CNC Hardware

Friction guideways:
Vee or Inverted Vee Guideways:
These are widely used on machine tools, especially on lathe beds.
Advantages of this is that parallel alignment-of the guideway with
the spindle axis is not affected by wear. There is a closing action
as the upper member settles on the lower member, and this
automatically maintains the alignment.
Jibs are, therefore, not required with the vee guideway to take up
the clearance caused by the wear.

Flat and Dovetail Guideways:

o Flat or dovetail forms are used on CNC machine tools.

o The flat guideways have better load- bearing capabilities than the
other guideways.
o After a period of use, wearing may occur owing to the sliding of
the surfaces over each other. Jibs are used to ensure accurate
fitting of the slide to both the flat and dovetail guideways.
o The jibs are tapered and can be adjusted to reduce excessive
clearance caused by wear.
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o The metal-to-metal contact on the vee, flat and dovetail types of

guideway is normally cast iron to cast iron.
o The cast iron may be heat treated to increase its hardness, and
the surfaces ground to obtain the required accuracy.

Cylindrical guideways:

o In cylindrical guideways, the bore in the carriage housing provides

support all around the guideway.
o For relatively short traverses and light loads, cylindrical guideways
are very efficient.
o A limitation on the use of these guideways for long traverses is
that if the guide bar is supported only at each end, it may sag or
bend in the centre of the span under a load.
Antifriction Linear Motion (LM) Guideways:
Antifriction linear motion guideways are used on CNC machine tools to:
(a) Reduce the amount of wear
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(b) Improve the smoothness of the movement

(c) Reduce friction
(d) Reduce heat generation.
They use rolling elements in between the moving and the
stationary elements of the machine.
Advantages when compared with friction guides are

(a) Low frictional resistance

(b) No stick-slip
(c) Ease of assembly
(e) High load carrying capacity
(g) High traverse speeds
The main disadvantage of these guideways as compared to
friction guideways is their lower damping capacity.

Recirculating Ball Bushings:

o Various kinds of ball bushes are available like closed type and
open type etc.
o They are available with or without seals.

Linear Bearings with Balls and Rollers:

A number of machines use rollers to provide for a rolling motion
rather than a sliding motion.
The rollers are in contact with the guideway machined on a
casting of the machine.
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 These are very effective in providing smooth and easy movement,

but still require an accurate form to be machined on castings.
The surfaces in contact with the rollers have to be hardened and
should have a smooth texture.

Linear bearings with balls:

Selection of Guideways:
The selection of guideways for a particular application
basically depends upon the requirements of the load
carrying capacity, damping and the traverse speed.
In order to get the maximum benefit, most of the machine
tool manufacturers make use of a combination of
antifriction and friction guideways with turcite/PTFE lining.
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 Such a combination improves the load carrying capacity

through the use of antifriction guideways and the damping
property through the use of friction guideways.
Other types of Guideways:
(a) Hydrostatic guideways
(b) Aerostatic guideways
Hydrostatic Guideways:
In hydrostatic guideways, the surface of the slide is
separated from the guideway by a very thin film of fluid
supplied at pressures as high as 300 bar.
Frictional wear and stick slip are entirely eliminated.
A high degree of dynamic stiffness and damping is
obtained with these guideways.
Their application is limited due to high cost and difficulty
in assembly.
Aerostatic Guideways:
In aerostatic guideways, the slide is raised on a cushion of
compressed air which entirely separates the slide and the
guideway surfaces.
The major limitation of these type of guideways is their
low stiffness, which limits their use to positioning
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applications only, e.g. a Coordinate Measuring Machine

(CMM).
FEED DRIVES:
On a CNC machine the function of feed drive is to provide
motion to the slide as per the motion commands.
The feed drive consists of:
(a) Servomotor
(b) Mechanical transmission system
Servomotor:
DC Servomotor
DC servomotors and drives
were used most commonly
on all CNC machines.

AC Servomotor
AC servomotors provide a
constant torque over their
entire speed range, require
less maintenance due to
brushless operation.

These servomotors provide

excellent speed regulation,
high torque and efficiency.

Provides better response

and dynamic stiffness, and a
higher reliability compared
to DC servomotors

Mechanical Transmission System:

The mechanical transmission system of a feed drive
comprises all the components which are in the force and
motion transmission paths from drive motor to the slide.
They are:
o Elements to convert the rotary motion to a linear
motion (recirculating ball screw nut or rack-andpinion system)
o Torque transmitting elements (gear box or timing belt
and - couplings)
The main criterion to be considered in the design of a
mechanical transmission system is to keep the transmission
errors to a minimum. The essential requirements for this are:
o
o
o
o
o

High natural frequency

High stiffness
Sufficient damping
Low friction
Backlash free operation

Elements Used to Convert the Rotary Motion to a Linear

Motion:
Screw and nut: The screw and nut system is effective for
medium traverses. With longer traverses the screw sags
under its own weight.
Conventional vee, trapezoidal or square thread forms are
not suitable for CNC machines, because the sliding action
of the contacting surfaces of the thread on the screw and
nut results in rapid wear and the friction is high. The
efficiency of these screws is only of the order of 40%.
There are two types of screw and nut systems used on the
CNC machine tools, They are recirculating ballscrews and
roller screws

Two types of thread forms:

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Recirculating Ballscrews:
The recirculating ballscrews are widely used on CNC machine
tools because of the following advantages:
Low frictional resistance
Low drive power requirement
Little temperature rise
Less wear and hence longer life
No stick-slip effect
High traverse speed
High efficiency

The balls rotate between the screw and the nut and at
some point are returned to the start of the thread in the
nut.
Two types of arrangements for returning the balls, i.e. the
recirculating arrangements are shown in Figs 5.26 and 5.27.
In the arrangement shown in Fig. 5.26 the balls are
returned through an external tube, whereas, in the
arrangement shown in Fig. 5.27 the balls are returned to
the start through a channel inside the nut.
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Two types of recirculating arrangements

Fig. Recirculating Ballscrew

Zero backlash with ballscrews is achieved by fitting two
nuts as shown in Fig. 5.28.

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 The nuts are forced apart, or alternatively squeezed

together, so that the balls in one nut contact one side of
the threads in the nut and the balls in the other nut
contact the opposite side of the threads.
The efficiency of a recirculating ballscrew is of the order of
90% and is obtained by the balls providing a rolling motion
between the screw and the nut.

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