motion control automation

Motion Control – The world’s lightest electric mountain bike features maxon BIKEDRIVE AIR

September 07, 2023 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Application – Mountain Bike

Motion Control – With the new Lightrider E Ultimate, Swiss bicycle manufacturer Thömus is launching the world’s first full-suspension cross-country electric mountain bike weighing less than 15 kilograms. This record-breaking weight is made possible by the small and efficient maxon BIKEDRIVE AIR drive in the extremely lightweight Thömus ultra-high modulus carbon frame.

Taunton, MA — Motion Control – The partnership between Thömus and drive specialist maxon that began in the winter of 2021 is delivering results not only in World Cup racing. Behind the scenes, a lot of work has been done on a new, ultra-lightweight electric mountain bike in recent months, which, together with the maxon BIKEDRIVE AIR drive, heralds a new era for electric mountain bikes.

Weighing less than 15 kilograms in total and with a slim, rigid frame, the Lightrider E Ultimate is a real racing bike that can be maneuvered easily and agilely over any terrain.

Motion Control – Giant Solar-Powered Butterfly Puts the Focus on Climate Change Solutions

August 07, 2023 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Maxon to Host the Solar Butterfly

Motion Control – Seeking climate change solutions, the world’s largest sustainability tour is coming to Taunton, Massachusetts. The solar-powered butterfly is a 30-foot-long tiny house in the shape of a butterfly, which charges the electric vehicle it tows

.

Motion Control – The SolarButterfly is focused on reaching millions of people, alerting them to the companies and individuals that are integral in transitioning societies away from fossil fuels toward clean energy technologies. Presently on a four-year journey around the world, the SolarButterfly plans to identify, record, and publicize at least a thousand climate protection pioneers and their solutions.

Motion Control Application – Polishing Machine’s Linear Ball Bearing Failures Solved by LM76!

April 14, 2023 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control Application – Truck Wheel Buffing Machines

The Application –

Motion Control – Polishing Aluminum Truck Wheels is done with a polishing machine that has a 36″ vertical stroke indexer, having a 2500 pound load moving @ 4″ per second. The polishing media is like toothpaste with glass in it. It is extremely abrasive, and sticky/tacky.

The Problem –

The industrial buffing system is chewing-up motion control linear ball bearings and spitting them out every 2 weeks! This is the situation one of customers found themselves in while for years accepting lost production and costly maintenance shutdowns. When LM76 got a call from a proactive new maintenance manager, we were eager to try a scraper seal design we had recently had success with on another application.

Originally, these systems came with protective bellows which helped keep polishing media from contaminating the 2″ linear ball bearing pillow blocks. According to our maintenance manager, once a bellow was damaged, it was removed and thrown away. Maintenance personnel so disliked having to take off and reinstall bellows that they mysteriously disappeared. Even with protective bellows, aluminum dust mixed with polishing media formed what one mechanic termed, “toothpaste with glass in it.”This abrasive “lapping compound”would stick to shafting, dry and semi-harden. As a bearing rolled along, polishing media would penetrate it’s seals “sliming” balls and clogging ball tracks. This would quickly lead to bearing failure and shaft brinneling (grooving). Needless to mention, routinely replacing linear ball bearings and more costly shafting was too much for the new maintenance manager who called LM76 for help.

The Solution –

For this application, we chose our motion control Black Racer Ceramic Coated Linear Bearing. This bearing is extremely tough, is of one piece construction (no mechanical components, no catastrophic failure mode or shaft grooving) and has the longest life test we know of on record. Like linear ball bearings, Black Racer requires lubrication.

John Tarbell (President of LM76), specified a zero clearance beryllium copper scraper seal. Beryllium copper is exceptionally ridgid, extremely hard and wear resistant. The Beryllium copper would trap lubricant and distribute it as a fine, uniform film on the shaft. This film reduces friction, disperses heat and wets shafting. The wetted shaft surface forms a barrier between media and steel – keeping polishing media from cleating into disparities on the shaft (remaining peaks and valleys). Tarbel, said, “A Zamboni doesn’t lay down an inch of ice, it fills in the skate marks.” When the scraper travels on the shaft, it easily lifts the media and moves it along to the end of the stroke. Unlike linear ball bearings, Black Racer has no balls so some residual “slime” is easily accommodated. (Seen below, the beryllium scraper seal is captured between the bearing counter-bored face and the machined steel end cap.) Admittedly, a heavy interference fit dramatically raised system friction but was mitigated because the system is hydraulically driven – driving force is not an issue.

