Linear Bearings

Implementing low-friction linear movement

Linear bearings are a distinct type of ball or needle roller bearings which exhibit no form of circulation. In contrast to conventional rolling elements they are not designed to accommodate rotating bodies, but rather low-friction guidance of linear movement along a cylindrical shaft or other structural element. The usual classification in fixed or floating bearings, as is the case with linear ball bearings and linear needle bearings, does not occur.

Characteristics and types of linear bearings

Roller bearing based linear systems utilize rolling elements such as balls, rollers or needles to reduce the level of friction between the individual elements of the guide rail. This succeeds mainly due to a minimal point of contact or a line of contact between the supporting rolling elements of the bearing and the shaft, whereas – in contrast to slide type bearings – no relative motion between the friction partners occurs. In addition anti-corrosion, adhering lubricant enables the manufacture of very low friction and noise free linear systems.

Telescopic guide rails

These flat, lightweight linear guides are ideally suited to limited stroke applications. They consist of two rows of rolling elements running between an outer and an inner rail. The rolling elements are mounted inside a cage which holds them equally distanced ensuring a low level of friction.

Cage guide rail

The cage guide rail consists of a pair of rails with a cage containing rolling elements between them. Due to the lack of a rolling element return function it is suited only to limited stroke applications.

The cage guide rail is available populated with balls or needles. In the case of ball bearings, available as two-point or four-point contact, between raceway and ball, depending on the version. While the two-point version only absorbs forces from the direction of the rail, the four-point version can also absorb lateral forces.

Linear technology - truly versatile

Linear bearings are prevalent in a multitude of technical applications. For example, profile guide rails are predominantly used in mechanical engineering whereas telescopic rails are primarily known from the furniture industry. The latter can also be found in a variety of functions in car interiors. Among other things, they can be found in:

  • Seat adjusters,
  • Arm rests,
  • Glove compartments,
  • Under-seat storage units and
  • Further convenience features in the vehicle.

Further fields of application, for linear technology, are the aerospace industry, medical technology industry as well as the logistics industry.

Linear guidances

Linear guidances

Linear guidances

  • Linear guidance for various applications
  • customer specific modification available
  • Tolerance compensation of customer's application using varied needle assortment (color-coded cage)
Ball cages for seat rails

Ball cages for seat rails

  • Ball guide for seat length adjustment
  • Customer specific adaptations in ball size, roller size, number of rolling elements and cages
  • Tolerance compensation of the customer applicatin by different and distinct ball assortment (colour coded)

Linear guidance made easy - ROLLAX linear bearings

ROLLAX linear bearings enable the smooth and frictionless disengagement of two, relative to one another, moving components. We guarantee the highest level of accuracy and precision through the in-house 100% sorting of the inserted balls. Our rugged polymer cages ensure product longevity. To offset the individual component tolerances we offer, for all linear bearings, the option of rolling element sorting, above and below the nominal size, as a variation of the same bearing. In order to avoid errors in your manufacturing operation we implement colour coding (cage colour). In this way up to five different rolling element sizes of a part are feasible. (Nominal size plus two of each above and below nominal).

ROLLAX offers, as a rule, the rolling element and cage. The linear guide mating part is added by the customer in his own application. However, other constellations are possible. Please speak to us.

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