80/20 Channel

[ksafin]

So... 80/20 linear slides..?
http://www.8020.net/Solution-8.asp

AKA yes they have tons of linear slide components for sale.
They're just VERY expensive.

[MrRiedemanJACC]

They are expensive, but we have worked with our local 80/20 salesperson for sometime and if you need small quantities (couple of feet) they may just be able to help you out. Our local salesperson has been more than reasonable in the past.

[Conor Ryan]

Back in the day, 1403 used bushing tubing to do a similar thing....
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/20128

the tubes shown actually have different ODs, and then we had a bushing slider (mcmaster calls them sleeve bearings) inbetween.

Not such a teaser anymore?

[Donut]

Originally Posted by ksafin

So... 80/20 linear slides..?
http://www.8020.net/Solution-8.asp

AKA yes they have tons of linear slide components for sale.
They're just VERY expensive.

We built an extending elevator in 2005 that used the linear slides and the roller guides, they work really well as long as you space them far enough apart (we sometimes drove our rollers too close together and caused the elevator to bind). By far our highest scoring robot and we used some of them again in 2007 with success. If I remember correctly we just got the bearing pads and mounted them ourselves, not the full assemblies or bearing profiles, which saves some on cost.

Bosch also has some linear elements for use with their extrusion that is similar to 80/20: http://www13.boschrexroth-us.com/Fra...aspx?Group=112. I think the profiles are different enough that the sliders aren't interchangeable with 80/20 but don't take my word on it. It looks like they make linear bushings like 1403 used as well.

Igus makes nice linear slide elements, my senior design project used one of their slides on it. They're a long time sponsor of FIRST (how I found about them), most teams probably know them for including energy chain for cable routing in the kit every year but they actually do a lot with plastic bearings and even included a few linear parts in FIRST Choice this year. They're out of stock in FIRST Choice now but you can get a 1 meter guide rail and a sliding carriage for it for about $100.

[AlexH]

also sold as linear bearings

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...linear+bearing

mcmaster's link to them doesn't seem to work right

[ThaneS]

I would recommend looking though McMaster-Carr's (http://www.mcmaster.com/) selection of linear rail components. Just search for "Linear Rail". They have a great selection. It may not be the cheapest in the world, but it will save you a lot of searching.

P/N 60585K18 are specifically made for sliding along 80/20. I am somewhat weary of any sleeve bearing solution though, as they are often much easier to bind. However, ball bearing slides are usually more expensive. If you call/e-mail McMaster, they may be able to give you values for the maximum moments that can be placed on the carriages. That should give you an idea of how resistant to binding the carriage will be.

[RRLedford]

Yes, 80/20 has some excellent linear slide concepts.
The three sided bearings are pricey, but the flat plate slides are more affordable.

This hard to find item is very,very useful for the 1" size framing. (Fastenal Part# 0961342 -- 80/20 Part#25-6797)
It can help stabilize adjacent sliding framing.


We used it with our FTC Kiwi bot elevator this year.
You can see it sticking out of the right rear elevator column where two 6-32 screws hold it in place. With only two stages to elevate 27" we had to go with minimum overlap of stage columns (<3"), requiring slide plates be <2" engagement.
This gave too much wobble on full extension, but this little piece solved our problem so well that we even got gravity return to work reliably.
NOTE: PICs are from when we only elevated to 16" so side plates not fully spread.




-Dick Ledford