Staying within the form factor of the original OEM design–standard roundway pillow block and shafting–we chose our direct drop-in 2″ closed pillow block and Black Racer Ceramic Coated bearing coupled with our 2″, Class L Rc60 Case Hardened Shafting. Tarbell then designed a steel end cap retainer ring that pinned the beryllium scraper seal against the bearing face.

Note: The bearing leading and trailing faces have machined counter-bores to locate and capture the back of the scraper seal. To keep the retainer ring secured to the pillow block, set screws were positioned on both sides and driven into a slot machined into the OD surface.

To follow the NEW Series from LM76, THE ENGINEERING EDGE! and learn about interesting Outside-of-the-Box solutions developed by LM76 to solve some interesting linear motion problems! CLICK HERE

About LM76

Founded in 1976, LM76 has been a leading designer/manufacturer of linear bearings, slides and linear motion systems. LM76 is renowned for its industry leading Minuteman PTFE Composite linear bearings. LM76 is a leading supplier of precision linear shafting: RC60, 300 Series Stainless Steel, and ceramic-coated aluminum shafting. LM76 also offers several FDA/USDA compliant linear bearings and slides for the food processing, pharmaceutical, medical, and packaging industries.

For additional information contact Mike Quinn at: LM76, 140 Industrial Dr., E. Longmeadow, MA 01028; Telephone: 413-525-4166, Fax: 413-525-3735 or E-Mail: mquinn@lm76.com or visit the website at http://www.lm76.com

And say, “I saw it on MotionShop.com, “The Motion Control Home Page.”

See this and other Motion Control Components from LM76 featured on:

The LM76 Blog

LM76 Catalogs

http://MotionShop.com

http://LinearMotionBlogger.com

http://AllMotionBlogger.com

http://Automation-Blogger.com

http://MotionControlBlogger.com

http://motioncontrolBuyersGuide.com

http://MotionControlWeb.com

http://MotionShop.net

http://Catalogs-MotionControl.com

Motion Control – Application – Mini Pan/Tilt for HD Cameras

April 05, 2023 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Custom Gearmotors

With digital television fast approaching, camera manufacturers are flooding the market with new, lightweight units, but few companies are providing the professional equipment that goes with the upcoming change.

“We searched across all known small motor manufacturers, but only Maxon Precision Motor was able to provide a motor that met our requirements,”

Fall River, MA — Motion Control Application – Up until 2006, the only broadcast-use professional motorized Pan/Tilts in the market were very heavy. This is because the equipment was built to hold analog video cameras, which could weigh as much as 50 kg and up. With February 2009 approaching, the final day of transition for digital TV, the leading HD camera manufacturers, Sony and Panasonic, have flooded the US market with new lightweight HD digital cameras, such as HDR-FX1 and AGHVX200, respectively. These new, HD cameras weigh less than 4.5 kg, and that weight continues to drop as the use of flash memory storage devices continue to rise.

Motion Control- Application – Underwater inspection on twelve wheels.

January 13, 2023 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Application – Underwater Inspection

Motion Control – Application – Inspecting flooded pipes of power plants requires skilled, high-precision handling. And the robotic vehicles have to be optimized accordingly, for example to dive 20 m deep. The new seawater manipulator is capable of maneuvering underwater in pipes, where it can be used to perform inspections. RE motors by maxon are responsible for the dynamic drive of the robot.

Taunton, MA — Motion Control Application – In robotics, manipulators are those devices that enable physical interaction with their surroundings. For this interaction, the robotic vehicles are equipped with appropriate tools, gripper systems or measuring devices. In the case of the seawater manipulator, this equipment largely consists of high-performance cameras used for pipe inspection. Ibass, from Augsburg in Germany, develops, manufactures and distributes manipulators for various in-pipe applications: inspection, grinding, welding, retrieval or suction.

Motion Control – Application – FDA/Washdown System Excels with Special Linear Motion Shaft Assembly from LM76!

