Rotary Stages

Providing automated material handling capability for a wide range of materials and applications, Aerotech’s CCS series rotary stages feature integrated captured collet chucks that accept C-, D- or Levin-style collets, which are readily available from machine-tool component suppliers in sizes supporting tube diameters from 0.1 to 27 mm. These collets provide outstanding run-out characteristics for applications requiring high-precision gripping of tubular material. The series' collet-chuck design allows work-piece advance without manual realignment to compensate for axial tube motion during clamp/unclamp cycles. By moving the taper around the collet instead of drawing the collet into the taper, axial motion of the work piece is significantly reduced, eliminating the need for part re-registration after tube advancement and increasing the system throughput. The family is designed with mounting features on the housing to support customer supplied wet-cutting accessories. In addition, the stage will tolerate moderate fluid leakage into the aperture which is inevitable during wet-cutting operations. These features help to prevent encoder contamination and collet-chuck failure; therefore minimise machine downtime. The series uses direct-drive brushless motor technology to maximise positioning performance. Direct-drive technology is optimised for 24/7 production environments, with no brushes to replace and no gear trains or belts to maintain. It also provides quicker acceleration and higher top speeds than gear- or belt-driven mechanisms, yielding higher total overall throughput. The low maintenance, high-throughput characteristics of the series coupled with the integral material handling capability provide the lowest total cost of ownership when compared to component-level solutions, and make this stage the perfect addition to the production floor.