Linear slides

[Andy Baker]

There are many companies which make linear slides.

One light duty slide is the "drawer slide".

Lowes, Home Depot, etc. sell these. General Devices and Accurride are industrial manufacturers.

There are many other industrial-type slide mechanisms. Igus has a low profile slide that looks really cool (I forget the part number). Rollon has some excellent slides that are relatively cheap. Thompson, IKO, NSK, THK, Hiwin (and others) all sell slides that range from medium to very heavy duty.

If you can choose one of these company's slides that are standard parts, you will be much better off with regard to price and lead time.

Andy B.

[Ken Patton]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

If you can choose one of these company's slides that are standard parts, you will be much better off with regard to price and lead time.

I agree with Andy's comments. Buy em if you can.

In 2000 we made our own "roller elevator lift" using extruded sections and home-made rollers. It was 5 sections, and it extended to 3X length using a cable pull of only 1X. It was a mechanical multiplier. It was fast and low-friction (rolling not sliding). But... it was VERY high-maintenance. The biggest problem was keeping the roller axles securely aligned to their extruded pieces. The tiny little fasteners that you like to use with the extruded stock just dont have that much strength and stiffness.

It can be done, but be careful if you make your own. Maybe test it on a fixture - early - to debug.

Ken