December 13, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – FDA/Dairy Washdown System

E. Longmeadow, MA – — Motion Control – Application – Dairy machinery manufacturers are under intense scrutiny by FDA inspectors when it comes to FDA material and caustic washdown compliance. Recently, LM76 was called by a large US dairy packaging company to review a problematic portion of their filling line. After each shift, the filling line is washed-down, has a caustic foaming agent applied to kill bacteria and then is final rinsed. The caustic foaming agent was destroying – literally eating – the aluminum shaft supports while shafting exhibited pitting and showed signs of minor corrosion. Additionally, there were areas where product got trapped and these locations were havens for bacterial growth. Because this system was in-place and our customer was the end-user, LM76 engineers had to use direct drop-in replacement com¬ponents. What to do?

Motion Control – From soaring heights: Camera stabilization with maxon drives!

November 06, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Camera stabilization System!

Aerial images can be beneficial for many businesses and industries. Often things are revealed from above that are hidden to the observer on the ground. Drives from maxon are used in camera stabilizer systems.

Taunton, MA — Motion Control – Application – Mining companies, for example, survey mines from the air, oil and gas suppliers monitor their drilling rigs, and energy utilities monitor their overland lines. All these applications have one big challenge in common: In these often rough operating environments, the camera needs to be protected against wind, turbulence and the vibration of the carrier aircraft while being kept in a stable position. This is the job of a high-precision stabilization camera gimbal. These gimbals provide users with a stable and level platform that allows them to capture high-quality aerial images.

Motion Control – Application – maxon drives are used in the rover and in the first Mars helicopter

October 22, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Application – Maxon Goes to Mars!

The Helicopter is Still Flying …

… 28 Trips and Counting!

Taunton, MA — Motion Control – Application – DC motors from maxon have been used in virtually all successful robot missions on Mars. More than 100 of these drives from Switzerland are already on the Red Planet and the number will go up again when the Perseverance rover starts its work. Its mission is to collect soil samples on Mars that will be analyzed on Earth later. The rover also carried the Ingenuity helicopter drone, which will be performing the first flights on the Red Planet. maxon’s precision motors and gearheads are used in numerous mission-critical tasks.

Motion Control – Linear Motion – How Do You Move Articles of Antiquity?

October 18, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Linear Bearings Application

Motion Control Application – How Do You Move Articles of Antiquity?

“Very Carefully” With A High Load Rail System from LM76!

E. Longmeadow, MA – — Motion Control – Application -The Boston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) has to move articles of antiquity from one location to another. In this instance, they are moving a 5000 year old relief (hieroglyphics) weighing 8000 pounds to a new location in the Museum. Here is a frontal photo of the Relief from The Tomb of Senenuka.

Part of wall from tomb of Senenuka; nine stones fitting together and including two niches; lower left piece smooth limestone; upper far left preliminary black ink sketch; right of this sketch is a complete relief showing two seated figures; central piece has large scene of seated male on the left and other smaller male figure to the right; upper far right male figure relief outline; left of this again a scene of two seated figures at a table.

Senenuka Time of Khufu or Khafre (Maybe Dyn 5?) Overseer of the Pyramid-town of Khufu, Director of King’s wad-priests, Boundary official of a settlement, etc.

Motion Control – Application – Finding The dark energy of the universe.

October 09, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Application – Searching for “Dark Energy”!

Motion control – Application- The HETDEX project is the first major attempt to find “dark energy” in the universe. With special spectrographs, the three-dimensional positions of one million galaxies are recorded. In the summer of 2012, the Hobby-Eberly Telescope started scanning the universe – aided by maxon motors every step of the way.

motion control application- hetdex project

Taunton, MA — Motion Control – Application – The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET) is located at the McDonald Observatory in West Texas. Its spherical primary mirror consists of 91 identical hexagonal segments, each one meter in size. Together, these individual mirror segments form a mirror with a diameter of almost 11 m, which makes it the largest in the world. The effective aperture of the primary mirror currently amounts to 9.2 m at an opening angle of four arc minutes*.

Motion Control Application – Lab automation is getting even smaller

September 25, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control Application – Lab Automation

Motion Control Application – When you need the accuracy but don’t have the room or the budget.

