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Compact pneumatic slides are ‘smallest on the market’
Published:  09 August, 2019

Festo has developed what it claims is the world’s shortest pneumatic slide. The DGST slide has a twin-piston design and comes in diameters from 6–25mm and stroke lengths from 10–200mm. The slide houses an integrated guide and end-plate made from a single part, thus eliminating torsion and misalignment issues and providing precise movements. Impact shocks at the end-of-stroke are reduced by integral cushioning, while in-built stroke adjustment eliminates the need for additional parts.

Festo has also launched new ranges of compact cylinders and guided cylinders for compact assembly systems.

Mini-slides consist of a guide driven by a pneumatic cylinder. They provide better performance and reliability than standard cylinders in applications that need a smooth, precision-guided, non-rotating platform for mounting tooling or other actuators. The guidance is particularly important where there are side or pressing/insertion loads.

Symmetrical mounting interfaces allow the mini-slide to be used with other actuators, without having to design or machine additional mounting plates, thus saving time and money. This is useful in pick-and-place applications where the slides can be placed in different orientations and mirrored on either side of a robot arm or conveyor belt. The DGST’s high load-carrying capacity and accuracy result from the use of an integral recirculating ball bearing guide and mounting within the aluminium housing.

Festo’s second new range is the ultra-compact ADN-S pneumatic cylinder, which is available in 6 and 10mm diameter versions. It is said to offer good performance in a lightweight, space-saving design. It can be mounted in any orientation and is ideal for applications such as testing electronic equipment in small footprints with tight pitches between test location points.

Festo says that its DGST mini-slide sets a benchmark for compact, yet robust and precise, drives for compact handling systems.

The third new range is the DFM compact guided cylinder family, consisting of a single pneumatic piston with an integrated twin-rod guiding platform designed to move heavy loads without bending or wear, thus delivering a long service life. The cylinders, which come in 6 and 10mm diameters, are aimed at applications such as clamping, stopping, holding and lifting. Festo says the design of the guide enables it to handle higher torques and payloads than rival products, ensuring reliable and durable performance despite the compact footprint.

“In electronics assembly, medical and laboratory automation, testing and analytical applications, compactness is key,” says Festo product manager, Aruj Abbas. “The market for handheld electronic devices, and growing demand for desktop laboratory automation, are just two examples which are driving our customers’ demands for smaller and lighter pneumatic solutions.

“Our new linear drives are small, yet deliver the high performance that our customers need,” she adds. “With our new offering we are once again setting a size and performance benchmark and opening-up new application possibilities for our customers.”