Custom rotary stages feature large apertures and air bearings

Air bearings have no rolling or sliding elements and deliver frictionless, non-contact motion, resulting in negligible reversal error, better flatness, and minimal wobble and eccentricity. All these are useful prerequisites for applications such as inspection and metrology, calibration, and scanning of high-end parts (i.e., infrared and precision optics, turbine blades, shafts and bearings) in industries like aerospace, aircraft, automotive, semiconductors, and photonics.

Air bearings replace mechanical contact by a thin film of air which is completely frictionless, resulting in no breakaway stiction or drag friction during operation. Featuring high performance, low-cogging frameless slotless torque motors and optical encoders, these stages can be used in any orientation. The A-688 is customisable with options to create a solution for point-to-point indexing or constant velocity scanning. Coupled with no required maintenance or lubrication, these rotary positioners have a virtually unlimited life.

Features and benefits:

• 260mm diameter clear aperture
• 77kg load capacity
• 0.0015urad maximum resolution
• 500rpm maximum
• Flatness/eccentricity better than 175/300nm
• Wobble less than 1urad
• Direct drive

Follow the links for an application video about the A-688 air bearing rotary stage and to see the full specifications, datasheets and more information.