Fall River, MA – Motion Control Application – UK Robotics has recently launched a new liquid handler to shake up the lab automation market. Feedback from small biotech companies and big pharmaceuticals has been beyond the company’s wildest expectations.

The Bolton based company specializes in building integrated systems for lab automation for life sciences. They have now used their 15 years of experience in the industry to create a new two valve nanolitre microplate reagent dispenser.>/span>

Motion Control – Application- Intra-aortic pump powered by miniature brushless DC motors provides heart failure patients an aid to help hearts rest and heal!

September 10, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Application – Heart Pump
The Maxon EC 6 motor brushless DC motor is the second smallest drive in the maxon family.

Fall River, MA — Motion Control – Components – Application – Chronic heart failure patients draw hope from a new technology. A team of life science entrepreneurs in Houston, Texas has developed the first catheter-deployed circulatory assist device intended for long-term use. Procyrion, Inc.’s Aortix™ provides a minimally invasive treatment option for the more than two million chronic heart failure patients in the USA alone who are too sick for medication. This pre-clinical cardiologist tool dramatically reduces risks associated with circulatory support devices and enables treatment of younger, healthier patients before progressive damage occurs.

Motion Control – Application – Maxon Motors in Surgical Robots for Minimally Invasive Procedures!

August 20, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Motors for Surgical Robots!

Motion control – The latest, next generation surgeries are being performed today using Intuitive Surgical Inc.’s (Sunnyvale, CA) da Vinci™S HD Surgical System, which allows surgeons to perform the most minimally invasive procedures to date. The system incorporates the height of motion control technologies so that every motion provides the smooth, accurate movements reminiscent of a skilled surgeon – even at slow, calculated speeds.

Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products – The surgical system itself requires only the use of two 8- and one 12-mm wide hole in a patient, for insertion of the two surgical manipulators and a camera. Only the robot and surgical assistants stand over the patient, while the surgeon, the system operator, can be across the room at the Surgeon’s console where even the look and feel of the open surgery is duplicated with precision.

Motion Control Innovation – Maxon Flat Motors used in Solar Powered Drone

July 29, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control Innovation – Solar Powered Drone

Motion Control Innovation – XSun designs and manufactures a drone that is both energy-independent and can make its own decisions, for fully-automated missions. The company needed reliable, high-performance sub-assemblies to design it’s SolarXOne. This is why the start-up approached maxon for the propulsion system.

Fall River, MA — Motion Control Innovation -Benjamin David, benefiting from a decade of experience at Airbus Defense & Space, created the company XSun based on a rather simple idea: Adapting space technologies for use at lower altitude. This approach produced SolarXOne: A solar-powered, electrical, self-contained drone with a tandem wing design. SolarXOne, with its dragonfly-like design, has excellent aerodynamic performance and a large surface area of solar panels, to collect as much solar energy as possible. This is all within a very high-performance, fully-electric environment.

To see YouTube video click HERE

Motion Control – Maxon’s UAV propulsion system is Safe, Efficient and Ready for Take-off!

April 22, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – UAV Propulsion System!

Maxon BLDC motors were specifically designed for extreme durability and maximum reliability in professional UAVs.

Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products – maxon actively supports UAV manufacturers with their ambitious designs, up to certification. Our UAV product portfolio offers matched combinations of motors, ESCs and propellers, for optimized propulsion systems providing maximum efficiency and reliability. Hence, operational safety and flight time are maximized, and costs of ownership dramatically cut down

Motion Control – Application Story – LM76’s JET Rail Linear Bearings and Engineering Exceed the Challenge!

March 10, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – JetRail Linear Bearings Application

Motion Control – Because LM76 understands workplace environments, manufacturing processes, and offers a complete line of linear bearing systems, LM76 was able to solve a problem and eliminate downtime!

E. Longmeadow, MA – Motion Control — When profile rail guides fail within a week bring production to a standstill LM76 was called on to supply a linear bearing system that would stand up under extreme conditions. This application story is not claiming that LM76 Jet Rail Systems are superior to profile rail guide systems. However, in this harsh environment the LM76 Jet Rail System proved to be the correct engineering option.

Motion Control – Maxon Is Providing Its e-bike Platform and Joining the Thömus Cross-country Team!

February 15, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Maxon Application!

