Motion control on a budget

Pneumatic linear slides offer an economical way to precisely move heavy loads. Pneumatic linear slides combine aircylinder power with an engineered guide to move loads along a precise path. They're used in everything from simple pressing operations to multiaxis robots. Today, equipment designers can choose from a wide array of linear slides from a host of manufacturers. Fortunately, linear-slide design only involves four basic factors: force, load capacity, stroke, and operating speed. Armed with this data and slide manufacturers' specs, engineers can quickly determine air-cylinder size, bearing requirements, end stops, and related hardware they need. This saves considerable design time when zeroing in on the most-effective and economical unit for the job. Here's a closer look at each factor. . Calculate a linear slide's output force = available air pressure in psi and = cylinder piston area, in.2, also called the power factor. From this, engineers can determine the linear slide's minimum cylinder bore. Note that slides often have different power factors for extend and retract strokes. That's because the piston rod reduces the working area on the retract side of the piston. In part-pressing and assembly operations,