GUIDEWAYS

Guideways(slide ways) are linear bearings for translatory motion between two members of a
machine tool such as carriage and bed in lathe.They should provide alignment and fittings,ample
load carrying capacity,adjustment for wear and lubrication and should not have stick-slip jerks.
When motion starts there should be instant and accuate response with repeatability both for
feeeding and prelocating.

Machine tools spend about 70% of their time cutting metal. The rest of the time, they're
either making a tool change or positioning for the next machining function. It's possible, however,
for machine tools to spend more time cutting and less time moving and positioning by employing
guideways(generally rolling-element guideways) . These pre-engineered machine paths not only
offer long life, but also reduced deflection for rapid, accurate motion in many applications.

Machine tools generally include a base or bed, one or more guideways on the bed and a
carriage mounted for movement along the guideways. Attached to the carriage would be one or
more tools for cutting, shaping or grinding a workpiece mounted on a work table. In a grinding
machine, a carriage holding a grinding wheel is supported in two planes by three guideways. One of
the guideways is located in a vertical plane on the machine tool bed. The other two guideways are
located in a horizontal plane on the machine tool bed. Bearing surfaces, attached to the carriage,
engage these guideways and allow the carriage to move back and forth along the guideways. To
precisely machine or grind a workpiece it is necessary that all the guideways be exactly positioned
relative to each other. One way of accomplishing this precise positioning is to precision machine the
guideways into the base of the machine tool. This precision machining to precisely locate the
guideways is a very expensive manufacturing operation.Another way is by precisely locating and
mounting separately manufactured guideways onto the bed of a machine tool and by a fixture that
precisely orients the guideways with respect to each other and holds them in a fixed relationship to
the bed of the machine tool so that they can be bonded to the bed.

LINEAR GUIDEWAYS
 Guideways can be classified as guideways with sliding friction also terme as slideways and
guideways with rollling friction also termed as anti-friction guideways.In this there are two varieties
balls or rollers depending on the anti-friction elements.

TYPES OF SLIDEWAYS

There are number of slidewaysconventionally used in machine tools.They are V-

slideways,flat slideways,round slideways and dovetails.
The shape of the slideway depends upon the function it is expected to serve.The following are some
of the guiding principles in identifying the shape of the slideway.
1.Load carrying capacity
2.Ease of manufacure
3.Ease of chip disposal
4.Effective lubrication
5.Position of slideways

Generally a very high level of friction is developed in slideway system because of metal to
metal contact existing between the members.Also because of the large variation in the static and
dynamic friction coefficient,a stick-slip phenomenon is observed with metal to metal contact.This is
undesirable, particularly for high speed operations such as found in modern machine tools.

ANTI-FRICTION GUIDEWAYS

Anti-friction guideways involve intermediate rolling members(balls or rollers) between the

sliding members,thus reducing the friction.

Rolling-element guideways include balls or rollers to support loads. With just a 0.005
coefficient of friction, they redue the force needed to move and accelerate machine-tool masses,
thereby decreasing horsepower. Low friction also translates to less wear. these physical conditions
all influence bearing life.The bearing clearance equals zero in profiled roller guide rails due to the
pre-stress between carriage, rollers and guideway.For these reasons profiled roller guide rails have
been used as ram guides in metal-forming machines for several years. Unlike sliding ram guides,
guides with profiled roller guide rails can transmit tractive and compressive forces. Thereby the ram
with its guides contributes to the stiffness of the whole machine. The load capacity of profiled roller
guide rails is limited to the lifetime of the rollers.Overall,properties of profiled roller guide rails are
high load capacity, high rigidity against tractive and compressive forces, low friction and high
accuracy of guidance.