LC40 Series User's Manual

Disclaimer

Zaber’s products are not intended for use in any critical medical, aviation, or military applications or situations where a product's use or failure could cause personal injury, death, or damage to property. Zaber disclaims any warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. The user of this product agrees to Zaber's general terms and conditions of sale.

Precautions

Pinch Hazard: Keep hands away from the moving carriage. Use caution when mounting components near the path of the carriage; they may create unexpected pinch hazards.

Backdriving: If motor power is suddenly lost, any vertical loads may fall quickly or high inertial loads may fail to stop. This may cause personal injury or damage to the payload, the device, or to electronics. This device is not recommended for vertical lifting applications with loads greater than 1 kg.

Important: Mounting large objects to the carriage or using this component in a multi-axis system may create new or unexpected risks. Always perform a risk analysis for your complete system in its operating environment.

Installation

Visual Glossary of Parts and Accessories

For a visual guide to parts and accessories related to the LC40 family of products refer to the LC40 Parts and Accessories document

Motor Options

The LC40B series of belt-driven linear guides can be paired with Zaber motor kits.

KM01

Motor kit KM01 has an integrated controller for single axis control and includes:

• X-NMS23-E08P1 motor with integrated controller and encoder
• AC183 pulley coupling
• AP187 home sensor mount

KM01B

Motor kit KM01B has an integrated controller with a power-off brake for single axis control and includes:

• X-NMS23-BE08P1 motor with integrated controller, encoder, and power-off brake
• AC183 pulley coupling
• AP187 home sensor mount

KM02

Motor kit KM02 is intended for use with a external Zaber controller and includes:

• NMS23-E08P1T3A motor with an encoder
• AC183 pulley coupling
• AP187 home sensor mount

KM02B

Motor kit KM02B is intended for use with a external Zaber controller and includes:

• NMS23-BE08P1T10A motor with an encoder and power-off brake
• AC183 pulley coupling
• AP187 home sensor mount

Third Party Motors

In addition to Zaber motors, any NEMA 23 frame size motor can be mounted to either side of the pulley drive. NEMA 17 frame size motors may be mounted using the AP192 motor adaptor. Make sure to match the motor shaft diameter to the appropriate pulley coupling diameter:

• AC183 pulley coupling for 8 mm shaft
• AC184 pulley coupling for 6.35 mm shaft
• AC185 pulley coupling for 5 mm shaft

Required Tools

• 2 mm hex key
• 3 mm hex key
• 5 mm hex key

Motor Kit Installation

Note: X-NMS23-E08P1 motor is shown in the images below. The instructions are applicable for both X-NMS23-(B)E08P1 (motor with integrated controller) and NMS23-(B)E08P1T3A (motor without controller).

1. Mount the clamping pulley coupling (AC183) flush to the end of the motor shaft. Tighten the coupling to the motor shaft using a 2 mm hex key.
2. Insert the motor with coupling into the pulley bore of the LC40B linear guide. The motor can mount to either end of the guide and on either side, and the motor housing may point in any direction. The plastic covers over the pulley bore can be pried out with a 3 mm hex key. Secure the motor with M4 fasteners and 3 mm hex key.
3. Fasten the home sensor (included with motor) to the AP187 bracket using a 2 mm hex key.
   Important: The raised dot on the sensor should seat into the AP187 bracket.
4. Install an M6 T-nut into the side of the LC40B linear guide and attach the AP187 bracket with home sensor. The home sensor may be mounted to either side of the LC40B, but for easy wire routing it is recommended to mount it on the same side as the motor with the cable pointing away from the motor.
5. Fasten the AP187 bracket to the T-nut using an M6 fastener and 5 mm hex key.
6. Set the home sensor position to approximately 67 mm from the end of the extrusion. The carriage home position should be approximately 5 mm ahead of the travel hard limit.
   If the home sensor is too close to the end of travel, the carriage may crash while homing.

Please use the LC40 Setup Application within Zaber Launcher to help configure the LC40B.

The motor controller can also be set up manually via the following steps if you choose not to use the LC40 Setup Application:

• If your drive kit is installed in a right-hand orientation, it will function right away. If the drive is installed in a left-handed orientation, the travel direction will need to be reversed in the controller settings. These commands can be executed with the following commands sent through the terminal in Zaber Launcher:
  • set system.access 2
  • set driver.dir 0
  • set encoder.dir 1
  • set system.access 1
• Set the maximum travel setting (limit.max) to match the physical travel of the device. When the stage only has one carriage, the travel in mm can be found from the 4 digits following LC40B on the product part number. When the stage has multiple carriages, the travel will need to be calculated manually based on the number of additional carriages, as well as the total spacing between the carriages.
  • For example, part number 'LC40B1250' has a travel of 1250 mm. This travel should be multiplied by 142.222 to convert it to microsteps (rounded to an integer) and sent through the terminal as the command "set limit.max 177777"
  • For part number 'LC40B1250-N2', with carriages spaced 80 mm apart, the maximum travel will be 1250 - 1 x (70 mm) - 80 mm = 1100 mm. This travel should be multiplied by 142.222 to convert it to microsteps (rounded to an integer) and sent through the terminal as the command "set limit.max 156444"

T-Slot Compatibility

The LC40 linear guide system is designed to be compatible with most common 40 mm T-slot extrusion framing systems. The two main requirements for compatibility are a 40 mm square profile width and an 8 mm slot width. While we have not exhaustively tested all systems and components, the following framing systems meet this basic compatibility requirements:

• 80/20 40 Series
• McMaster Carr 40 mm
• Parker-Hannifin 40 Series
• item Profile 8
• Parco 40 Series
• TSLOTS T40

LC40 T-Slot Compatibility

Beam Properties

The LC40 linear guide is intended to also function as a structural member, similar to other aluminum extrusion framing systems.

