Linear slide upgrade

Drive system upgrade

We were approached by a customer with a machine that had had a fair amount of use and the original slides on the machine were worn and needed some TLC. Instead of replacing like for like – we upgraded the slides to heavier duty THK type slides that we had spare from another machine retrofit we did previously. THK slides off the shelf would have been too high spec and costly for this project but because we had them it made sense to use them.

The machine was stripped right back to the gantry Aluminium profile and the new slides were installed. the main mounting bracket for the gantry X-axis assembly had to be stripped and CNC cut to ensure the Z-axis system could be bolted to the new slides with accuracy.

The machine performance was improved significantly with the slide system upgrade. The motors and belt drives were all left as original. Just the slide upgrade was enough to make a significant improvement.