Linear products support almost every industry in the world. They work to move items from one place to the next for so many applications. On Line It Up, host Tyler Kern chatted with Forrester Lowrie, Territory Manager at Rollon, about two distinct types of rails.

Rollon provides a unique type of rail called Curviline, which is bendable. “Most linear rails are straight. It can go around corners and bend at constant or variable radii. We just need a sketch or print and offer engineering assistance, as well,” Lowrie explained.

Lowrie also described why an application would need this product. “If you have to move around something. It’s used in sliding doors to rotate, and the food industry where a flap may need to close at a certain radius.”

These rails are available in three materials: non-hardened steel, stainless steel that doesn’t corrode, or hardened steel for higher loads. The max weight is 500 pounds, and their life expectancy, depending on loads, is up to 100 meters of travel.

Lowrie then spoke about Speedy Rail, which goes fast, up to 15 meters per second! “It’s a hardened extruded aluminum that can carry up to 3000 kilograms and can run for up to 8000 kilometers.”

The applications for Speedy Rail can be just about anywhere that needs to accelerate processes. “It’s also tolerant to contamination, making it safe for food production,” Lowrie added.

Regarding the lifespan, Lowrie said that the rails are no maintenance, but that load, duty cycle, and lubrication are all factors.

Find out about curved and high-speed rails

Linear bearings are indispensable solutions for smooth, quiet effective motion. They are used across various industries, such as industrial, aerospace, logistics, specialty vehicles and the medical field. Linear bearings have changed in the last several decades, and some of these evolutions have left end-users with outdated bearings. So, what makes a modern, quality linear bearing?

On this episode of Line It Up!, a Rollon podcast, Voice of B2B Daniel Litwin talked with Scott Spangler, President of Rollon and Andrew Allendorf, Director of Sales at Rollon. The trio dug into a history of books on the industry to track the timeline, evolution and strategies around the best use of bearings.

Scott and Andrew also gave users an idea of how they can get the most out of their bearings.

Before the days of linear bearings, when people were using dovetail slides, they really weren't bearings at all. Innovations have varied through the years, but the thing that stuck was the profile rail.

Regardless of the application, folks in the industry kept using it. There haven't been many changes, but Rollon has tried to fill specific holes in the market. This seems to be the way of the future.

"We've developed certain products that fit the niches in the market," Allendorf said.

isten to learn more about the history of linear bearings and how Rollon fills those specific needs in the marketplace.

Rollon seeks to fill specific niches in the market.

Many different linear actuators that people in industrial automation are familiar with provide straight-line motion. Rollon’s Bob Ward, Regional Manager, and Christopher Hirsch, Actuator Product Manager, spoke about the linear electromechanical actuator gaining popularity.

“We’re definitely in a growth-spurt market right now,” Ward said. “We see an increased focus by our customers for factory automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence applications where you’re advancing the work inside a lot of factories into robotic cells or automation cells.” Thus, the need for electromechanical linear actuators to drive these devices is increasing.

Precision is one of the primary benefits of using an electromechanical linear actuator rather than a pneumatic actuator, which makes it harder to achieve exact positioning, according to Hirsch. “You have much more repeatable and accurate precision using an electric actuator.”

Ward added that these actuators are typically power-dense compared to other types of actuators, meaning they can handle the movement of heavy payloads. “The only one that would be more power dense would be a hydraulic cylinder.”

When considering the proper electromechanical actuator for the job, it is crucial to determine certain factors, such as how much weight the actuator needs to carry and how fast it needs to go. Determining these needs late into a project could induce project headaches, so Ward and Hirsch recommend consulting with an actuator project expert ahead of time.

“You’re never going to get a 100% of the information first time,” Ward said. “And, even if you do, it’s not going to be 100% correct. It’s an iterative process, but the key is to capture the important information and guide the customer to the optimal product for them.”

Bob Ward and Christopher Hirsch discuss best practices for using linear electromechanical actuators.

The cost of premature bearing failures can be far more than the price of the bearing. Delays in the manufacturing process due to a premature bearing failure could prove catastrophic to production timelines and wind up costing a manufacturer thousands even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Rollon’s Mark Cohn, Regional Manager, and Forrester Lowrie, Territory Manager, brought their combined 40-plus years of experience to Line it Up to discuss premature bearing failures and what companies can do to reduce such costly issues.

Lowrie’s years of experience have left him seeing his fair share of bearing failures in machines across various industries. Some of these bearing failures were due to contamination, misalignment, corrosion or oxidation, heat, and paint overspray.

“Just about anything you can think of,” Lowrie said. “I’ve seen bearing failures due to food spices causing bearings to fail prematurely.”

“Some of the things I’ve seen are due to things people aren’t may be familiar with,” Cohn said. “Like misapplying the product right out of the gate is something. Unfortunately, I see a lot of where people didn’t properly look into the details of an application, and not just the loads and such, but also things they might not even think about like estops, crashes and jams.”

Each bearing has its theoretical productivity life, and extending that bearing’s longevity is the key. Different machine applications may require different bearing types. Making the wrong bearing selection could prove a costly mistake.

Even with the correct bearing selection and installation, some required degree of maintenance will help maintain the machine's lifespan.

“The best thing to do is to have a proper maintenance schedule or program,” Lowrie said. “Lubrication intervals need to be calculated.” Lowrie also noted that, sometimes, people overlook the correct lubrication for a particular bearing. “For most linear type bearings, a lithium-based grease is usually used, whereas graphite or a moly-based grease could quickly destroy a bearing.”

Mark Cohn and Forrester Lowrie discuss how to avoid the consequences of bearing failure.