Volume 5, Issue 6, NB News June 2024

News From NB

A New Linear Motion Bearing

What’s So Different?

GREATER raceway to roller contact was created by increased size of the 4 roller surface sides that are in contact with the raceway.

Results compared to SV:

Lower surface pressure
7 times the rated life
Double the allowable load

DECREASED distance between rollers.

Result compared to SV:

New designs can have a smaller footprint
More compact than the SV
Can replace SV with increased load capacity

PRESS HERE TO LEARN MORE

What is the difference between a

roller bearing and a ball bearing?

A roller bearing is a cylindrical unit that is used to provide low-friction movement for a bushing or bearing block. A ball bearing is a spherical unit that accomplishes the same objective as a roller bearing. The real difference has to do with the contact surface between the bearing and the rail. For ball bearings (assuming a perfectly spherical bearing and no deformation), the contact surface is just a single point. Even once deformation is accounted for, the amount of surface where the ball is contacting the rail is limited. This creates an inherent strength limit for the balls. Roller bearings on the other hand, have an entire line of contact. This greatly increases the rigidity, stability, and maximum load capacity of the system.

A Roller Bearing

Enabled Linear Bearing

A Ball Bearing

Enabled Linear Bearing

Slide Rotary Series

Meets All Motion Demands

Designed for absolutely smooth rotary and linear movement, the NB Slide Rotary series offers compact units assembled with and without a variety of outer housings as well as a flange mounted.

The standard bush contains cylindrically arranged ball elements within a retainer that moves inside a steel outer race.

No matter the installation direction it smoothly facilitates both rotary and linear motion. Though compact, the relatively large steel balls support higher loading..

Available in sizes ranging 6mm to 30 mm

5 Factors Designed

Into NB Ball Splines

Though many ball splines on the market have only 2 grooves, all NB Ball Splines have the advantage of having four grooves on the shaft, which provides greater ball contact with the shaft. Larger diameter ball splines increase their load capacity by having the advantage of 4-point contact of the ball to the raceway or groove. By having 4 grooves on the shaft and 4-point contact, they provide maximum precision and compactness. Compactness is lost with 6 grooves on the shaft because they have to recirculate on the outside of the nut.

Another advantage that differentiates NB Ball Splines is the number of active balls supporting the load. Our raceways are designed to more efficiently take advantage of the nuts length and pack more balls into its active portion. The more active balls in the nut’s raceways, the more moment load the nut can support.

The third advantage is that NB raceways are precisely ground and not drawn. They better conform to the shape of the balls in the nut and grooved spline shaft. This results in opposing raceways having the same angles of contact, which eliminates backlash.

All spline shafts vary as to whether they are precision-ground, ground or drawn steel bar. They also vary as to the grade of the base material. However, NB’s forth advantage is that its standard grade shaft is precision ground making our pricing very competitive with the competition’s top grades.

Finally, the fifth advantage is a mounting system unique to NB. In addition to the standard mounting systems, NB has the keyless cylinder nut. It is very suitable for small size compact applications. It is similar to a flange type nut. Instead of a fixed flange on the nut, there is a squared attachment that slots into the nut to prevent rotation. The slot can be made with holes for screws so that the nut will be fixed similarly to the way that the flange is fixed to a housing. But it is much more compact than the standard flange.