Nippon Thompson Co., Ltd.

Nippon Gasket Company, Ltd.

Tomohiro Ichida

Takehiko Hara

The linear motion rolling guide unit according to this invention utilizes the whetstone accommodating spaces in the casing in mounting the under seals so as to secure a large enough gap between the lower end of the slider and the lower end of the track rail or the bed surface. The under seal consists of a core member and an elastic member secured to the core member. The under seals are installed in the whetstone accommodating spaces from under the casing and the end caps. The brackets integrally formed with the core member of the under seal are fitted in the engagement grooves formed in the end caps, and the locking claws provided at the upper end of the brackets are engaged in the engagement holes formed in the end caps, thus assembling the under seal into the slider.

Linear motion rolling guide unit

A linear motion rolling guide unit equipped with a long slider composed of a coupling of a plurality of casings obtains an increase in the rated load while setting the total length of the slider to a suitable length to match the machine tool in which it is to be incorporated, while also maintaining a smooth sliding state at all times even if the casings shift out of position. These advantages are obtained by juxtapositioning a spacer between each casing, and making rolling element guide track grooves provided in said spacer larger than load bearing track grooves formed in each casing to allow the rolling element guide track grooves to act as reliefs for rolling elements.

The linear motion rolling guide unit makes efficient use of the spaces in the casing to easily attach the under seals to the end caps in such a way that deformation by thermal expansion and swelling can be dealt with, assuring a good sealing performance. The under seals are provided with a longitudinally extending core band, which has hook portions at its ends. The outer end surfaces of the end caps are formed with engagement holes, into which the hook portions are fitted. If there are differences in thermal expansion between the end caps and the under seals, or if deformations occur due to swelling, the hook portions of the core band elastically deform absorbing the dimensional changes to prevent the under seals from being distorted or buckled.

This linear motion rolling guide unit gives a certain degree of freedom to the means for fixing components to the slider in order to reduce the overall height including the components mounted on the slider. The head of the bolt is inserted from the insertion opening through the insert dovetail groove into the dovetail groove, in which the bolt is slid to a position corresponding to the insertion hole formed in the component and inserted through the insertion hole and fastened. Since the position of the bolt can be adjusted by sliding the bolt along the dovetail groove formed in the upper surface of the casing, the position adjustment can be made easily even when the insertion holes in the component are somewhat deviated.

The linear motion rolling guide unit of this invention makes the total lengths of the retainer plates, which support the cylindrical rolls, longer than that of the casing so that the retainer plates can be inserted into the end caps for assembly. This simplifies the construction and reduces manufacturing costs. The retainer plates each comprise retaining portion formed with two or more rows of slots that support the cylindrical rolls in such a way as to allow the rotating motion of the rolls, a bent portion which is bent away from the track rail, and locking portions projecting from both ends of the bent portion. The locking portions fit into recesses in the end caps, the bent portion fits into grooves in the end caps, and the upper end portion of the retainer fits into grooves in the end caps.

In this rolling guide unit, a slider is provided on a track rail so that the slider can be moved slidingly in a linear direction, and a circular bore is formed in a casing constituting the slider. A cross-sectionally V-shaped outer annular raceway surface is formed on the circumferential surface of the circular bore, and a rotary body consisting of lower and upper rotary bodies is fixed rotatably in the same circular bore. The casing constitutes a common part having both a function of making a linear movement and a function of making a rotational movement. This enables the height of the rolling guide unit to be reduced to as great an extent as possible, and an accumulated error due to an assembling operation to be minimized, so that a highly accurate guide machine can be provided.

Rolling guide unit

In this rolling guide unit, a slide is placed on a track rail so that the slider can be moved slidingly in a linear direction, and a shaft portion is provided on the upper surface of and integrally with the casing of the slider, and has an annular raceway surface on the circumferential side thereof, lower and upper rotary bodies being fitted firmly and rotatably around the shaft portion. The casing constitutes a common part having a function of making a linear movement and a function of making a rotational movement, and this enables the height of the rolling guide unit to be reduced to as great an extent as possible, and an accumulated error due to an assembling operation to be minimized, whereby a highly accurate guide machine can be provided.

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Gifu, Japan

Tomohiro Ichida