igus has introduced a new bearing, called drylin W Exchange, for its drylin W linear system, where the liner can be replaced directly on the rail quickly and easily without dismantling the system. A practical assembly tool is used to push the old liner out of the housing, clip the new one onto the shaft and push it into the housing for a flush fit. Simple, yet clever, maintenance that saves engineers time and money, while maximising machine uptime.
“When changing the liner on a linear guide rail, for example where extremely abrasive sand or glass dust is present, the entire linear slide has to be pushed off the rail,” explains Robert Dumayne, director at igus. “For linear axes or multi-axis gantries with a toothed belt drive, this requires a high assembly effort and long machine downtime.”
The new bearing housing for the drylin W linear system, ensures easy changing of the liner directly on the linear rail. The side cover of the bearing housing on the linear slide can be removed easily with a screwdriver. With the tool supplied free of charge, which can also be 3D printed, the liner is pushed out of the carriage and removed. Then the replacement liner, which is made of the highly wear- and abrasion-resistant iglidur J200 tribopolymer material, is clipped onto the rail and inserted precisely into the slide with the assembly tool. Put the side cap back on the bearing housing and the change is complete.
The practical benefits of the drylin W Exchange is that the rail cannot be damaged and replacement takes place directly on the system. A pin in the middle of the side cover secures the liner in the carriage. Alternatively, it can also be replaced using a screwdriver. In this case, igus provides special recesses on the new liner and in the carriage. The new Exchange bearing housing can be retrofitted to all existing drylin W systems of size 10 with a shaft, including guides, linear axes, and linear robots. Additional sizes are currently in planning.
For more information about the drylin W exchange, please visit: www.igus.co.uk/drylinw or call igus directly on: 01604 677240.