Motion control – In 2022, Olympic silver medalist Mathias Flückiger rides for the Thömus-maxon cross-country racing team.

Taunton, MA — Motion Control – Swiss bicycle manufacturer Thömus and drive specialist maxon are entering into a partnership in cross-country cycling. As part of this cooperation, maxon is providing its e-bike platform to Thömus as the basis for an electric mountain bike for World Cup training. They also plan to make this bike available to the retail trade in the future.

Motion Control – The Mars helicopter made history – with maxon’s precision motors!

February 01, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Mars helicopter has maxon’s motors!

Space fans are thrilled: NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter has successfully completed its pioneering flight on Mars. This is the first time in the history of powered, unmanned spaceflight that a device has flown in a controlled manner on another planet.

Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products – A short flight for “Ingenuity,” but a big success for unmanned space flight. NASA’s Mars helicopter flew over the surface of the Red Planet for about 40 seconds on Monday, April 19th and landed back on four legs. From NASA’s perspective, this is a historic event similar to the Wright brothers’ first controlled flight in 1903.

With the Mars helicopter, the concept of powered, unmanned, and autonomous flights on foreign planets is being tested. This is comparable to the first Mars rover “Sojourner”, which paved the way for scientific follow-up missions such as “Curiosity” and currently “Perseverance”. “Ingenuity” is about to complete several flights over a period of 30 days, each lasting up to 90 seconds and reaching a maximum altitude of five meters.

Motion Control – Pegasus Linear Bearings – For the Time A Linear Bearing Simply Cannot Fail!

January 04, 2022 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Hybrid Ceramic Ball Linear Bearings

For those times when a Linear Bearing “CANNOT” Fail!

E. Longmeadow, MA –Motion Control – LM76 has developed the most corrosion resistant linear bearing available. In space, deep under the sea, or in the harshest environments, when there can be no “Plan B,” Pegasus Series 1 Linear Ball Bearings can be counted on to perform. In some applications linear bearings will not move for days, weeks, months or even years, however, when called on to perform they must work as if they just came out of the box. LM76’s Pegasus Series 1 Linear Bearings feature Silicon Nitride (SiNi) Ceramic Balls in a shell with retainer and end caps all made from 440 Stainless Steel and then ArmorloyTM coated.

Motion Control – maxon launches light and invisible e-bike system!

November 28, 2021 Editor-Publisher

Motion Control – Light and Lnvisible e-bike system!

First, maxon’s drives flew on Mars in the NASA helicopter – now they’re letting bike riders lift off.

Taunton, MA — Motion Control Products – After several years of development, the company presents the BIKEDRIVE Air – a light and invisible e-bike system consisting of a mid-mounted motor, integrated battery, and control element. It can be used to build extremely lightweight racing, gravel, urban, and mountain bikes. The first bicycles made by maxon customers will be introduced to the market this year.

Category Archives: Applications

Motion Control – Application – Mountain Bike

Motion Control – Maxon to Host the Solar Butterfly

Motion Control Application – Truck Wheel Buffing Machines

The Problem –

The Solution –

Motion Control – Custom Gearmotors

Motion Control – Application – Underwater Inspection

Motion Control – FDA/Dairy Washdown System

Motion Control – Camera stabilization System!

Motion Control – Application – Maxon Goes to Mars!

The Helicopter is Still Flying …

… 28 Trips and Counting!

Motion Control – Linear Bearings Application Motion Control Application – How Do You Move Articles of Antiquity?

Motion Control – Application – Searching for “Dark Energy”!

Motion Control Application – Lab Automation

Motion Control – Application – Heart Pump The Maxon EC 6 motor brushless DC motor is the second smallest drive in the maxon family.

Motion Control Innovation – Solar Powered Drone

To see YouTube video click HERE

Motion Control – UAV Propulsion System!

Motion Control – JetRail Linear Bearings Application

Motion Control – Mars helicopter has maxon’s motors!

Motion Control – Hybrid Ceramic Ball Linear Bearings

For those times when a Linear Bearing “CANNOT” Fail!

Categories

Recent Posts

Motion Control – Linear Bearings Application

Motion Control Application – How Do You Move Articles of Antiquity?

Motion Control – Application – Heart Pump
The Maxon EC 6 motor brushless DC motor is the second smallest drive in the maxon family.