• Material: 6063-T65 anodized aluminum extrusion
• Straightness Tolerance: 0.7 mm/m
• Yield Strength: 230 MPa
• Modulus of Elasticity: 68900 MPa
• Mass per Length: 2.35 kg/m
• Flexural Rigidity (EI): 13300 Nm²

Recommended Support

If the free span of the Y-axis exceeds the recommended maximum span, the AP244Lxxxx braces or similar support members are recommended.

This table gives the recommended maximum unsupported span for any LC40 device. These recommendations are based on a maximum beam deflection of 0.1 mm under its own weight. For certain applications more or less support may be warranted.

LC40 stages can be mounted to most 40 mm or 4040 T-slot extrusion framing systems or to a metric breadboard (using AB188 or AP191 accessories). For unsupported spans, bracing (AP244 or similar) can be added.

For spaced supports, supporting points should have a small contact surface, approximately 40 mm by 40 mm. For applications with more than 2 supports, ensure that all supporting surfaces share a common plane with less than 1 mm of deviation per m of separation and always fasten supports starting at the middle, working outwards.

Straightness of travel will depend on the location and orientation of supporting surfaces and installation procedure. If very low straightness error is required, pay careful attention to the coplanarity of support structures and measure and adjust for any horizontal deviation. A single continuous surface such as a surface plate or optical table with a reference edge can achieve better straightness than spaced supports, but the degree will depend on the flatness of the surface and straightness of the reference edge.

Quad Carriage Configurations

Gantries using a quad carriage Y-axis configuration with AP246 may require the bases of the Y-axis stages to be rigidly connected to each other. We recommend connecting the bases for any Y-axis travel greater than 1,000 mm. Shorter lengths may also benefit from this depending on your application requirements. AB289 is our recommended accessory for connecting the two bases and can easily be added post gantry assembly.

Maintenance

Many factors affect the lifetime of the grease and bearings including duty cycle, environment, travel length, stage orientation, and loading configuration. As a general guideline for usage in a clean office environment, the recommended re-lubrication interval is 250 km with an inspection after every 1500 hours of continuous operation. Inspection should be done by wiping a bearing rail with a clean, lint-free wipe and ensuring that there is clean, wetted grease present.

Harsh environment, short travel, vertically oriented, and high duty cycle applications require more frequent re-lubrication and inspection. Contact an Applications Engineer to discuss your application for more specific recommendations.

Short travel can cause an insufficient distribution of lubricant amongst the rolling elements of the bearing system. For recirculating bearing guide types, short travel is equal to or less than the length of the carriage. For crossed-roller bearing guide types, short travel is equal to or less than twice the spacing of the rolling elements (typically 5-6 mm). If your application is considered short travel, it is recommended to occasionally drive the stage throughout its full travel range to maintain an even lubrication film over the entire guide surface. More frequent re-lubrication and inspection may be required in these applications.

Contact Zaber support for relubrication kit SG133. We recommend using Shell Gadus S2 V220 2 or similar lithium thickened petroleum grease.

Relubrication Procedure

Contact Zaber support for relubrication kit SG133.

• 

  Insert angled syringe tip into grease hole in bearing end cap. Move the carriage about 50 mm while squeezing approximately 0.2 mL of grease from the syringe. Repeat for all four end caps. Cycle the carriage through the full range of travel.

Warranty and Repair

For Zaber's policies on warranty and repair, please refer to the Ordering Policies.

Standard products

Standard products are any part numbers that do not contain the suffix ENG followed by a 4 digit number. Most, but not all, standard products are listed for sale on our website. All standard Zaber products are backed by a one-month satisfaction guarantee. If you are not satisfied with your purchase, we will refund your payment minus any shipping charges. Goods must be in brand new saleable condition with no marks. Zaber products are guaranteed for one year. During this period Zaber will repair any products with faults due to manufacturing defects, free of charge.

Custom products

Custom products are any part numbers containing the suffix ENG followed by a 4 digit number. Each of these products has been designed for a custom application for a particular customer. Custom products are guaranteed for one year, unless explicitly stated otherwise. During this period Zaber will repair any products with faults due to manufacturing defects, free of charge.

How to return products

Customers with devices in need of return or repair should contact Zaber to obtain an RMA form which must be filled out and sent back to us to receive an RMA number. The RMA form contains instructions for packing and returning the device. The specified RMA number must be included on the shipment to ensure timely processing.

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Contact Information

Contact Zaber Technologies Inc by any of the following methods:

The original instructions for this product are available at https://www.zaber.com/manuals/LC40.

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