New Way Air Bearings’ products provide exceptional flatness and parallelism, but in order to achieve the specifications listed on our product pages, all New Way products must be placed and installed directly against a precision ground guide surface. Before any measurements are taken, the surfaces should be cleaned in accordance with our Care and Air guidelines, namely using 70% isopropyl alcohol only.
Surface Flatness Requirements for Air Bars
Per our Application and Design Guide, we recommend a surface finish of 16 RMS or better. Local flatness, which we define as the flatness under the bearing at any one time, should always remain below 50% of the designed air gap. This is a worst case scenario, and it is relatively easy to stay within 10% of the air gap height.
For instructions on how to appropriately measure flatness, parallelism and height of our air bar products, please refer to the instructions on this page, as they will be utilized in the setup of your new air bar systems.
New Way Flat Panel Display Conveyors are adjusted in two stages: the rough adjustment and then the fine adjustment.
Rough Adjustment
Begin by installing the conveyor sections, and adjust the gap between the adjustment feet and support structure to a nominal gap of 0.40mm. This will place the conveyor in the middle of the 0.80mm range of the adjustment feet. At this time, measure the flatness and height of the conveyor sections, and their alignment to other critical equipment, as is necessary. If necessary, modify positions of the support structure. Once support structure positioning is satisfactory, adjust all conveyor sections to be level and coplanar. Use the hold down and jack up adjustment screws, master flat, level, and a 0.025mm feeler gauge to bring the rough adjustment as close as possible to level.
Fine Adjustment
In the rough adjustment step, we set each of the conveyor sections level and close to their final position, as it relates to other process equipment and conveyor sections. Fine adjustment is used to fine tune the transition points between individual air bars, and ensure a smooth flow of material along the conveyor system.
Allowable mismatch between individual air bars shall be defined by your internal requirements for each application. Use the jack up adjustment screws to adjust, tighten or loosen the hold down adjustment screws as necessary to maintain sufficient opposing pressure and prevent adjustment drift. Be careful not to apply too much force, as this may distort the bearing away from the transition point.
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