Linear motion guides and rails are used everywhere – gantry robots, overhead transport systems, linear stages, machine tools, robot transport units, and many other system. Too many to list. The manufacturing tolerance of these linear rails are miniscule, and the accuracy must be exact. Among the top manufactures of linear guides and rails, you’ll find THK Manufacturing of America, Inc. THK is known as one of the best in terms of quality and accuracy, and that’s why they trust Kentucky Gauge for their linear positioning when cutting their linear guides and rails. With a 19ft Kentucky Gauge PD100 automatic length stop system, THK can achieve unmatched cut length accuracy of 0.002”.
THK stands for Toughness, High Quality, and Know-how and has been manufacturing linear motion guides since 1972. In fact, THK was the first manufacturer of linear motion guides and has since established linear motion guide accuracy standards that all linear motion guide manufacturers follow.
THK offers their linear motion guides and rails at various stocked lengths and customizable lengths with a very high length accuracy. To keep up with their increasing demand, THK needed to have a faster and more accurate method to cut the guides and rails to length. THK approached Hymark to evaluate our Kentucky Gauge PD100 measuring accuracy to see if it can fulfill their needs.
To test the PD100 accuracy, we provided THK with a demo unit to use in their lab for stringent testing with a laser interferometer, which is accurate to millionths of an inch.
THK tested the overall PD100 accuracy, as well as, the repeatability. The results were incredible. Here is a small sample of the results:
PD100 Travel Distance | Laser Interferometer Measurement | Deviation |
0.0000" | 0.0000” | 0.0000” |
1.0000” | 1.0004” | 0.0004” |
10.0000” | 10.0002” | 0.0002” |
20.0000” | 20.0006” | 0.0006” |
25.0000” | 24.9998” | -0.0002” |
28.0000” | 28.0004” | 0.0004” |
THK tested the Kentucky Gauge PD100 at over 100 positions and the PD100 accuracy was better than 0.001” and was never off by more than 0.0006”. That’s smaller than human hair! No other linear positioning system came close to the accuracy of the PD100 and THK proceeded to order a 19ft PD100 the very next day to go with a brand new Kaltenbach KKS 400E upcut saw.
After installation, THK performed new accuracy tests with the 19ft PD100 and the results were astounding: