Industrial automation specialist Festo has introduced a new cantilever electro-mechanical drive — ELGT. This is designed to combine precision with high load-bearing capacity and rigidity, making it ideal for small parts and lithium-ion battery manufacturing.

Moreover, Festo’s manufacturing standards further ensure that the copper and zinc content in the ELGT is less than 1%, thereby meeting the requirements of the battery production sector to minimise contamination.

At the ELGT’s core is a precision spindle drive with the load supported by ‘integrated twin bearing guides’ to ensure that the X, Y and Z axes interconnections are lightweight yet extremely sturdy and capable of maintaining rigidity and repeatability of positioning accuracy, even under relatively heavy loads.

ELGT axes are available in widths of 90, 120 and 160mm, making this drive equally suitable for 2-D and 3-D cantilever systems. The ‘size 90’ comes with an extra wide single guide, while the 120 and 160 sizes have a twin guide. The largest axis can carry loads of up to 600kg at speeds up to 1m/sec and achieve accelerations of up to 15m/sec².

Depending on model choice, stroke lengths of between 50 and 1,500mm are available in 50mm increments; and for maximum flexibility, the ELGT offers three mounting options. These are: a direct screw connection into the machined and threaded base; adjustable slot nuts that can be slid along the profile body; or brackets for mounting from the side.

Users can also choose from a variety of motor drive options: stepper motors or servo motors; the system can also be supplied without motors for customers that have a company standard or strong preference for specific motor suppliers (often dependent on the final destination of the machinery).

Standard motor kits are available for most leading brands, including Siemens, Omron, Mitsubishi and Yaskawa (choices also apply to sensors). Motors can be positioned at 0, 90, 180 or 270deg.

Furthermore, customers can easily mix Festo stepper and servo motors within a multi-axis handling system to achieve the required performance, with Festo’s free-of-charge Electric Motion Sizing (EMS) software making selection quick and easy by enabling calculation of single-axis applications.

Meanwhile, the company’s Handling Guide Online (HGO) software package enables systems from single-axis to a 3-D gantry or cantilever system to be designed by the user in under 15min, complete with 3-D CAD drawings. The next release of HGO will incorporate the new ELGT cantilever axes.