in the moving direction, and the space of this member is in close contact with the outer surface of the guide rail. Stack multiple shaped porous members
Since it is installed, dustproof performance and wiping performance of the outer surface of the guide rail
It is possible to obtain an improved linear guide device
It Also, there is a porous member that contains a lubricant.
The guide rail track surface lubrication effect and the guide rail outer surface
A rust preventive effect can also be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a side seal plate used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a spacing member used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a porous member used in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a conventional linear guide device.

[Explanation of symbols] 1 Guide rail 2 slider 10 Side seal plate 11 Rubber or synthetic resin seal plate 20 spacing member 21 space 30 Porous member

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A member having a space inside is attached to a side of a slider which is straddled over a guide rail and relatively linearly moves on the guide rail, and a member having a space inside is attached to an outer surface of the guide rail in the space of the member. Multiple close-to-shape porous members
A linear guide device characterized by being arranged in a stack . 2. Impregnate the porous member with a lubricant
The linear guide device according to claim 1, wherein the linear guide device is provided. 3. The porous member has a substantially U shape and
The central concave part of the guide rail surrounds the outer surface of the guide rail and is in close contact with it.
It has a shape and a size.
The described linear guide device.