Lead Screw Nuts for Quick and Quiet Adjustments

igus expanded its lead screw nut range with maintenance-free iglidur E7 high-performance polymer for trapezoidal and high helix lead screws. This material features smooth and low-vibration operation with low loads and high speed. With matching materials and geometries, the new lead screw nuts and the patented igus dryspin high helix thread technology provide optimum linear drive.

by Alma Castiglioni

Lead screw units are used wherever precise adjustment is required. The lead screw units traditionally consist of two components: the lead screw and the associated nut. At high lead screw speeds, lead screw nuts made of standard plastics or metallic alternatives often reach their limits. The consequences are vibrations and noise. For this reason, the motion plastics specialist igus has now added the material iglidur E7 to its range of lead screw nuts for high helix and trapezoidal lead screws. The nuts are specifically designed for high-speed applications with low loads and small installation space. Therefore, their use is ideal, for example, in fully automatic coffee machines, 3D printers or even in laboratory technology.

Soft material ensures quiet running at high speed
The new iglidur E7 lead screw nut is made of a softer, high-performance polymer that permanently incorporates solid lubricants. Therefore there is no requirement for external lubricants such as oils and grease. The new material reduces noise while at the same time acts as a vibration-dampening device with long service life proven by the igus test laboratory. The in-house wear comparison test between iglidur E7 and the igus standard material for lead screw nuts showed that the iglidur E7 lead screw nut at 135 rpm and a load of 100 N has four times higher wear resistance on a high helix lead screw and 19 times better wear resistance on a trapezoidal lead screw.

Patented technology enables higher efficiency
In addition to the development of lead screw nuts made of high-performance plastics, igus introduces ‘dryspin’ an optimised and patented high helix lead screw range matched to the igus lead screw nuts. The special features of this technology are the flat flank angle, an asymmetric geometry and rounded tooth flanks. These ensure a higher efficiency, a quiet low friction operation. Thanks to the handy online tool “Lead screw module expert” from igus, the user can assemble the appropriate linear drive including nut with just a few clicks and order it immediately.