Difference between Rolled Ball Screws and Ground Ball Screws

When talking about a high level, ground along with a rolled ball screws tend to appear to the function which is nearly identical with a variety of other mechanical applications. However, the raceway surface is very similar to conventional machine screw threads that are found in a typical nut/ crew system. These are highly differentiated when compared to the manufacturing process and other linear guides which are used to create these features.

Apart from the hardened ball bearings that tend to make the rotational motion come into existence, a ball screw system has the 2 basic component, these are:

  • The lead screw– This possesses external thread.
  • The Ball Nut– This tends to possess the internal thread.

These have different manufacturing process which is used to fabricate these components; also the key here is to understand both the limitations as well as the strength of the rolled and ground ball screws.

Rolling and Grinding

The rolled ball screw threads are generally manufactured by pushing each uncut bar stock blank through rotating tool dies in one single operation. Here, the driving principle is the process which involves the cold work deformation where the linear guides and other blank material is shaped by the rolling tool that dies and is designed to form both the external as well as the internal threads of the lead screw and the ball nut.

Even though the rolling dies tend to come in huge range, when we talk about the shapes and sizes, depending upon the requirement to roll.

Strengths and Limitations

The rolled screw threads usually possess more strength when compared to the ground screw threads especially during the process of rolling. Additionally, the rolled thread is one of the cheapest and effective options because they can easily be fabricated in the automated rolling machine setup. This is because the rolling process is also considered to be one short process, which means that any fabrication malfunctioning or even the errors in the rolled screws are impossible to be fixed.

However, the rolled threads also possess a rougher surface finish than the ground ones. Also, this can be quite problematic as the rough surface thread can clearly lead to reduce the mechanical efficiency because of having the higher rolling friction which is generally encountered in the rolling ball bearings. Lastly, a rough surface finish can also provide you with an overall decrease in the wear resistance of your entire ball crew system.

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