Rotary stages are superb mechanical components used to cut and shape metalwork with very high precision and in a completely safe manner.
They have a very broad range of applications. They are widely used in industrial robotics, electronic manufacturing, medical component laser machining, vision systems, micromachining, fiber optics and photonics, water inspection, and many other high-performance industrial automation applications.
Cutting and shaping metalwork requires high precision, but it can also be very dangerous if you don’t take certain precautions, which is precisely where rotary stages come in.
What Are Rotary Stages?
Rotary stages are mechanical components of a motion system that you use to rotate a particular metal object in a single axis. This means that the object stays perfectly put while you cut and shape it, thus allowing you to avoid errors that could even pose a threat to your safety.
Every rotary stage consists of two main parts: a base, and a platform. The platform is the rotating part, while the base ensures stability. They can be connected either by mechanical bearing elements or by air-bearing systems.
Now that you know what rotary stages are, let’s take a look at all their amazing advantages.
High-Precision Angular Positioning
Cutting and shaping metal objects is not an easy job, especially if you work with very small metal parts. You need to be incredibly precise in your work, which is why you can’t have the objects wobbling and moving around.
With a rotary stage, you can make sure they don’t move at all while you work. You can position them exactly like it’s necessary, and engage in a completely error-free and wobble-free cutting.
High-Precision Cutting
This benefit of rotary stages is directly correlated with the previous one. Since there’s no motion involved, apart from the rotating part, you can cut any metal object with exceptionally high precision.
This is particularly important when you need to get complex cuts, especially involving very small metalwork, such as in micro-robotics, medical component laser machining, medical device manufacturing, or optics inspection.
Velocity Stability
Rotary stages provide remarkable velocity stability, which is crucial in a great number of processes and experiments. For instance, it’s vital in tomography, inertial sensor testing, water inspection, and surface profiling, to name just a few of the numerous processes where rotary stages can be of immense help.
These processes require continuous motion at very high speeds, which must be controlled. With a rotary stage, you can easily control the speed and make sure your work is absolutely perfect.
This is because rotary stages come with a built-in controller, which offers a high-resolution daisy-chainable operation. You can control the speed in both directions, and make sure that the motion remains smooth and precise.
If you use an air-bearing rotary stage, you can get controlled velocity better than 0.01%. This doesn’t mean that rotary stages with mechanical bearing elements don’t allow velocity stability. However, when there are no mechanical elements, you can take velocity to a whole new level.
Enhanced Safety
As you already know, cutting and shaping metal objects can be very dangerous. The level of danger rises even higher when the parts you’re working with don’t stay the way you put them, but rather wobble and move around.
And since they rotate at very high speed, you could easily end up hurting yourself, or other people nearby, if some part moves from its original position.
Rotary stages effectively prevent such unfortunate incidents. And that’s the greatest of all their advantages.
With a rotary stage in your toolbox, you don’t have to worry about the question of safety, because it will help you cut and shape metalwork in the safest way possible.
Cost-Effectiveness
This is yet another important benefit of rotary stages to consider, although it may not be as vital as the other advantages.
Rotary stages are significantly cost-effective, simply because people operate them. If you choose to use a machine to cut all the necessary metalwork, you can definitely expect to spend more money. On the other hand, if you do it all by yourself, with the help of a rotary stage, you can save a considerable amount of money.
As you can see, rotary stages come with some pretty impressive benefits. They’re definitely more than worth every dime, as they can take your work to a whole new level. So, find the best one to fit your needs, and start working with the best precision and in the safest way possible.
