ZABER TECHNOLOGIES Simplifying Motion Control Includes Technical Articles & Customer Spotlights

NA Motorized Linear Actuators 28 CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT: LASERMOTIVE INC. 30 TECHNICAL ARTICLE: DIRECT DRIVE LINEAR MOTORS -OVERVIEW AND SELECTION PROCESS 31 X-LRT-AEC Linear Stages with Built-in Controllers, Linear Encoders, and Dust Covers 38 TECHNICAL ARTICLE: MICROSTEPPING TUTORIAL 48 T-LS Motorized Linear Stages 70 TSB Manual Translation Stages 74 X-FWR-E Motorized Filter Wheels 96 T-MM Motorized Mirror Mounts 100 DISTRIBUTOR SPOTLIGHT: LASER 2000 UK. 102

CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT: KYOTO UNIVERSITY. 112 CUSTOMER SPOTLIGHT: UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN 114 MULTI-AXIS & GANTRY SYSTEMS 149 TECHNICAL ARTICLE: DRIVING PARALLEL AXES WITH LOCKSTEP MOVEMENT 150 CUSTOM PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: MULTI-AXIS SYSTEMS 155 TECHNICAL ARTICLE: STREAMED AND INTERPOLATED MULTI-AXIS MOTION 162 CUSTOM PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT: ACCESSORIES 167 X-MCB1 Stepper Motor Controllers 180

Company Profile How Zaber Got Its Start Zaber Technologies was founded in 1997 by a group of friends with diverse interests in electro-mechanical systems, programming, and physics. Back then, precision linear actuators all used DC motors with gearboxes and encoders, and they required complicated motion control cards, bulky controllers, separate driver amplifiers, and special power supplies. Precision motion control was expensive, difficult to set up, and cumbersome to use. Zaber’s founders recognized the need for an inexpensive, integrated solution for motion control. They wanted to make motion...

Our Focus Integrating your feedback into our products When you talk, we listen. We continually expand and improve our product line based on your feedback and requests. Providing excellent service and support We strive to offer the best service and technical support in the industry. We believe that these are the key ingredients in creating and sustaining a positive relationship with you. Offering the best price-to-performance ratio on the market We make products that strike a unique balance between quality, performance, and economy. Our Service 30-day satisfaction guarantee All of Zaber's standard...

Prototyping and Testing As we get started designing a new product, one of our first steps is to build rough prototypes of the product or different sections of the product. We’ll whip up some parts in the machine shop and build things like drive assemblies so we can have something in our hands as fast as possible. These concept prototypes are not usually pretty, but we always learn a lot that we couldn’t tell from a computer model or from calculations. Just by holding it in your hands, you learn a lot from how it feels and moves. It’s common to find some detail that has to be changed when assembling...

Our Products Automate Positioning Tasks Quickly and Easily •  Motorized positioners with optional built-in controllers, drivers, motor encoders, and linear encoders •  Daisy-chain and control devices from a single computer connection (USB or Serial) •  Multiple products can share a single power supply •  Free software with source code Vacuum Devices Linear Devices Vacuum stages and actuators with built-in controllers Multi-Axis Devices Linear actuators with built-in controllers Multi-axis systems with built-in controllers Gantry systems Miniature linear stages with built-in controllers Vertical...

When you talk, we listen; we continually expand and improve our product line based on your feedback. www.zaber.com Expandable Design Easy Installation Automating more than one axis? You can daisy-chain up to 99 Zaber devices to a single RS-232 or USB port. Power can be transmitted through the data cables of T-Series and X-Series devices, allowing multiple devices of the same series to be powered from a single power supply. Minimal hardware and cabling make Zaber products easy to set up and help reduce clutter on the workbench. Connect the Zaber controller (built into the device or stand-alone)...

About Our Products Built-in controllers simplify your set-up Many of our devices are designed with built-in controllers and drivers (and some with encoders), which reduces your cost, overall device footprint, and cable clutter. Don’t want the integrated controllers? We have versions compatible with our external controllers too. The choice is yours: enjoy complete automation through computer control, or use manual control Zaber devices are perfect for automating your positioning needs. Our free software allows you to send single commands or complex sequences. Most models offer a manual control...

Daisy-chaining Data and Power to Reduce Cabling Daisy-chaining Data and Power to Reduce Cabling By Sofia Moreno, Applications Engineering Team etting up motion control systems can be time consuming, costly, and complex. At Zaber, we focus on simplifying motion control. One way our systems can save you time and money is by reducing the number of cables required for a multi-axis system. While there are a few ways to reduce cabling, in this case we will be discussing daisy-chaining both data and power for multiple Zaber devices. Daisy-chaining refers to the connection of several devices in a linear...

Technical Paper When we use the term device, we mean either a standalone controller or a positioner with a built-in controller and driver. An example of a Zaber device is illustrated in Figure 2. Stand-alone controllers are designed for use with Zaber's peripherals, which are positioners without a built-in controller, but these controllers can also be used with compatible third-party motors. Baud rate is a speed measurement for communication. It specifies the number of bits per second that are transferred over the serial port. For example, a baud rate of 9600 baud is 9600 bits per second. This...

Daisy-chaining Data and Power to Reduce Cabling Considerations for powering daisy-chained devices include: •  Can the devices daisy-chain power? •  What is the recommended voltage for each device? •  What is the maximum current draw1 or motor rated current 2 ? •  Which series are daisy-chained together? •  In what order should they be connected if there is more than one series in a daisy-chain? The recommended voltage and maximum current draw for a device, or in the case of peripherals the motor rated current and recommended voltage for a stand-alone controller, can be found online in the ‘Series...