Does it happen that your linear motion system loses its accuracy or breaks down regularly? This failure of LM Guides and Ballscrew can happen because of many reasons which we will be describing here in brief. Most basic causes include lack of lubrication, misalignment in assembly, or excessive loading.

Some of the most basic failures are as below:

1. WEAR

Severe friction can result in serious wear of the rolling contact surface of the raceways. Possible causes for this are insufficient lubrication, contamination, or poor assembly alignment. In order to prevent one should review their lubrication system, improve sealing or imporve the alignment.

2. FLANKING

The raceways of the screw shaft and ball nut / rail and ball slide peel off like scales because of fatigue. Possible causes are developed from indentation or corrosion pits, poor flatnss of the mounting surface, natural life of the item, intrusion of foreign particles. To prevent this one should select adequate lubricant, improve sealing capacity, review the size and selection if the fatigue life is shorter.

3. FRETTING

Fretting is caused on the raceways by a relatively small amplitude of rubbing between mated contact surfaces. It is also called fretting corrosion because of reddish-brown or black wear particles that are initiated between the rubbing of contacting surfaces. A possible cause is running the LM or Ballscrew in a completely dry condition. In order to prevent it, we can use an antifriction grease and distribute the lubricant to all the sufrace of a longer stroke.

4. INDENTATION

Indentations are on the raceway at each ball location similar to deformation caused by Brinelling. They are caused by contaminaton or metal particles. Possible causes are high energy impacts or improper handling of products during installation, or by contamination into the raceways. In order to prevent it adequate installation and handling cases should be taken and should improve proper sealing.

These are some popular failures that are seen in the Linear Guideways and Ballscrews. Hope this post can help you in analyzing the cause of failure and might help you improve the life of your system. Apart from the same, if any additional help is required, we can always guide and solve the problem. You can find us on sales@superslides.in or contact us on 022-49355555. Until they Stay in Motion!