General Information on Ball Screws

Ball Screws

A ball screw is a mechanism that allows a rotational screwing motion to be turned into a linear motion. This can take place with a low level of friction, and therefore there is a low level of energy loss. Similarly the ball screw apparatus erodes at a slower rate.
A ball screw tends to be bigger than a leadscrew, because there is a selection of moving pieces contained inside the ball screw nut casing. Inside a ball screw mechanism there is metal balls of the same size which travel down the threads that are cut into the ball screw nut casing.
It is very important that no dirt or other obstructions find their way inside the mechanism of the ball screw.

The ball bearings in the ball screw nut must be free to move along the grooves and any tiny speck of dust can affect their smooth motion.
Ball screws are depended upon for being long-lived, and known to be very accurate. Of course these qualities will be reduced in the case of dirt particles in the ball screw nut. To prevent this the ball screw builders are careful to use bellows and other methods so they can stop any tiny dirt specks becoming lodged within the mechanism.
Ball screws have a reputation of being extremely accurate due to the method through which they are manufactured. As a result of this ball screws are used for situations that must be extremely precise, like missile deployment apparatus and aircraft mechanisms. They can also be found in steppers, that are part of the semiconductor manufacturing process.
Often ball screws may be driven backwards. Put simply instead of inputting rotational motion and getting linear motion as an output, the machine can conversely begin with a linear energy and receive a rotational movement as an output. This option is available due to the low friction contained within the ball screw, which prevents the components from jamming.