Motion Control
    Ball Screws

Ball Screws

Thomson has decades of experience in designing, manufacturing and maintaining high quality ball screws, and can help throughout the installation process to develop good lubrication and maintenance practices, ensuring long life and a smooth running ball screw assembly system. Any new application will require careful analysis of load capacity, product life and cost, which may uncover some applications suited to roller screws. However, given new ball screw technology advances that increase their load-bearing capacity, it is now wise to consider high-load ball screws in any application that might have previously called for a roller screw.

The ball-screw drive is an assembly that converts rotary motion to linear motion (or vice versa). It consists of a ball screw and a ball nut packaged as an assembly with recirculating ball bearings. The interface between the ball screw and the nut is made by ball bearings which roll in matching ball forms. With rolling elements, the ball-screw drive has a very low friction coefficient and is typically greater than 90% efficient. The forces transmitted are distributed over a large number of ball bearings, giving a low relative load per ball comparatively.

Available products:

• High-Load Ball Screws
• Precision Rolled Inch Screws
• NEFF Precision Rolled Screws
• FSI Style Precision Rolled Screws
• Miniature Metric Precision Screws
• Precision Plus Ground Metric Screws
• FineLine Precision Rolled Screws

High-Load Ball Screws

Thomson high-load ball screws are ideal for large fabrication machines in injection molding, pressing and metal fabrication. They move heavy loads in horizontal and vertical axes accurately and safely, while providing long and reliable life with minimum maintenance. Thomson’s standard portfolio contains sizes up to 160 mm in diameter with a maximum dynamic load of up to 1,440 kN. Thomson also has the capability to customize these ball screws according to specific application requirements.

Highlights:

• Increased capacity for high-load applications at high speeds and long lifetimes
• More economic solution versus roller screws
• Lead accuracy of up to ±6 µm/300 mm
• Compact, simple design allows for downsizing, less weight
• Optimized ball nut design for maximizing load capacity
• Available with up to 15 m screw length, with single or double nuts
• Multiple preloading options available
• Smooth, quiet motion

Precision Rolled Inch Ball Screws

Thomson precision rolled ball screws come in a full range of diameters, leads and ball nut configurations, in either preloaded or non-preloaded types, all in industry-standard envelopes. These screws provide dependable accuracy and repeatability at an economical price. They feature tangential ball returns, a Thomson design that minimizes recirculated bearing ball deflection, for smoother and quieter operation. Standard flanges are offered for many of Thomson’s ball nut models.

NEFF Precision Rolled Screws

NEFF Rolled Ball Screw Assemblies are designed to provide quiet, smooth running, efficient performance. They are rolled to an accuracy of ±12 µm/300 mm, with higher accuracies readily available on request. Ball nuts include one of three unique ball return systems (depending on the diameter and lead of the screw used) providing great guidance, low wear and smooth-running performance.  Ball nuts come standard with profiled nitrile butadiene rubber wipers to contain lubricant and help repel fine contaminants (dust, powder, etc.).

FSI Style Precision Rolled Screws

Ideal for structures requiring smooth motion, Thomson FSI Style precision rolled ball screw assemblies provide positional accuracy typically found only in a ground product. Assemblies range from 16 to 50 mm in diameter with leads from 5 to 40 mm – all with standard lead accuracies of ±23 µm / 300 mm. Optional configurations and custom coatings are available.